Cyber bullying

BenVitale

According to this article : Bullies more harmful online than in person

Do you agree that cyber bullying is worse than in person, face to face?

photoleif

no, disagree. let's step back and think about which is an elective activity and which is not. a kid has no choice but walk home from school, and possibly be accosted by bullies. there's always a choice involved in logging on to facebook, or whether to pay any attention to cyber-taunting. one cannot easily (or at all) be turned off, and one is as easy as walking away from it or logging off.

the article puts figures to their conclusions and thus appears to lend credence to their hypotheses, but (so far as the article is concerned... i have not delved into further detail of the study for instance) i conjecture that the sampling is skewed due to the population having certain characteristics that may not be common to both groups (i.e. the physically bullied and the digitally bullied).

one more point: "Cyber-bullying victims do not see and may not even know who their harasser is, which can make them feel more vulnerable". huh? wait a sec. being physically attacked every day during or after school somehow makes one feel *less* vulnerable than engaging in an elective activity that one can painlessly log off from and escape? what a bizarre world these researchers live in, that they can conclude that physical abuse appears preferable to digital. essentially, "never have i felt more vulnerable than sitting in front of a computer monitor, helplessly strapped to facebook absorbing taunt after taunt. i so wish i were being chased down the street, having my stomach kicked, coat torn and mud stuffed down my shirt. oh the good old days!"

hogwash.

now, no one conclude i think that cyber-bullying isn't real, or doesn't have real results. i agree it is, and does. i'm simply responding to the question of degree.

BenVitale

What do you think of this Student death raises cyber-bullying issue

DRJB

The cyber-bully doesn't have to be anonymous though. Whether or not they are, the internet offers them a sense of security and obscurity. I would even say that anything devolves when a structure of accountability is missing or diminishing. As for the person who feels victimized, I suppose it could even stem from not having an outlet or any sense of justice from the situation that could lead people to feel it's worse than verbal abuse spoken by peers or others in a face-to-face situation. Either way, I think it's safe to say that the majority of people feel safer saying horrendous things to others when they're saying it in an environment with no consequences. Obviously that doesn't stand for every situation, but I think that's a fair generalization.