“Cyberbullying among

highschool students”

Members of the Group 3:

Rogelio Morados
Iznathdetti Dando
Kristine Mae Cortez
Analyn Fullido
Dariane Mae Malong
JP Delrosario
Brix Magbanua
Jolina Labor
Introduction
Bullying has always been a part of society. With the inception of the internet, it was only a matter of
time until bullies found their way on to this new and opportunistic medium. With services like email
and instant messenger, bullies became able to do their nasty deeds with anonymity and great distance
between them and their targets. There are some key differences, however, between traditional
bullying and cyber bullying. On this page, the differences between the two will clearly defined.
Legislation that has been created to protect against cyber bullying, court cases and rulings dealing
with cyber bullying, research done on cyber bullying, and negative effects and impacts of cyber
bullying will be discussed as well.

According to Bill Belsey, cyber bullying is defined as bullying that “involves the use of information
and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an
individual or group that is intended to harm others.” The National Crime Prevention council adds that
cyber bullying is "when the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or
images intended to hurt or embarrass another person." One common example of cyber bullying is
posting embarrassing information about someone on the internet, such as saying something about
someone on Facebook, or putting an embarrassing picture on Myspace. There are also times cyber
bullies post personal information about their victim, such as address, phone number, etc., while
pretending to be the victim, and post information about them that would defame or embarrass them.

The main factor that separates cyber bullying from traditional bullying is the effect it has on the
victim. Traditional bullying may end in physical damage as well as emotional and psychological
damage, as opposed to cyber bullying, where it is all emotional and psychological. Traditional bullies
are known for beating kids up on the playground and stealing their lunch money. Cyber bullies are all
about verbal ridicule to the point that can affect that person’s social abilities. Most of the time,
traditional bullying is limited to children and young adults, whereas cyber bullying can encompass all
ages. More negative effects will be discussed later.

There can be some misconceptions about the difference between cyber bullying and cyber stalking.
Cyber stalking is often based on sex, and involves harassing the person, via electronic means,
repeatedly. This is the main point that differentiates the two. Repeated harassment constitutes cyber
stalking, especially when the harassment includes threats about a person’s safety, reputation, or
employment. The often do this by vandalizing search engines or online encyclopedias. Example
differentiating the two would be as follows: If someone makes an edit to a Wikipedia page and
includes someone else’s name and posts embarrassing information, it is cyber bullying. If they do it
repeatedly to multiple pages, and re-edit pages that the moderators at Wikipedia change, it is cyber
stalking.
Method
What Methods Are Kids Using to Cyberbully?

While there are a number of different ways kids are bullying others online, the majority of online
harassment falls into one of six categories. Here are six of the most common methods of
cyberbullying.

Harassing Someone

 Using text messaging, instant messaging and email to harass, threaten or embarrass the target.
 Posting rumours, threats or embarrassing information on social networking sites such
as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
 Engaging in “warning wars.” (Many Internet Service Providers and social media sites offer a
way to report a user who is saying something inappropriate. Kids use these report buttons as a
way to get the victim in trouble or kicked offline.)
 Participating in text wars or text attacks, which occur when bullies gang up on the victim and
send thousands of texts. These attacks not only cause emotional distress but create a large cell
phone bill.

Impersonating Someone Commented [f1]:

 Developing a screen name that is similar to the victim’s screen name and then posting rude or
hurtful remarks while pretending to be the victim.
 Stealing the victim’s password and chatting with other people while pretending to be the
victim. The bully will say mean things that offend and anger the victim’s friends or
acquaintances.

 Changing the target’s online profile to include sexual, racist or other inappropriate things.
 Setting up an account on a social networking site and posting as the victim while saying
mean, hurtful or offensive things online. Actual photos of the victim may be used to make the
account look authentic.
 Posing as the victim and posting in chat rooms of known child molesters, hate groups or
dating sites. The bully may even provide the victim’s personal information encouraging those
in the groups to contact the victim.
 Pretending to be someone else in order to lure an unsuspecting person into a fake relationship.
This type of activity is often called catfishing.

Using Photographs

 Taking nude or degrading pictures of the victim in a locker room, a bathroom or dressing
room without his or her permission.
 Threatening to share embarrassing photos as a way of controlling or blackmailing the victim.
 Sending mass emails or text messages that include nude or degrading photos of the victim.
This behaviour is often called “sexting,” and once the photos are sent, there is no way to
control it. The photos can be distributed to hundreds of people within just a few hours.
 Posting nude pictures on photo sharing sites for anyone on the Internet to view and download.

 Using photographs to shame someone online. One common tactic teens use, is to engage
in slut shaming. This behaviour involves shaming someone, usually a girl, for the way she
dresses, acts or the number of people she has dated.
Creating Websites, Blogs, Polls and More

 Developing a website with information that is humiliating, embarrassing or insulting for the
victim.
 Spreading rumours, lies or gossip about the victim online through websites or blogs.
 Posting the victim’s personal information and pictures on a website, which puts the victim in
danger of being contacted by predators.
 Creating a blog about the victim that is embarrassing, insulting or humiliating.

 Using the information that was shared in confidence and making it public.
 Conducting an Internet poll about the victim. Questions in the poll may vary including
everything from who is ugly and who smells to who is dumb and who is fat.
 Posting rude, mean or insulting comments about the victim via the chat option of online
gaming sites.
 Sending viruses, spyware or hacking programs to the victim in order to spy on the victim or
control his or her computer remotely.

Participating in Video Shaming

 Using a camera phone to video and later share a bullying incident, which may include one or
more kids slapping, hitting, kicking or punching the victim.
 Downloading a video of something humiliating and posting it to YouTube in order to allow a
larger audience to view the incident.
 Sharing a video via mass e-mail or text messaging to humiliate and embarrass the victim.
 Creating an incident that causes another person to become upset or emotional and then record
the incident. This type of activity is often referred to as cyberbaiting . Teachers are a common
target for cyberbaiting incidents.

Engaging in Sub tweeting or Vague booking

 Posting tweets or Facebook posts that never mention the victim's name. Yet the victim, the
bully and often a larger audience know who the posts are referencing.
 Using subtle posts and tweets to fuel the rumour mill while avoiding detection by teachers,
administrators and parents.

Discussion
This study extends the literature on cyberbullying in several ways. First, because cyberbullying is a
relatively new phenomenon, there are few studies on this issue. Of these studies, few, if any, explored
students' beliefs and behaviours related to these aggressive acts. For the first time, therefore, this study
has investigated the possible relationships between the opinions and actions of the students, whether
as cyberbully, victim, or bystander. Second, several themes have emerged that enable us to understand
the factors related to cyberbullying. One finding is that although almost a quarter of the students felt
upset about cyberbullying, over 40% would do nothing if they were cyberbullied. About one in 10
would inform adults. This shows that a sizable number of the victims are rather passive. Whether
bullying happens in the real world or in the cyber world, victims' strategies are either to ignore it or
try getting away from it rather than informing others, much less adults.

Why would many of the victims choose not to tell others about the incidents? Looking into the
consequences, we see that in less than one in six cases, the situation got better when the victims told
others about the incident. In a few cases, things got even worse. In most cases, nothing changed, so
the students thought, “Why bother?” In examining the helpers, we realized that friends were the ones
most likely to help. This could be explained by the fact that the victims often inform only their
friends. As suggested by dynamic systems theory, cyberbullying is a result of the interaction of its
system's components. Thus, peers play a strong role in sustaining cyberbullying, and this is consistent
with our observation of regular bullying, because friends have a strong influence on students'
emotional, behavioural, and affective development they can help reduce cyber victims' anxiety.
Friends can also provide protection and coping advice to victims in the real world or in cyberspace, as
demonstrated by this study, one in four onlookers confronted the cyberbully directly, and over 35%
tried to help or befriend the victim. One implication is that we need to pay particular attention to
students when designing prevention programs. We need to educate them about their responsibilities
and how to support each other.

An important task of this study was to reveal why students feel reluctant to report cyberbullying
incidents to adults in schools. Several important issues emerged that were related to this. First, the
data show that in less than 3% of cases did adults at schools try to help. Second, the highest
proportion (close to half) of the students said, “I do not think the school would or could do anything to
stop it.” One reason for this phenomenon might be that cyberbullying is a relatively new phenomenon
and most schools have yet to understand the issue, let alone establish effective protection and
intervention programs. Third, many students have expressed their distrust of others, particularly adults
in schools (e.g., “I don't think school staff would believe me”). Considering these reasons, we should
not be surprised that students keep silent. More important, the student narrative “I do not trust other
people” capitalizes on the need to establish trustworthy relationships among students and adults in
schools and beyond. It shows the importance of developing policy and programs to combat
cyberbullying. Another important reason for not reporting the incidents, as indicated by a large
number of students, is the fear that the cyberbully could get back and escalate the problem. It seems
that anonymity, this unique characteristic of technology, works for cyberbullies but against victims. It
enables the protection of bullies by hiding their identity and leaving victims vulnerable. This explains
why the students were apprehensive, and it makes the battle against cyberbullying much harder.
Another fear many students had was that they might get themselves into trouble, for instance, being
ridiculed or restricted in their use of the technology. Research has demonstrated that our students have
changed radically due to the rapid development and diffusion of digital technology. Technology has
become an integral part of their lives; therefore, restricting access to the Internet or other technology
profoundly affects their work and life. These effects should be remembered when considering
prevention strategies. Many students felt that it was necessary to learn how to deal with cyberbullying
by themselves. This is convergent with recommendations made in previous research studies and urges
us, as educators and researchers, to develop effective strategies to guide our students.

When the focus shifts to witnesses, we see that about one in eight students who observed the incidents
actually joined in or cheered the cyberbully on. The majority, however, were bystanders who simply
watched but did not participate. Therefore, the behaviours of such substantial numbers of onlookers,
either cheering on, joining in, or even just paying attention, encourages and motivates cyberbullies.
This situation, coupled with the victim's submissive behaviour, exacerbates and sustains cyberbullies'
aggressive acts.

What are students' beliefs about cyberbullying? Why do they think people behave this way? About
45% think various factors cause the problem, ranging from feeling insecure, angry, jealous, or mean,
to feeling bored or having family issues. A troubling finding, however, is that the majority (about
64%) believe that cyberbullies do it for fun. Even more disturbing is the fact that one in five perceived
cyberbullying as a “cool” act. This might be explained by students' perception that technology is
exciting. These students might think that using it for aggressive acts is creative. Further, they might
not realize the seriousness of cyberbullying. For example, one student's narrative, “I bully online and
it does not mean anything,” demonstrates that some fail to see the negative effect of cyberbullying or
bullying on victims. The actual reason behind this perception is unclear; nonetheless, it deserves our
serious consideration because this is a potentially dangerous perception.

What do students feel about cyber victims? Almost half think that it is bad but nothing can be done.
One student's comment summarizes this feeling: “No one cares. Deal with it yourself.” Another 45%
hold the belief that this is a serious problem and needs to be stopped. Only a small number of students
perceived that the cyber victims deserved it. Another important theme emerged relating to freedom of
speech. One in six students considered that people have the right to say anything they want, even if
what they say hurts someone or violates someone's privacy. This finding presents a dilemma: How
can we combat cyberbullying yet respect and exercise our freedom of expression? Although we
understand that there is no absolute freedom of speech, balancing the two is the ultimate question.

A noteworthy finding of this study is that one in three students believed that what happens online
should stay online. This reflects a general perception that the cyberspace is separated from the real
world. Although this might have been true when the Internet was first introduced, our cyber life is
increasingly intertwined with our real life. What we do online affects what we do in real life.
Harassment that occurs in cyberspace might also occur in person. Therefore, technologies must be
monitored and modified to manage cyberbullying and promote the responsible use of technology.

Conclusion
Parents, law enforcement and educators all need to take caution with watching over children in order
to prevent cyberbullying. If everyone comes together including educators, law enforcement and the
biggest role, the parents, then cyberbullying can be stopped. The next time these 12 to 17 year olds
log onto the internet, maybe they wont be affected by cyber bullying if everyone begins to work
together.

References
INTRODUCTION:
https://wikispaces.psu.edu/display/IST432TEAM24/Introduction+What+is+Cyb
er+Bullying

METHOD: https://www.verywellfamily.com/types-of-cyberbullying-460549

DISCUSSION: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10926771003788979

CONCLUSION: https://rmatusik.wordpress.com/conclusion/