Preventing Cyber-Bullying In Schools

The behavior of young people on the Internet is simply an extension and reflection of the attitudes and forms of discrimination adults models on a regular basis in the physical world.Online activities that support communications for interpersonal, recreation, commercial, education, and government purposes have enabled variations of so-called Internet culture to emerge throughout the amorphous realm of cyberspace where youth and adults interact in ways that extend their activities, experiences, and associations. They do so in largely unmonitored, unregulated, and unsanctioned ways. What a person would rarely —if ever— contemplate doing in person, they may do online because they can, or believe they can, get away with it. When it comes to bullying online, this is especially true of youth and young adults. Hence, online bullying by and among youth and young adults is today an integral aspect of what we will explain as the digital culture of contemporary youth.

Cyberbullying, or what some people call “Internet aggression,” “Internet bullying,” or “digital harassment,” involves using computers or other information computing technology (ICT) devices, such as personal digital assistants or cell phones in which the Internet is relied on to support various types and combinations of written or audible interpersonal communications such as e-mail, instant messaging, texting via cell phones, and myriad other social computing activities including electronic gaming, blogging, chatting or posting messages, images and videos onto web pages and so on, to embarrass, harass, intimidate, threaten, or otherwise cause harm to individuals targeted for such abuse.

Before digital media, bullies in school focused on their targets in person. Teachers and schools could witness the bullying and take steps to prevent it during the school day. Cyberbullying has taken school day bullying to the next level, however, seeping into evenings and weekends and making it harder for schools to intervene. However, cyberbullying training for teachers can change all of that, creating a safe, supportive environment for all kids—even after school hours.