Trickery, Trolling and Threats:
Understanding and Addressing Cyberbullying
presented by Michelle Pincince, Anti-Defamation League
For more information on cyberbullying, please visit the Anti-Defamation League website.
Workshop Summary by Robert Freyer
Robert Freyer is a student at the University of Connecticut and an intern for The Governor's Prevention Partnership
Cyberbullying, defined as "willful and repeated harm inflicted through electronic media," has an extensive correlation to in-school bullying, said Michelle Pincince, Project Director of the Anti-Defamation League, during her workshop at the 2010 Best Practices Conference, Positive School Climate and Student Success.
Because of electronic media, Pincince told the audience, bullying has become a 24/7 issue. "The internet and text messaging make it so harassment doesn't stop once students step off the school bus--it has infiltrated their homes so that there is no escape," she explained. "Parents' simple suggestion to `just turn off the computer' is not a solution, because whether the student is logged on or not, the harassment is continuous on social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook, where it is also publicly published for all to see." Trolling (initiating fights between others) and flaming (fighting online via e-profiles) have become increasing problems, Pincince explained.
"Cyberbullying has expansive participation because of its ability to spread and be instantaneously accessed," Pincince said. "Often cyberbullying is not done by one individual, but by a group of students." Students, she explained, are forming and joining "I Hate Jane Doe" Facebook groups founded on hatred toward a particular student with the sole intention to harass and make fun of the targeted victim. A teacher in the audience spoke of one such group who planned and participated in an "I Hate Jane Doe Day," on which group members all wore the shirts of a certain color to signifying their hatred toward this student.
According to Pincince, another key aspect of cyberbullying is its anonymity. Using e-media such as instant messaging or the newly popular social web site Formspring.me, students can send or post threatening and hateful messages to others anonymously or hidden behind a screen name. "Anonymity intensifies cruelty and invisibility lessens empathy," Pincince said. This, she added, leads victims to become paranoid and afraid to go to school due to threatening messages they received from unidentified attackers hiding behind screen names. "With the internet, bullies don't have to see the pain and tears on the faces of their victims as they insult them, making conscience less of a factor for these tormentors," she said. "Because of this, studies show, an increasing number of females are participating in bullying."
Cell phones, especially those with cameras, and texting are another invasive form of cyber-bullying. Bullies are taking pictures of students and teachers and fabricating humiliating pictures using Photoshop or other such editing software.
"Sexting" (sending erotic text or pictures via text messaging) is also a big problem. Students are taking pictures of themselves and sending them to boyfriends/girlfriends with erotic intent, but after breakups or as pranks, these pictures instantaneously make their way to countless personal cell phones. According to Pincince, this not only qualifies as bullying and sexual harassment, but - depending on the age of the person in the photo - also as distribution of child pornography.
Pincince explained that the problem is that schools have limited jurisdiction as to what students say or do to one another over the internet. Schools, she said, can only take disciplinary action if a nexus can be established connecting these events to the school. "Schools are trying to have more influence over such problems, but the solution really lies with parents," Pincince said. "Parents need to be monitoring their child's internet and cell phone activity in order to catch and stop this type of bullying."