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| Photo Retrieved from: Boston.com |
In January 2010, 15 year old, Phoebe Prince of Massachusetts hanged herself after suffering months of bullying from her classmates. Phoebe was new to the school and became the focus of the bullies after she supposedly dated a popular boy at the school. These bullies would knock her books out of her hands, throw things at her as she walked by and spread rumors about her. The bullies also used social media and text messages to continue the harassment after school hours. She was called obscene names on Twitter, Craigslist, Facebook and Formspring and she received threats via text messages on her cell phone (Kennedy, 2010). In fact, even after her death, cyberbullying continued on the Facebook memorial wall that had been created for Phoebe (Kotz, 2010).
School officials and staff members witnessed some of the disturbing abuse Phoebe suffered while at school and failed to act. This is unacceptable. However, outside of school grounds, when teens are bullied through media sources it is harder to “witness” the abuse. I believe teens are inclined to hide this information from their parents out of embarrassment. One of my concerns with cyberbullying is the invisibility of it and the fact that there is no escaping it. When children are bullied face-to-face there is opportunity for an adult to catch it happening. Also, before media technology existed, a child who was bullied at school was typically able to escape at home each night back into the sanctuary of their home environment. I think this reprieve from the torture of bullies is important for a teen’s emotional state. It allows an opportunity for reflection and to see their entire life is not taken up by these bullies.
School officials and staff members witnessed some of the disturbing abuse Phoebe suffered while at school and failed to act. This is unacceptable. However, outside of school grounds, when teens are bullied through media sources it is harder to “witness” the abuse. I believe teens are inclined to hide this information from their parents out of embarrassment. One of my concerns with cyberbullying is the invisibility of it and the fact that there is no escaping it. When children are bullied face-to-face there is opportunity for an adult to catch it happening. Also, before media technology existed, a child who was bullied at school was typically able to escape at home each night back into the sanctuary of their home environment. I think this reprieve from the torture of bullies is important for a teen’s emotional state. It allows an opportunity for reflection and to see their entire life is not taken up by these bullies.
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| Photo Retrieved from: Teaching Tolerance |
This law requires schools to establish an anti-bullying plan with clear procedures on how to report, respond and discipline bullying. While cyberbullying is included in the definition of bullying it is much more difficult to witness and respond to this behavior versus traditional bullying.“Cyber-bullying”, bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication, which shall include, but shall not be limited to, any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo optical system, including, but not limited to, electronic mail, internet communications, instant messages or facsimile communications. Cyber-bullying shall also include (i) the creation of a web page or blog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person or (ii) the knowing impersonation of another person as the author of posted content or messages, if the creation or impersonation creates any of the conditions enumerated in clauses (i) to (v), inclusive, of the definition of bullying. Cyber-bullying shall also include the distribution by electronic means of a communication to more than one person or the posting of material on an electronic medium that may be accessed by one or more persons, if the distribution or posting creates any of the conditions enumerated in clauses (i) to (v), inclusive, of the definition of bullying.
It really is sad what bullying can do to a person
ReplyDeleteIt's so terrible. I am glad I finished school before cyberbullying became such a common occurrence. My daughter is only 6 now, but I can already see I’m going to have a difficult time attempting to combat bullying and cyberbullying from a distance.
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