Cyber-Bullying Increasing

It had to happen I suppose. With children becoming increasingly comfortable
in cyberspace, there always have to be those that come along and spoil all
the fun. I'm talking about cyber-bullies.

Just as a school ground bully physically hurts and throws insults at fellow
schoolmates, and generally practices anti-social behavior, so a cyber-bully
does the same - just online.

Cyber-bullying is on the increase, especially in "first-world" countries
like the US and UK where being online is almost ubiquitous. Cyberspace
social networking sites like MySpace, and other blog or instant messaging
sites seem to be the preferred place for online harassment.

Why? Because!

Cyber-bullying is "safe" - in the eyes of the bully at least, because it is
away from the eyes of teachers, parents, and other "witnesses" such as other
classmates. It can be highly anonymous. Bullying can be from "mild" throwing
of insults, to "severe" threats of physical or sexual violence. In a way,
this is worse than physical bullying on the school ground. On the school
ground, at least you know who your attacker is, can see who he or she is,
and can take precautions. This is not often possible with cyber-bullying.
The resulting psychological trauma can be severe. In some instances, it has
even lead to depression and suicide!

Some stats:

1. Girls are just as likely to engage in this activity as boys.

2. 38.3% of girls are likely to be cyber-bullied as opposed 34.4% of
boys.

3. Girls are more likely to retaliate or "answer back".

The internet being such an anonymous forum, will probably make the
cyber-bullying phenomenon very difficult to address. I think that parents
and teachers are going to have to get very inventive.

Please post your thoughts, and while you're online check out
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