What I know about cyberbullying

When I was a teenager, I did not even realize there was a term for bullying someone online. I did not realize the significance that the Internet has had on the ways teenagers could bully each other. Cyberbullying is relatively new and I believe it should be studied. I’m not sure how limited my experiences are with this kind of bullying. When I was in middle school, I remember having to change my AOL instant messenger screen name several times because of the harassment I was getting from my schoolmates. Simply blocking their screen names never helped because they would always just create new ones. Also, I felt that there was no one I could really talk to about this situation. I thought that if I told my mother what was happening she would not want me in instant messenger anymore and I loved being online. I had considered telling the school administrators what was going on but because this was happening outside of school, I did not think they held any kind of authority.

While reading Sharon R. Mazzerella’s Girl Wide Web 2.0, I came across a few examples of conversations instant messaging conversations that where very familiar to the ones I experienced. In one example, the two girls are threatening physical violence.

Junkytrunk16: devin dat was real fowl wat u had in ur profile earlier

Junkytrunk16: sayiin BITCHES these days ppl need 2 grow up or wateva

Babyfizzle: yea well ur cruddy and so is aza, and that’s how i feel so oh well

Junkytrunk16: how am I crddy 2an1

Babyfizzle: :-/

Junkytrunk16: an dif sum1 was 2 call u a bitch u wuld be quick 2 fight them devin

Babyfizzle: lest not forget how us said u aint have my back bf, I act like these thing dont bother me but they do and im mad

Babyfizzle: lets*

Conversations like this can escalade. They can be copied and pasted so that what someone says is taken out of context or shared with someone who was not involved in the conversation. Bullying has been an issue with teenagers for a long time but when the Internet becomes involved, it is taken to a different level.

In this blog, I want to explore what cyberbullying is, the effects it has on teenagers and especially young girls, what someone can do when they experience this kind of bullying, and what adults or organizations are doing to help the issue.