"Cyber Bullying" Exposed!!!

Overwhelming change in universal viewpoint has rapidly taken place as the turn of the new century dawns. Gone are the belief of unascertained horizons as well as unfathomed world terrains. The advancement of technology has shrunken the once enormous world. However, technological advancement turned today's society into  isolated populace where each spends most of his time sitting in front of a computer. The onset  of such revolution brought into being the concept of Cyberspace. Its creation has dramatically changed the lives of the people and how they interact with one another.

The word cyberspace was first defined by William Gibson in his 1984 book Neuromancer as “a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation by children being taught mathematical concepts. A graphical representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the non-space of the mind, clusters and constellations of data” (Gibson, 1989).  The development of high end computers and the birth of the Internet will create a holographic data bank wherein people will begin to metaphysically interact with people and environment was also foreseen and foretold by Gibson. What he theorized as a non-space place in the minds of every citizen is now happening.

The Birth Of Cyber Bullying


The cyberspace contains almost all kind of information. The presence of the Internet allows access to cyber data in just a matter  of seconds. Access to data has correspondingly  revolutionized, from the macro presentation of things to the crudest representations of information,  and on-line interaction between people became possible. It paved the way for on-line communication through the Internet, use of interactive cameras, blogs, E-mails, Youtube, on-line posts, and other related terms. Slowly,  cyber technology altered the way people interact without sparing society's behavior and with it cyber bullying was born. 


Cyber Bullying


Cyber bullying is an act of bullying another individual, group of idividuals, organization bybtaking advantage of the use of the Internet or other related means. Presently, it has also been defined as a situation when a child or teen is repeatedly tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarassed or otherwise targeted by another child or teen using text messages using the Short Messaging System (SMS), e-mails, or any other type of digital technology (Pacthin and Hinuja 2009).

Cyber bullying is commonly  exhibited through constant sending of e-mail, SMS messages, or other similar type of digital communication devices or Internet-based gadgets to an individual despite the latter’s plea that he or she does not want any further contact with the sender. Furthermore, threats, sexual remarks, hate messages, or any other means by which one is ganged up by making them the subject of ridicule in chat rooms, public on-line forums, and the likes designed nothing more but to humiliate and harass is also considered cyber bullying.


The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 2008 research documented a patterned increase of cyber bullying in alarming rates through the years. Employing a random sample of respondents from a considerably large district in the southern part of the US or about 2000 middle-school students, about 10% admitted to have been cyber-bullied in the previous 30 days while over 17% admitted to have been bullied at least once in their early stages of schooling . The research was focused  on children and teens because of the frequency by which they use the internet.


However, cyber bullies do not only target teenagers;  adults can also be targeted as well. One may think  that cyber bullying has lesser or no effect at all to adults considering that adults have the capacity to handle it better. Think again, adults who are cyber bullied often have their jobs, safety and financial status at risk.


Cyber bullying may have in-depth psychological effects on its victim. Fear, anxiety, restlessness and other psychological drawbacks may damage another’s welfare and physical well-being. Low esteem may develop to victims that may often leave them unproductive and lacking in self-confidence which may somehow damage their social worth.


Cyber Bullies Motives


Commonly, cyber bullying are motivated by anger, revenge or frustration. There are also instances when it is done for entertainment or because of boredom and have plenty of idle time on their hands accompanied by the presence of a lot of tech toys available to them. Several numbers of bullies do it for laughs or to get a reaction. Some do it by accident, and either send a message to the wrong recipient or didn't think before they did something. The Power-hungry do it to torment others and for their ego. Revenge of the nerd may start out defending themselves from traditional bullying only to find that they enjoy being the tough guy or gal. Mean girls do it to help bolster or remind people of their own social standing. And some think they are righting wrong and standing up for others.


Different Types of Cyberbullying


There are different types of cyberbullying and it can be done from one individual to another. Cyber bullying can be done indirectly by organizing a group to carry out the bullying.

Cyberstalking

• Cyberstalking is an act where an individual sends messages repeatedly through the Internet or throught the use of a mobile phone. Messages are threatening in nature that instill fear. The stalking might move offline and can become physical.

  Flaming

  
  

  

  • Flaming entails correspondence with the use of electronic communication channels such as chat rooms, email and instant messenger. It refers to arguments beefed up with images to drive a point and harsh language.

    
    

    Exclusion

    
    

    

    • When an individual is singled out and excluded from a group, exclusion exists. The group in turn then taunts the excluded person using the Internet or a mobile phone.

      Outing

      
      

      

      • Outing arises when an individual shares private information using online communication tools or a mobile phone. That person is then "outed" when his private information is shared publicly either online or off.

        Masquerading

        
        

        

        • Masquerading is considered as a sophisticated form of cyberbullying. This happens when an individual creates a false identity and harasses another while pretending to be someone they are not. Masquerading also includes attempts to steal log-in information, then using the information in a harassing manner such as sharing it publicly.

          Examples of Cyber Bullying

          • The "Star Wars kid," it involved a Canadian teen who filmed himself swinging a golf-ball retriever as a light saber. Some of his peers procured a copy of his video and edited the scene with special effects to fit him in movie scenes, making the "Star Wars kid" an Internet sensation. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the teenager in question "was forced to drop out of school and seek psychiatric help."

            The Christian Science Monitor also reports the case of Calabasas High School in California and the website schoolscandals.com, "on which vicious gossip and racist and threatening remarks grew so rampant that most of the school was affected."

            Finally, a USA Today article describes one of the cruelest cases of cyberbullying as that of Megan Meier, "a 13-year-old Missouri girl who killed herself following an Internet hoax."

            
            

            Cyber Bullying Legislations

            The first cyber stalking law took effect in 1999 in California, US while the first cyber bullying law took effect in 2007 in states including New York, Missouri, Rhode Island and Maryland.
            
            At present, the Philippines has no explicit legilation on cyber stalking or cyber bullying. Nevertheless using the aforementioned definition of cyber staking petaining to the involvement of false accusations, transmission of threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, certain acts could be subsued in the acts prohibited under the Republic Act No. 8792, An Act Providing for the Recognition and Use of Electronic Commercial and non-comercial Transactions and Documents,Penalties for Unlawful Use Thereof and for other Purpose or the E-Commerce Act, to wit:
            
            SEC. 33. Penalties. - The following Acts shall be penalized by fine and/or imprisonment, as follows:
            
            1. Hacking or cracking which refers to unauthorized access into or interference in a computer system/server or information and communication system; or any access in order to corrupt, alter, steal, or destroy using a computer or other similar information and communication devices, without the knowledge and consent of the owner of the computer or information and communications system, including theintroduction of computer viruses and the like, resulting in the corruption,destruction, alteration, theft or loss of electronic data messages or electronic document shall be punished by a minimum fine of one hundredthousand pesos (P100,000.00) and a maximum commensurate to thedamage incurred and a mandatory imprisonment of six (6) months tothree (3) years.