School Bullying Issue 25 Home Page

Cyberbullying is a Growing Problem Inji and SuJeong from Korea Photo: newspaper page Cyberbullies post lies and hateful things about others on the Internet. It's a growing problem.. Nowadays, most students use the Internet. More and more, they are using email, chat rooms, blogs, and instant messaging to find places where they can talk with friends and learn more things. However, there is also the problem of 'cyberbullying,' or online bullying. This is a new kind of bullying. Teenage cyberbullies post lies and hateful things about other young people on the Internet in order to embarrass them and make them feel bad. It is getting to be a serious problem, and it is spreading very fast. The victims don't want to go out or go to only school and avoid talking to everyone because they worry that people have already seen the lies on the Internet. Teenagers bully other teenagers online, by sending insults or threats directly to them in emails or instant messages. Also, they spread hateful comments about a person through e-mail, instant messaging, or by posting on blogs or Web sites teenager often read. There are many examples of how students have been bullied this way. For example, a teenage student from Canada was physically bullied for years. Finally, people began to bully him online too, sending him hateful e-mails telling him no one liked him. He didn't know how to get away from the bullies, so he left school and isolated himself from everyone. Another example is when a group of middle school students bullied a teenage girl and started sending her unpleasant messages about her physical appearance. They called her names online and said many things to hurt her. She was very badly emotionally wounded. What is being done to stop cyberbullying? Some parents, teachers, and other adults are trying to stop it by talking to victims they know about. If victims can talk about these problems with someone, they can find ways to deal with cyber bullying. Parents of students need to check and see what their children are doing online. If they see their children bullying someone online, they need to help their children understand that they are seriously hurting their victims and see that it is wrong. Governments and schools are also trying to stop cyberbullying and are making rules to stop it. When students post these hateful things online, most of them don't think it is serious; they just think it is funny. Return to: School Bullying | Issue 25 | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine ©1997-2009 - Sandy and Thomas Peters -topics.mag@gmail.com