Cyberbullying bad, but not that bad
Posted: Wednesday, June 27 at 05:00 pm CT by Bob Sullivan
Cyberbullying may not be as widespread as feared, as most teenagers are more worried about old-fashioned pushing and shoving than online tormenters, according to a new study.
Still, about one-third of all teenagers say they've been bullied through the Internet, complaining about a range of attacks that range from annoying to dangerous, according to research released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
While focus groups with teenagers conducted for the study unearthed plenty of horror stories, the research suggests that computer-based taunting among children may not be as widespread as some feared. Only 6 percent of participants said someone had posted an embarrassing picture of them online without permission, for example. And 13 percent said someone has spread rumors about them online.
On the other hand, 67 percent of kids said they were more likely to face real-world bullying than cyberbullying.
Researcher Amanda Lenhart said the results were unexpectedly tame, given the media attention focused on the problem of cyberbullying. Computer conflicts apparently don’t faze kids that much, she said.
"The computer is just part all the experiences kids have now," Lenhart said. "It's part of what it means to be a kid. ... Still, it's important to note that one-third of kids have been targeted."
Cyberbullying is psychological rather than physical, Lenhart said – but it can go far beyond virtual name-calling. Embarrassing photos secretly taken in schools, at parties, or on the beach can end up on the Internet, for example. Instant messages intended for a private audience can be posted on MySpace pages. And in a 21st Century version of traditional bullying, threats of physical violence are easy to make anonymously online.
During focus group discussions conducted after the survey, a 15-year-old boy told researchers he had threatened to kill someone online, but added it was only a joke.
“I played a prank on someone but it wasn’t serious," he said, according to the report. "I told them I was going to come take them from their house and kill them and throw them in the woods. It’s the best prank because it’s like ‘oh my God, I’m calling the police!’ and I was like ‘I’m just kidding, I was just messing with you.’ She got so scared though.”
Some bullying has unexpected consequences. One 17-year-old boy who talked with researchers said a photograph of him taken at a New Year's party was posted online without his permission and seen by officials at his high school. He was suspended.
The dangers of forwarded messages
The most prevalent form of cyberbullying involved publishing someone's private e-mails or text messages in a public space -- about 1 in 8 teens said that had happened to them. Many said the content of those digital conversations was sometimes altered to make the author appear to say embarrassing things.
"I was in a fight with a girl and she printed out our conversation, changed some things that I said, and brought it into school, so I looked like a terrible person,” a middle-school girl said.
Alteration of digital content isn't always that tame. Another middle school student told researchers about a gay student's home page being taken over by young bigots.
“I have this one friend and he’s gay and his account got hacked and someone put all these really homophobic stuff on there and posted like a mass bulletin of like some guy with his head smashed open like run over by a car," she said. "It was really gruesome and disgusting.”
Lenhart said her study picked up a slim gender gap in online bullying: more girls say they are victims than boys. Girls 15-17 were about 10 percent more likely than boys the same age to be targeted. Girls 12-17 were almost twice as likely to report a particular form of cyberbullying -- having rumors about them spread online -- than boys.
"Bullies are very creative," Lenhart warned. "What we have here is junior high writ large."
RED TAPE WRESTLING TIPS
Like real-world bullying, there's really no way to stop cyberbullying. But there are a few things kids can do to limit their exposure.
• No privacy. Everyone knows this, but everyone forgets this. Everything you type online, even in private e-mails or IMs, can end up in public for all the world to see. For this reason, use the phone or talk in person for really private conversations. And remember, even innocent-sounding jokes can sound terrible when taken out of context.
• Strong passwords. Kids try to hack into each other's e-mail and MySpace pages all the time. Never share your password, even with friends (today's friend could be tomorrow's enemy). And use strong passwords, mixing letters, numbers, and punctuation characters so that it's hard for others to guess.
• Parental involvement. Parents need to be aware of cyberbullying techniques -- they are changing all the time, said Lenhart -- and keep an open dialog with their teens about the kinds of things they might be facing at school. For example, text-message bombing, which overloads a kids' phone with hundreds of messages, is the latest trick, Lenhart said.
• More parental involvement. Family therapist Susan Shankle, author of What in the World Are Your Kids Doing Online? endorses an aggressive form of parenting to put the brakes on cyberbullying: "Nothing takes the place of parental involvement,” she said. “Parents need to periodically check computer history and cell phones for messages that a child may feel scared to report."
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I wish this could be a punishable crime for adults. I have encountered this horribly online by a ruthless "mafia-type" gang that supports some musicians. They make online life completely unbearable, not just at that band's forum, but at any I have gone to now actually. They are all broken down, disabled people who have a mission in life to try and make other lives as miserable as theirs. I truly wish they could be punished because they are the spawn of satan. This is NO JOKE at all! I am dead serious. I have changed my name to truly protect myself. I would love to post my email address, but I am truly terrified of repercussions. This is a ruthless and extremely vindictive bunch.
Joanna, Vancouver, Washington (Sent Jun 27, 2007 5:18:39 PM)
Thanks for the useful information. I'd add that bullies have parents too, so parents have the opportunity (and perhaps responsibility) to prevent their kids from *becoming* bullies.
Eric Goldman (Sent Jun 27, 2007 5:28:18 PM)
Threatening to kill someone is NOT a prank. And what kind of sick mind could possibly find such a threat "funny"?
It is called terroristic threatening and it is against the law in my state. If it isn't against the law in all states, why not?
The children being bullied should certainly be aware of ways to make themselves safer.
However, the parents of bullies should responsible under the law for threats of bodily harm made by their children.
Dee (Sent Jun 27, 2007 5:29:19 PM)
Thank's for 411 on this, There to much Bullying go on in the world.What's sad is that the places we thing is safe are the frist place we better look frist is in are home's ,school & at chuche's.Today we must be alot more careful to trust people.
Donna Misener (Sent Jun 27, 2007 5:41:52 PM)
Although cyber bullying may not be "that bad", remember that any kind of bullying is nothing short of child abuse because it is the intentional hurting of one person against another. Bullying online is instantanious, and once sent it can't be retrieved. And a threat to kill someone can lead to legal action against the sender. All children have the right to be treated with respect and dignity.
Violence Prevention Educator New Bern North Carolina (Sent Jun 27, 2007 6:00:48 PM)
Whaaaaaaa
Please over protecting children is just as bad if not worse than letting them learn on their own. I love how studies show one thing and then another study comes out showing the complete opposite, bottom line people have to much free time! Get a job ;)
Concerned Citizen (Sent Jun 27, 2007 6:19:36 PM)
Cyber bullying is not limited to children. I was lied to and harassed via email by two women who were mad at my roommate. I also know a woman who posted lies on her website about a man she knew.
Amy, San Francisco, CA (Sent Jun 27, 2007 6:29:39 PM)
There is a line that needs to be drawn between the funny and the not-funny. Threatening to kill someone isn't funny, however prosecuting people over everything they say and do online is insanity.
I have a huge heartburn with the idea that there are people posting pictures of kids doing whatever online and then the result being a suspension by the school. Who made them imagery analysts? Additionally, where are the parents of the children making these threats? Is everyone in America asleep at the wheel, or what?
Furthermore, for all of you threatening to call the e-lawyers and the Internet police for every negative comment made to a blog: get over yourselves. Who cares? So someone spams up your page or forum with trash, do you really think that these people are going to come to your house and throw stuff through the windows? Most of the time it consists of people messing around and saying what they can because there is no concept of accountability online. And in the end, who cares? If your self-esteem is threatened by every slight that comes along, I'd recommend seeking professional help. Just like grade school, if you respond to the trolls they will feed on that.
Grow up. Bad things are happening in the world and I'd think we could spend some more time worrying about relations with Iran or how to fix the mess in Iraq and a little less about the 'spawn of satan' making icky-icky comments on some forum or another.
In short, don't feed the trolls and they'll get bored and go away.
Mike (Sent Jun 27, 2007 6:30:41 PM)
Perhaps parents should concentrate more on keeping their children out of situations in which "compromising" pictures could be taken of them and distributed, instead of playing "mamma bear" and howling indignantly that the children who "exposed" their kids as the little degenerates that they are should be punished. Man, take some responsibility already...
Slacking off at work (Sent Jun 27, 2007 6:32:35 PM)
Bullying is bad no matter how it is delivered. It haws been around for a long time. Bullying is not new but what parents, schools and religious organizations need to do is to teach students that it is not right to bully but also teach those children who feel they are victims of bullying how to deal with those feelings. What one child may feel is bullying, another may thing it is fun. Of course threats of any nature can not be tolerated. Children will deal with Bullies all thier lives. They are in schools, in the workplace, on the roads, in the stores on the ballfields, everywhere. Children need to know how to deal with them when they come in contact. Parents, schools and religious organizations should step up and do thi, not just try to "squash" the bully.
Concerned person who works with children (Sent Jun 27, 2007 8:04:01 PM)
The problems within the adolesent cyber scenes are the same as in all cyber scenes. It si the Human free will that causes it and the ability of being Anonymous that is the trigger to the evils. Whether either teens or adults, the ability to provide easy accurate proof of a stalker or bully is given the vail through the cyber ability to i.e. be stealth, remain as unseen ro unknown. The reality of it is that until more laws are passed to further prevent domestic terroism whether by cyber or physical, that are able to be enforced, the world will continue to use the wrong enigma's for the wrong purposes. By the way, do not ever think it just a childs game. More and more adults in businesses and the at homes are receiving the very same threats. Business especially, most to do with threats if something is not performed or insider information devulged. There are several methods from which to obtain the proof right down to forensics proof from those that wish to play the goon, baboon or guito effects. Proofs that make each of those anomoly bodies 1000% responsible for their inhuman and litte person actions. As sited in child phyc mag " with even regard to adults, these actions stem from childhood mannerisms and continue to project upward into adulthood" . As for teens or anyone under the ages of emancipation, good luck, Mommy and Daddy are still responsible for your measly little self. And as for the big boyz and girlz that feel so compelled to phycologically bigot and play an over bearing role, there too is a cell # for you...and we're not talking wireless.
Mox Meek, Anywhere USA (Sent Jun 27, 2007 8:10:07 PM)
Parents should quit passing the buck! Spend time with your kids.....
Disguisted, Seattle, WA (Sent Jun 27, 2007 8:36:42 PM)
Bullying is, at its root, a self-esteem problem for the bully. No matter how rich, how cute or how supposedly cool/popular a bully is, he or she is always bullying only to cover up a serious insecurity. Online bullying enables one to cover a MULTITUDE of insecurities, including not being attractive, so of course, it's rather prevalent online. I am of the very firm opinion that trolls and bullies of forums and social sites, no matter what their age, use online bullying to feel powerful to compensate for that insecurity.
(Sent Jun 28, 2007 12:19:30 PM)
Waahhhh! Stop being pissy cry-babies, and take some accountability for your actions. Don't get in compromising positions and there won't be any compromising photos. Parents, there's a reason it's called "rearing" your kids. Also, this is worthy of news? Gimme a break, report on something substantive, not something that a whiny touchy-feely psychologist got his Ph.D. for. Grow some thick skin already! We're becoming a nation of lame ducks!
Jon, Tempe, AZ (Sent Jun 28, 2007 1:20:57 PM)
Disguisted, Seattle, WA (Sent Jun 27, 2007 8:36:42 PM)
said "Parents should quit passing the buck! Spend time with your kids....." This day and age, a lot of parents are doing the same thing their kids are doing, how do you think the kids learned to be that way????
sayin it the way it is (Sent Jun 28, 2007 2:22:05 PM)
Uhhhhhh. Log off. Delete the e-mail. Change your screen name. Choose not to respond. So many options are available on how to ignore people with low self esteem. Oh, by the way parents..might want to check and see if your self destructive teenager is threating to kill people on line. Just a thought. It is nice to see that once again a "stat" was ran up the pole for no reason.
Larrisa, Cincinnati Ohio (Sent Jun 28, 2007 2:37:38 PM)
You know, cyberbullying just isn't that big of a deal in a society where someone can almost get shot just walking across the street. Threats are easily ignored online, but if one is really paranoid, they can print out the conversation and take it to the cops. If someone doesn't want compromising photos put up online, that person won't get involved in situations that could prompt said photos. Same with things one says in online chats, blogs, etc.
Its all public; you reap what you sow.
I agree, parents need to be involved, but that doesn't mean reading over shoulders, it means pulling the child away from the computer for some family time once in a while. Or maybe even to go outside, what a concept.
Internet bullying is the same as real life bullying... learning to walk away can be the most important lesson.
Michelle, Tempe, Arizona (Sent Jun 28, 2007 3:11:52 PM)
What is needed is an internet "Caller ID" system like landline phones. Any thing without propper ID should be refused by IP's and any intermediary routing computers.
Ted Annonson, Clovis,NM 88101 (Sent Jun 29, 2007 8:36:06 AM)
Um, cyberbulling doesn't really happen that much. Every news program kind of exagerates it all. Gets really annoying seeing titles like "The horrors of the world wide web!" and "What are your children doing online?" Give children privacy... You would if they were on the phone right?
John Johnson (Sent Jul 3, 2007 1:33:53 PM)
Every message has the hidden headers that can permit police, or me (a computer technician, running Mepis OS on my systems), or, an evil stupid idiot to actually locate you. Through 'social engineering', your home address could probably also be available.
Yes, there are very evil people out there, just look at the day's news!
Protect yourself, don't run Microsoft Windows! Run a more secure system that is most difficult to hack, and is immune to the "114,000 Microsoft Malware Virus definitions". Get Mepis. Run it behind a hardware firewall, or an IPCOP box!
(Sent Jul 3, 2007 2:18:47 PM)
There already IS the header, most of which is 'hidden' by your default setting in your browser!
I know that I open them up all the time to see where you live! But, I run Mepis Linux, and my browsers are Konqueror, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Mozilla Firefox.
(Sent Jul 3, 2007 2:22:16 PM)
"Not that bad" huh? Well I guess the author was never bullied in school. No matter how litt;e the bullying is, it will effect the child as they grow up to be able adult, all bullying should be illegal and schools should take it more serious.
Amanda, Sioux City, IA (Sent Jul 3, 2007 2:35:40 PM)
I lol'd at this.
Elitist Jerk, Cyberspace, HI (Sent Jul 3, 2007 2:35:58 PM)
Having been involved in a community bulletin board for years, the cyberbulling is escalated in adulthood. It's all part and parcel of the venue. Usually those doing the bullying are trying to prove how powerful they are. What they don't realize is they've exposed themselves as an insecure individual enjoying the exposure. As a child, it's almost a rite of passage, as an adult, it's a sign of an immature child. Children need to not take this cyberbullying so seriously.
Best to safeguard your information, emails, private messages, instant messages and any other form of communication on the net. If you don't what it out there, don't type it.
Janey, Coral Springs, FL (Sent Jul 3, 2007 2:44:56 PM)
I am constantly bullied. Online, a victim of tireless pranks. I have been harrassed, had my life threatened, etc, but I was the one they called crazy. I get so tired of being the world's punching bag, and people find it funny! I (a former surgical tech) find it appaling that parents, adults, and teens are allowed to go on in this kind of behavior. The paranoia of even trying to help, be nice, etc......is impossible. People don't want you in the "real" world, nor online. Dangerous messages we are sending folks. No one will listen to me......but someday we will look back and say.......I told you so. Condoning any kind of actions that hurt, degrade, and etc. are NOT okay in my book. People complain about "not my kid" but they are the one supporting the deviant, sick, twisted behaviors. Even now I am asked to leave the computer as some TEEN goes to check myspace, and etc. Someone who was online reading about how to have a positive day, and her own depression. I have to leave so the TEEN gets her way. or I!! will be banned from the computer. 29 year old girl doing research. hmmmm. something oddly wrong with this picture. Honey go grab your cellphone. or blackberry, and leave me to my desktop of the "old dark ages" :) I would give my email but that would open me up to more negative comments and abuse.
A Jane Doe (Sent Jul 11, 2007 11:01:39 PM)
Accountability?
The only word necessary (Sent Jul 12, 2007 8:50:32 AM)
Cyberbullying and Internet smears are real problems that have real-world consequences, and those who say differently obviously haven't experienced it. The only language these cowards understand is legal action.
Fed Up (Sent Jul 24, 2007 12:07:45 PM)
Bullying is considered harrassment. I have been bullied by cousins. I had received typed letters from her and false accusations. I informed her that if this continues, I will forward those e-mails that she sent to me to the police and I will press charges against her. Since I told her that, I have not been bullied by her.
(Sent Jul 27, 2007 9:05:34 AM)
I agree, I'm constantly being harassed and now stalked from an online community "clique" of people. We are ALL adults. I've been receiving death threats, harassing posts, harassing private messages, and even a phone call from one person!!! Now they say they're trying to press charges against ME for harassment and slander... I can only imagine what they must have had to CHANGE in what I've said in order to press charges against me. I've spoken insulting to them, who wouldn't? I've never threatened or harassed!!
Chelle (Sent Aug 17, 2007 9:46:37 AM)
Jane Doe,
What do you mean, "asked to leave the computer?" Does that mean that you're being ousted from a library's public computer?
Jim
(Sent Sep 14, 2007 12:58:34 PM)
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