Co-Authors: Cierra Rodriguez, Justin O’Neal, Ashley Mixon.
The new technology of today has made life more accessible in almost every way imaginable. We know exactly where we are, with a simple push of a button on our cellphone's GPS. The ease of 24/7 communication is both fast and efficient.
As online communication evolves, from instant messaging and chat rooms, to social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube, young people's lives are becoming increasingly public, making it easier for a bully to target a victim. An even more faceless, impersonal, humiliating, demeaning, and potentially dangerous form of bullying, has now emerged: cyber-bullying. Cyberbullying is on the rise worldwide and there have been countless number of teenagers across the nation who have suffered from attacks via cyberspace which has led them to depression, and unfortunately for a few, even suicide because of this new powerful Net bullying tactic.
Cyberbullying is broadly defined as "harassment, or assault, among an individual, or group of persons, by any means of communication through an electronic act", with the sole intention of tormenting an individual. An “electronic act” includes a text message via cellphone, threatening e-mail, instant message, picture, video or blog post. Texas lawmakers have taken initial steps to protect Texas students from cyber-bullying. In 2009, Texas law made it a crime to engage in various activities including cyber-bullying on commercial social networking sites, via e-mail, and instant messaging. Most recently in the 2011 Texas Legislature House Bill 1942 [8] was enacted establishing a comprehensive definition of bullying, including cyberbullying, and requiring that school districts adopt a local anti-bullying policy beginning in the 2012-13 academic year.
According to New Scientist [9], "playground bullying," as they call it, can cause a loss of self-motivation, or even depression, in young people, over a long period of time. Cyberbullying, however, causes psychological harm on a more widespread scale. Robin Kowalski [10], a psychologist at Clemson University in South Carolina, and co-author of the book CyberBullying: Bullying in the Digital Age [11], explains how this is possible. "A video seen by hundreds, or thousands, of teenage peers can be much more devastating than verbal bullying by that of just 10 friends on a playground. Also, because the Internet is active 24/7, when something cruel and demeaning is posted online, it will never go away, creating an even more humiliating environment for any victim," notes Kowalski.
Nationally, there is no uniform legislation to address cyberbullying. There is a patchwork of initiatives to help students avoid, and address, cyberbullying, but no comprehensive measure or program to protect students.
Laws passed by the Texas Legislature are steps in the right direction, and will help protect young people against cyberbullying. It is evident that more needs to be done in light of the ongoing and growing bullying activity on the Net. In our report titled, "Observe and Report [12]," we detail our cyberbullying initiative in depth.
It is critical that policymakers, civic and faith leaders, educators, and technologists, amidst the innovation and advances of technology, identify and implement methodologies and standard practices to further prevent the spread of cyberbullying.