Online Bullying

http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.ohiolink.edu:9099/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&hid=10&sid=2144d2fd-ad37-4f59-86fa-31cebbd5e38d%40sessionmgr14

This is an article from EBSCOhost. The article covers things such as:

• What is cyberbullying?


• How widespread of a problem is it?


• What is so appealing about it for bullies?


• Who is more affected, boys or girls?


• Laws preventing cyberbullying


• Steps kids can take to avoid bullying/ What to do if bullied


• ect.

This article was written as a Media Awareness Network to help people understand what cyberbullying is and how it can affect not just children, but people of all ages. It is centered around young people from Canada. The article focuses on how cyberbullying affects these young people, why cyberbullying happens, what can be done to stop it, and where they can go for help.

This article was edited by Jeanne Buckley, a teacher-librarian who is involved in two elementary schools in the York Catholic District School Board. As a teacher-librarian, she is aware of the constant changes that technology goes through and knows that she needs to prepare her students to be safe and deal with the information given with the click of a button. The article was written by Anne Taylor and others at the Media Awareness Network. In overseeing and writing this article, Jeanne Buckley, Anne Taylor, and the other people involved in writing for the Media Awareness Network, have brought forth more information about certain topics of debate. In doing so, they have also helped parents and teachers aware of things they need to do to ensure their students/children are safely using the internet. Since everyone involved in the writing of this article is involved as either a teacher-librarian, or dealing with the Media Awareness Network, they have all expirienced the uprise in technology and what can affect students and young people online. They are aware of the dangers and know what steps to take in order to prevent bad things from happening. This article was written in 2006, so it is a more recent article which makes it an up-to-date topic.

I agree with what the article has to offer. It covers everything from what cyberbullying is, to what people need to do in order to stop it and what to do if it happens to them. Before reading into this topic more, I myself wasn't sure what cyberbullying was exactly. In reading this article, I was very much informed on what it is and many other facts on what to do if you are being bullied and who you can talk to. I think it is unacceptable for people to think that just because the bullying is happening online, that it is alright to say cruel things. People don't realize that even though they are bullying online and not in person, it can still impact and hurt someone just as much, if not more. As more and more instances happen to people online, I believe everyone should be aware of what is going on in cyberbullying and put a stop to it.

http://www.edutopia.org/techno-prisoners


This is a journal article I found on edutopia. This article is about the authors own encounter with bullying when she was younger. She talks about how easy it is to catch embarrassing things as they happen, in video and pictures, and how easily it is to post those things online. She does, however, point out a fact that I haven't thought about before. She makes the point to say that yes, the legislative system is trying to pass laws against anti-cyberbullying, but what exactly is getting through. So many people are still cyberbullying and there are still numerous reports on the news about students dropping out of school and at the most severe extent killing themselves over cyberbullying. She stated that to a certain extent, she is happy she went through her bad experience because it made her more independent and that other kids that went through what she did could become tougher as well.

This article was written by Evany Thomas who is the author of "The Secret Language of Sleep" and is also a blogger herself. She herself was bullied as she reflects on it in the beginning of the article. She was in 7th grade and states that she can still go right back to that moment and feel the same feelings. In knowing what it feels like to be bullied and cast out of a group of friends, she is a very reliable person to be talking about the topic of bullying and having a say in cyberbullying. This journal article was written in 2007 and is only 3 years old, the information in it deals with very recent topics of debate, making it up-to-date.

As a young student once, just like all of us have been, I remember going through something just like the authors experience. A couple girls thought it would be funny to write a note to me saying that they didn't want to be my friend anymore. Although I am no longer hurt by this action that was taken, I still remember it. I'm sure many students go through the same thing as well as other things, but no matter what it is, nobody likes it. So why do it? The Evany Thomas has a good point in stating that because many students don't report what happens to them in a bullying situation. Some may misinterpret that and think that what they are saying doesn't hurt others, so how would ads and other messages get through to these people who are bullying when they don't think they are doing anything wrong. I agree with the author completely in this article, that is why I wanted to add another article on how cyberbullying affects people more than we all know.

I found this video about cyberbullying via the teachertube website. It was uploaded in June of 2010. In this video, there is an example of students bullying another student, it shows what could end up happening if bullying goes to far. Towards the end of the video, there are pictures of young people who sadly ended up committing suicide because of bullying and harassment. After each picture there are statistics of bullying incidents and outcomes and tips on how to handle a bullying situation and what you can do.

This video was made by a group of students for a class and was made as an anti-bullying message. The producer of the video was Shelli Casner. These students are around cyberbullying and face-to-face bullying almost every day, whether they realize it or not. Because they are around this behavior all the time, this makes them the perfect people to be sending out a message about anti-bullying and anti-cyberbullying. Since it was made just in June of 2010, that makes it only 4 months old, so the statistics are very up-to-date and accurate.

This video has a very powerful message to bullies, those being bullied, and the general viewing public. Yes, we hear about bullying being taken too far on the news all the time, but really, how much of that are we all paying attention to. Many more steps need to be taken in order to stop this cyberbullying and bullying. The video shows many very sad images and stated statistics of young people who have committed suicide. How far does bullying have to go in order for it to stop. I was impacted by this video and I will strive to teach my future students about cyber and regular bullying. There is no reason for students to take that kind of harassment and not say anything to anyone. They should be comfortable talking to their parents, teachers, and other mentors for help with bullies. This is a very serious problem that needs to be taught about and prevented.