Cyber Bullying

Cyber Bullying

Abstract

Cyber bullying has emerged as a harmful act for youth in today`s world. These days the extensive use of digital equipments by youth has accelerated the act of cyber bullying. Children and adolescents get actively engaged in activities of cyber bullying. A few of them consider this for purpose of fun. They are unaware of the extreme consequences that this act carries along. I have discussed cyber bullying in-depth in this paper. I have included a literature reviews which discusses the various researches and study done on this destructive act. I have discussed the various types and methods of cyber bullying along with the adverse effects of this act. Majority of the attacks include threats, impersonation, harassment, humiliation and stalking. Mostly the targets of cyber bullying are refugees, immigrants and disabled students. I have included results of a few surveys along with a case study on a girl Pheobe Prince, who hanged herself to death due to cyber bullying. A research indicates that around about 25% of youth are victims of the act of cyber bullying. A growing rate of cyber bullying victims requires proper prevention steps for this issue. For this purpose, states have formulated laws and policies to deal with this issue. I have included a few prevention steps that schools and parents should take in order to halt the act of cyber bullying. Besides that, I have included a few policies of the state of Illinois in US. These policies ask schools to formulate proper plans for the eradication of this devastating act of cyber bullying. States and particularly schools need to properly implement these policies in order to remove this act from its roots. This will ultimately lead to positive effects on the personality of youth.

Contents

Abstractii

Introduction5

Literature Review5

Definition of Cyber bullying6

Characteristics of cyber bullying6

Anonymity6

Infinite Audience6

Prevalent sexual and homophobic harassment7

Permanence of expression7

Types of Cyber bullying7

Exclusion7

Harassment8

Outing8

Stalking8

Masquerading8

Flaming8

Methods of Cyber Bullying9

Direct Attacks9

By Proxy10

Effects of Cyber Bullying10

Research on Cyber Bullying11

Case Study11

Prevention steps for cyber bullying12

Policies for cyber bullying13

Conclusion14

References15

Cyber Bullying

Introduction

Cyber bullying is a fearsome act in today`s world. In preceding decades, bullies victimized their targets within school premises or on the way from and to school. Bullies use emails, websites or instant messaging for bullying. This makes it quite difficult for the victims to escape bullying. The anonymity characteristic of cyber bullying leaves the victims with the confusion of the identity of their attackers. There are various types and methods of cyber bullying. This act has extremely adverse effects on the victims. It even leads victims towards committing murders and suicides. A lot of research has been done on this act. Schools and institutions take steps to eradicate this cruel act from the community. States have formulized various policies to prevent this act from occurring and harming the victims.

Literature Review

A lot of research has been done in recent years on the subject of cyber bullying. I have discussed the works of few of the authors for better understanding of the subject. In his book, Shariff has discussed the emerging issues related ...