Bulling and Cyberbulling

Bulling and cyber bulling is a huge issue in our society and the problem is increasing. According to the American Justice Department this month 1out of four children will be abused by another youth. And since the introduction of technology such as texting, emails and social media sites it has become allot easier for bullies to both bully and bully secretly and almost constantly. This essay will address the issue of both bullying, harassment and in particular cyber bullies.
It will also suggest ways to cope with bulling According to schools. nsw. edu. au bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s Building Respectful and Safe Schools (2010) identifies four types of bullying.
These are: * Physical bullying -Physical bullying is bullying physically including hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property. * Verbal bullying- Verbal bullying is bullying someone using words. For example-name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, or verbal abuse. * Covert bullying- Covert bullying is often harder to recognise and can be carried out behind the bullied person’s back. It is designed to harm someone’s social reputation and/or cause humiliation.

Covert bullying includes: lying and spreading rumours, negative facial or physical gestures, menacing or contemptuous looks, playing nasty jokes to embarrass and humiliate, mimicking unkindly, encouraging others to socially exclude someone and damaging someone’s social reputation or social acceptance * Cyber bullying- Cyber bullying is overt or covert bullying behaviours using digital technologies. Examples include harassment via a mobile phone, setting up a defamatory personal website or deliberately excluding someone from social networking spaces. Cyber bullying can happen at any time.
It can be in public or in private and sometimes only known to the target and the person bullying. Bulling is not mutual arguments and disagreements, single episodes of social rejection or dislike, single episode acts of nastiness or spite, random acts of aggression or intimidation. The standard definition for harassment is unwanted conduct on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation etc. which has the purpose or effect of either violating the claimant’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.
All bulling is harassment but not all harassment is bulling. Bulling has both short term and long term effects for the victims. Although severe long term effects can be avoided by stopping bulling as early as possible. The short term effects can include issues at school (i. e. lower academic achievement), depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. These issues may persist into adulthood.
In extreme cases bullied children may also have suicidal tendencies. Long term effects can include: a greater risk of depression and lower self-esteem later in later life, more likely to have problems with alcohol and drug use and it is more likely they will have suicidal thoughts Demonstrating assertive behaviour when bullied or harassed can often help reduce bulling. Assertive behaviour is not aggressive. It’s saying things in a direct and honest way. Saying things such as stop it, I don’t like it and what you’re saying isn’t very nice please stop.
If you are being bullied or harassed the most important thing to do is tell someone. People like a trusted adult such as a teacher, councillor or parent are all good to tell. If all else fails call a kids or bulling helpline such the kids helpline on 1800 55 1800. Cyber bullying is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.
It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor. Once adults become involved, it is plain and simple cyber-harassment or cyber stalking. Adult cyber-harassment or cyber stalking is NEVER called cyber bullying. The actions of a cyber-bully are biasedly verbal bulling over technology. This is includes messaging on a social site, email and texting. There is no way to completely avoid cyber bullies unless you pretty much stop using the computer.
But there are things you can do to lessen the chance of being cyber bullied. Firstly if you think you might be being cyber bullied then talk to a trusted adult. Secondly if the bulling is happening over social networking sites then most sites give you the option to block people. If it’s over the phone then talk to your parents about getting a new number. Bibliography http://ncab. org. au/fourkindsofbullying/ 24/8/12 http://www. stopbullying. gov/at-risk/effects/index. html#suicide 24/8/12 http://library. hinkquest. org/07aug/00117/bullyingconsequences. html 24/8/12 http://www. cyberbullying. info/ http://au. reachout. com/Factsheets/C/Cyberbullying http://www. cybersmart. gov. au/Kids/Tips%20to%20stay%20safe%20and%20cybersmart/Cyberbullying. aspx http://www. bullyingnoway. gov. au/ http://www. bullying. com. au/ http://www. youthbeyondblue. com/factsheets-and-info/fact-sheet-20-bullying/ http://www. stopbullying. gov/at-risk/effects/index. htmlhttp://www. racgp. org. au/afp/201103/201103carrgregg. pdf