Click to Inflict

Logging on, Claudia, a 14 year old honor student adds this entry to her blog, “I hate you. You are such a loser!” This diatribe degenerates into the mindless cruel slandering of a fellow peer. Every day, for 4 months, Claudia has faithfully blogged about her chosen target. Claudia’s blog snowballed as 33 other bloggers joined her in her hateful escapades.

In some ways, cyber-bullying is to bullying, what road rage is to violence. Both bullying and violence have had their place in our society for as long as we have had a society. Just as road r age is a form of violence that incorporates the use of automobiles and trucks, cyber-bullying is a form of bullying that uses the internet and other communication devices, to achieve its sordid objective. What we know and understand about physically bullying still counts with cyber-bullying. It is more the things we don’t know that make it harder to deal with. When bullying takes on physical aggression, or even relational aggression, the target usually has an idea who the bully is. With cyber-bullying, the level of anonymity is such that we begin to see true passive aggressive behavior. In some cases, the victim knows they are being bullied, but they don’t know who the bully is.  

This generation is the first to grow up “plugged-in.” The statistics show, that 71% of online teens have been contacted via social networks by complete strangers. The internet has widened the generation gap between children and parents fueling a digital divide, where children and teens are much more adept and experienced than parents. It is easier to get away with things when done online—at least with parents. Cliques, clubs, and other groups have moved from the school hallways and lunch rooms to chat rooms, blogs and social networks. Approximately 93% of all Americans between the ages 12 and 17 are estimated to be online daily.