Dan Olweus, a researcher involved in intervention work in the area of bully/victim problems among school children and youth for approximately 30 years, has defined bullying as someone who “is exposed repeatedly and over time to negative actions on the part of one or more other students" (Olweus, 1993, 9). Other researchers believe that there must be a power differential between bully and victim, either real or perceived, (Coloroso, 2002), and that bullying involves an intention to hurt the victim (Pepler, 1997). Since the end of the 20th century a new world of social communication has emerged. People are not only using the post office and telephones to communicate with each other but e-mail, web sites, chat rooms, instant messaging and text messaging. While most of these interactions are positive, children are increasingly using these communication tools to torment, threaten, harass, humiliate, embarrass or otherwise target others. This is what has become known as cyber-bullying.
Be Web Aware: Challenging Cyber Bullying. (2008) Retrieved October 12, 2008 from
http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/CyberBullying.aspx
Coloroso, Barbara. The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander: From Pre-school to High School: How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence. Toronto: HarperCollins, 2002.
Cyberbullying: About Cyberbullying. (2005) Retrieved October 11, 2008 from http://www.slais.ubc.ca/COURSES/libr500/04-05-wt2/www/D_Jackson/what.htm
Olweus, Dan. Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1993.
Pepler, Debra J. et al. Prevalence of Bullying and Victimization among Canadian Elementary and Middle School Children. (1997). Available from ERIC, http://eric.ed.gov 427834.
4 comments:
Thank you for that informative article about Cyber Bullying, I found it both entertaining and informative!!
Mick S. Haggi
Thanks for such an enlightening blog.The information will be very useful to me and my students as we attempt to combat this very destructive form of abusive behavior.
Much has changed since I began my own teaching career but the effects of bullying have not. The information you provided concerning cyber bullying is very informative and unfortunately, the problem itself is very prevelant. Thanks for putting it out there.
Thanks for the article. Informing teachers, parents and children of yesterday, today, and tomorrow that such negativity is out there. There is a never ending need to educate the public hoe to deal with this topic.
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