We hear the word "Cyber Bully" used a lot these days. It seems as though there is virtually no escape from the cowardly bullies of the world and now they are able to practice their evil deeds through just about any of the technologically advanced avenues available for us today!
But what exactly is it anyway?
One easy to describe definition of cyberbullying, is basically the use of the Internet, mobile or cell phones, email or other electronic media to post about, or directly attack another person.
This can mean personal attacks by SMS, FaceBook or emails for example and also indirect (but just as damaging) methods such as uploading posts or images to the Internet for all to see.
Many Cyber Bullying Statistics are growing rapidly and are quite alarming as a result. Have a read of these few random statistics and start to get a feel on how big this problem is.
For example, school students are reporting being cyber bullied or doing so to other students from as early as grade 2!
Boys are more likely to pick up this terrible habit early but by middle school, astoundingly, girls have become the main cyber bullies.
In a book written by Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin and published in 2008, the writers found that approximately 200 of the 2000 children surveyed from a local US school district had been cyber bullied sometime in the last 30 days. Nearly double this amount if the same sample reported being bullied in this way at least once in their lifetime!
Over 7000 students in Australia were surveyed in 2009. Some key findings out of this bullying survey was that cyber bullying increases with age with children in grade 9 nearly 4 times the likelihood of being cyber bullied than those in grade four.
A survey in 2005 by the National Children's Home charity and Tesco Mobile found that 70% of cyber bullying victims knew their bully. Less than a quarter of the time, cyber bullying victims told an authority figure such as a parent or teacher and sadly, 28% of victims did not tell anybody about the abuse.
These are only just a few of the many readily available cyber bullying statistics out there. As technology and social media networking becomes even more common, the chances for us our our children of being bullied increases by the day!
If you or your children or anyone you know is being cyber bullied then act fast to get them help as the effects can be tragic. Some common, easy to identify responses include lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation, and a variety of emotional responses, cyber bullying back, being scared, frustrated, angry, and depressed.
Tragically, some bullying campaigns are so targeted, hurtful and unrelenting that the victim commits suicide - an atrocity that simply can not be understood by anyone least of all the parents of the victim.
Protect your children from this electronic abuse by ensuring you have open communication so they feel safe and comfortable to report such abuse. Carefully monitor Internet access especially social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and watch out for cell phone abuse. Also watch carefully for the behavior of your child when they are on the net or receiving calls and messages. If it looks like they may be getting cyber bullied, step in and take direct action before it escalates.
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