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Cyberbullying

 What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying seems to be a hot topic these days with the people in the world being so connected by technology. However, thinking about cyberbullying, one may really wonder what the true definition of “cyberbullying” is?  In an article titled Cyberbullying: Identification, Prevention, and Response by Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin, cyberbullying “is defined as: ‘willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices’” (Hinduja & Patchin, 2022).  Therefore, from my understanding, if a person uses any type of technology to cause hurt to a person, that is considered to be cyberbullying.  Until now, I really never knew what the true definition of cyberbullying was.

 

(Phillips, n.d.)

What is the biggest difference between cyberbullying and bullying?

As classroom teacher, I am always making sure that my students are not getting bullied or being a bully. To be honest, I would love to know what the biggest difference between cyberbullying and bullying since I am now looking to step into a position that will make it mandatory to address cyberbullying and not just bullying. To help me better understand the difference, I researched cyberbullying and bullying. I found a great article from the ALA YLSA website called “More than Just Books: Librarians as a Source of Support for Cyberbullied Young Adults.” Below is a table that was shared within the article that describes the differences between bullying and cyberbullying.

 

(Phillips, n.d.)

If you look at the table above, the biggest differences I can see are with cyberbullying you may not know your bully by name, cyberbullying happens on a technological device, and cyberbullying can happen at any time at any place.  With traditional bullying in a school setting, the student knows the person that is bullying them, it happens in-person, and it happens while at school (Phillips, n.d.). By looking at the differences between bullying and cyberbullying, the biggest thing I see as an educator is that you as the librarian can help control the bullying since it usually happens at school, but with cyberbullying it cannot be as controlled by the librarian as traditional bullying can be because it can happen at any point in time (Phillips, n.d.).

 

What can we do for our students?  

First of all, we must as educators teach children how to be kind, considerate, and respectful of others.  We need to stress how to treat others in a physical environment as well as in a virtual environment. We must also teach our children or make our students aware of what cyberbullying is and what it looks like. We should also stress how bullying hurts others and impress upon students how they might feel if they were being bullied.  Then we should also teach them what to do if they are being bullied or especially cyberbullied.  If we give our students the resources they need about cyberbullying, they will feel more empowered to stand up to cyberbullying if it happens to them or a friend. A great resource I came across while reading different resources on cyberbullying is a video about cyberbullying through BrainPop. I would share it here, but from what I understand, BrainPop is a paid subscription. I am just fortunate enough to work in a school district that has a subscription.  Therefore, if you have access to BrainPop, check out the video on cyberbullying. It is a great resource for you to share with children. It gives such great ideas on how to prevent cyberbullying ("Cyberbullying," n.d.).

 

I hoped you learned a little more about cyberbullying.  Now, go help students be aware they should never be treat others with unkindly in persons or online, nor should they have to endure ill treatment by others either in person or online!

Thanks for stopping by!

                                                                                                                      Sincerely,

                                                                                                                     Courtland Smith

 

References

Cyberbullying [Video]. (n.d.). BrainPop. https://www.brainpop.com/technology/
     communications/cyberbullying/

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2022). Cyberbullying: Identification, prevention,
     and response. Cyberbullying Research Center. https://cyberbullying.org/
     Cyberbullying-Identification-Prevention-Response-2022.pdf

Phillips, A. L. (n.d.). More than just books: Librarians as a source of support
     for cyberbullied young adults. The Journal of Research on Libraries and
     Young Adults. https://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/2014/05/
     more-than-just-books-librarians-as-a-source-of-support-for-cyberbullied-young-adu
     lts/

Phillips, A. L. (n.d.). Table 1: Definitional differences between traditional
     bullying and cyberbullying [Chart]. The Journal of Research on Libraries
     and Young Adults. https://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/wp-content/uploads/2014/
     05/aphillips_table1.jpg

Phillips, C. (n.d.). Cyberbullying [Image]. National Education Association.
     https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/
     helping-students-deal-cyberbullies

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