Cyberbullying

The class discussion on Wednesday made me remember the movie that was made I believe on  ABC family a couple years ago called Cyberbully. In the movie the girl was being cyber-bullied by her "best friend". Dr. Glassman mentioned how being bullied by the people you think are your friends feels worse than being bullied by other classmates. In the movie the teenage girl is constantly being cyber-bullied and struggles to find out who her bully really is because of the anonymity of the internet and technology. She was so tormented that she even tried to commit suicide. It is a great movie for those of you who haven't seen it.

I think with all the technology these days it is also important to talk about cyber-bullying. There are a few differences between the traditional bullying and cyber-bullying. Some specific differences between  cyber-bullying and traditional bullying are:

• Can take place 24/7 - not just during school hours
• Invades your home and personal space as well as the school environment
• Can be done quickly and on a large scale, because of the speed and reach of email, mobiles and Web sites
• Can be perceived as anonymous (the bully can set up a fake email address or use someone else's mobile, for example)
• Means that bystanders can become perpetrators if they pass on emails or text/picture messages or take part in an online discussion
• Can last longer than face-to-face bullying, sometimes building over weeks and months
• Perpetrators and their targets might not fit the profile of other forms of bullying
• Provides evidence (eg emails, texts, photos or videos) in a way that other forms of bullying don't
• Incidents may be unintentional or a "joke” and the perpetrator might not have considered the potential consequences

The link for these can be found athttp://www.teachtoday.eu/en/Teacher-advice/Cyberbullying/How-is-cyberbullying-different-to-other-forms-of-bullying.aspx. What are your thoughts on cyber-bullying? Do you think it will ever be completely stopped. What can teachers do to prevent cyber-bullying for their students, or can they?