Comparison of Cyber and School Bullying - Essay Example

Cyber Bullying and School Bullying: A Comparison/Contrast Paper al Affiliation Outline: Cyber Bullying and School Bullying 1. Narrative This part starts with two consecutive narratives; a cyber-bullying narrative and a school bullying narrative 1. Bullying This part puts the two forms of bullying in one category, which is bullying and then gives a brief explanation of each 2. Contrast This part contrasts cyber bullying with traditional bullying starting with the differences in statistics and other major differences 3. Comparison This part compares cyber bullying and traditional bullying, which include their effects on the victim 4. Prevention This part combines both cyber bullying and traditional bullying by explaining the treatment of both. 5. Conclusion This part revisits the paper in a single paragraph David Knights life at school has been hell. He was teased, taunted and punched for years. But the final blow was the humiliation he suffered every time he logged onto the Internet. Someone had set up an abusive Web site about him that made life unbearable (Webster, 2004). Nine years ago, Trudy Ludwig’s daughter was the target of emotional aggression at the hands of school bullies. Trudy didn’t just accept it as a rite of passage. This wasn’t “girls being girls.” It was bullying, and it was damaging. So Trudy worked with her young daughter to find workable solutions and to successfully overcome the bullies at school (Healthline Networks, 2014). These are just some of the stories that that are found in the media in relation to both cyber-bullying and traditional bullying. From the narration, one thing is clear, both cyber-bullying and traditional bullying are not good and the victims suffer in many ways. However, the question that still remains is, is cyber-bullying similar to tradition bullying. If not, where are the differences? Despite these questions, it is clear that both are major social problems in our society, which can be categorized in one broad category; bullying, which is the use of coercion, force or the aggressive domination of another person. In most cases, bullying is not a one-time behavior. Instead, bullying is somehow how a repetitive behavior. Bullying includes many acts such as verbal, physical assault and other behaviors that lead to threat and the harassment of the victim. Before technological development, only one type of bullying existed, traditional bullying, which evident through its many forms with the main one being school-bullying. However, with technological development, cyber bullying developed. Although the two are types of bullying, they have different characteristics as different mediums are used when bullying individuals. Traditional bullying takes place in the real environment while cyber-bullying occurs in the virtual environment. Statistics shows that both cyber-bullying and traditional bullying are still high in the modern environment. According to Uhls, a survey on the same, which was completed in 2007, showed that over the two month period that the survey was taking place, both types of bullying were happening at a high rate (Uhls, 2012). Although this is the case, the same author argues that one of the bullying is higher than the other since traditional bullying was higher than electronic bullying. The explanation of this difference is that technology is not always allowed in school. If they do, most school do not allow technology use and access during the school hours. This means that traditional forms of bullying such as school bullying might be the easiest as interaction among students is not restricted like the way technology use is restricted. Despite this difference, researchers have confirmed that electronic or cyber-bullying is rising given the fact that technology use is becoming cheaper than before. Its escalation is also related to the rise in social networking among communities, friends and families. People are now spending most of their times in the social networking sites instead of interacting in the real world (Uhls, 2012). Apart from the differences in the prevalence of the two types of bullying, another major difference is in the way they are conducted. According to Hines, cyber/electronic bullying takes place through such things as emails, chat rooms conversations, digital messages and through social networking sites among other similar channels (Hines, 2010). These channels are enhanced by the mobile, smart phone and the computer technology, which is working hard to make sure that electronic communication and socialization is enhanced. A good example of this form of harassment is whereby perpetrator sends the private pictures of a victim without the permission of the victim to send the pictures (Hines, 2010). Traditional-bullying, on the other hand, takes place through face to face interactions between the victim and the bully (Dooley, Pyżalski & Cross, 2009). Apart from happening through face to face interaction, this bullying can also take place in the light of a real audience, which may include peers and other types of audiences (Dooley, Pyżalski & Cross, 2009. Another difference between the two is that one can occur just anywhere provided that both the victim and the bully are connected through internet or mobile technology. This is unlike school bullying or traditional bullying, which only takes place when the bully and the victim come across each other. Another significant difference between the two is that one is more severe than the other. Cyber-bullying is explained to be more severe than its counterpart because of many things. For example, Uhls (2012) argues that the fact that traditional or school bullying victims cannot be reached at their homes makes it safer for them. This is unlike cyber-bullying victims who are never safe provided that they are connected to the internet and are having their mobile devices on. The same author argues that the larger audience, which is one of the major characteristics of cyber-bullying, makes its impacts heavier than the impacts of traditional bullying. In addition, cyber bullies and their victims are not near each other in terms of communication. Therefore, such bullies are likely to continue bullying their victims because they do not know about the consequences of their actions. In prove of this, researchers have conducted real surveys, which have actually shown that cyber bullying victims are actually more affected than their counterparts. In most cases, such victims suffer from depression especially when the behavior against them is persistent (Uhls, 2012). However, the difference in the impacts comes because traditional bullying can lead to the physical hurt of the victim unlike cyber-bullying where the victim can only harm himself physically after depression. Although the two types of bullying are different in many ways, they tend to share some similarities. As seen from the discussion of their similarities, it is clear that both forms of bullying affect the victim in one way or the other. Both may lead to depressive disorders among victims and both may cause serious harm through suicide and other related deaths. In both types, the victim is always powerless. This means that the bully must have some power over the victim in order to carry out his/her bullying. For example, in online bullying, the bully must have ways of making the victim succumb to his control. He/she may use private messages, pictures and other bullying techniques that are beyond the victim’s control. On the other hand, the bully in the traditional bullying must have some dominion over the victim. For example, physical bullying mostly takes place when the bully and the victim are not equal in power or personality (Thomas, 2010). Just like the two types shares some similarities and differences in the way they are conducted and in their impacts on the victims, their ways of prevention are also dissimilar. Cyber/electronic bullying can mostly be prevented by making sure that children’s use of electronic devices and the internet is regulated. Traditional bullying, on the other hand can be regulated by making sure that the bully is warned against bullying and that the victim is kept away from the bully. Although this is the case, both of the bullying can be stopped by taking serious legal measures against the bully. Both can also be prevented by educating young people about the negative consequences of bullying (Shaheen, 2008). In conclusion, bullying comes in many forms. The most common is cyber/electronic bullying and traditional bullying. A comparison and contrast of the two forms of bullying shows that they are similar in one way or the other, but they still share some dissimilarities. For example, traditional bullying takes place in the real world and cyber-bullying mostly takes place in the virtual world or through electronic devices. References Hines, H. N. (2011). Traditional bullying and cyber-bullying: are the impacts on self-concept the same? (Doctoral dissertation, Western Carolina University). Dooley, J. J., Pyżalski, J., & Cross, D. (2009). Cyberbullying versus face-to-face bullying. Zeitschrift für Psychologie/Journal of Psychology, 217(4), 182-188. Uhls, Yalda T. (2012). "Cyberbullying Has a Broader Impact than Traditional Bullying."Cyberbullying. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "Is Bullying Going Digital? Cyber Bullying Facts."PsychologyinAction.org. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.  Thomas A. Jacobs (2010). Teen Cyberbullying Investigated: Where Do Your Rights End and Consequences Begin? Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit. Shaheen Shariff (2008). Cyber-bullying: Issues and Solutions for the School, the Classroom and the Home. New York: Routledge. Healthline Networks (2014). Bullying stories: A mom’s perspectives. Retrieved on Nov 29, 2014 from: http://www.healthline.com/health/bullying-stories-moms-perspective Webster, C. (2004). David Knight. Retrieved on Nov 29, 2014 from: http://www.cyberbullying.info/examples/knight.php Read More