Cyberbullying

Overview 

Almost 32% of all teenagers who use social networking have reported being targets of cyber bullying including: threatening messages;  private emails or text messages forwarded without consent; embarrassing pictures posted without permission and/ or having rumors about them spread online. [2] " Cyberbullying is the intentional infliction of harm by the use of one or more media of electronic technologies. Electronic media include computers, Instant Messaging, social networking Web sites, handheld communication devised, cell phones, and the two dozen other media that were just invented as this sentence was typed. Cyberbullies use technology to flame, out, phish, bash, spam, impersonate, or threatening." [3]

Gender

Girls are more likely to experience being bullied than boys. Older girls are the target age group but those who have multiple networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace increase their chance of incountering bullying at some point. In fact, four out of ten online networkers will be bullied at some point. [2]

Types of Cyberbullying

The most common type of cyberbullying includes the act of someone taking a private email, instant message, or text message and forwarding the information to someone else or posting the communication publicly. Other forms include rumors, such as reporting false information online; threatening emails, instant messages or text messages that are aggressive; and uploaded embarrassing pictures without consent. [2]

Why Online?

Cyberbullying has moved from the play grounds, locker rooms, and telephones, to the internet. Today information is replicated and quickly transmitted to the digital world giving millions of viewers access to the information. Now that bullying has entered the digital age, there is more power felt from hidng behind a screen. Bullying used to be in the form of a whisper or a shout but in todays digital world its now a few clicks and a post. [2]

Media Ecology

"Facebook. It's a publicly traded company and social network that has embedded itself in our lives like no other technology has. We've given it great power, and it is in Facebook's best interest to chip away at our privacy to increase "stickiness" and by extension, profits." [1]

External Links: Fatal Results of Cyberbullying

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2012/0423/Iowa-teen-s-suicide-prompts-strong-anti-bullying-statement

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/amanda-todd-suicide-bullying_n_1959909.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/fashion/16meangirls.html?ref=fashion&pagewanted=print

References

[1]Egan, D. (2012). Is Facebook culpable in Amanda Todd's death?

[2]Lenhart, A. (2007, June 27). Cyberbullying and Online Teens. 

[3]Greta, C. (n.d.). Cyberbullying Doing Something About It, Lawfully.