Cyberbullying, a form of bullying through technology, such as cell phones and social networking sites (Facebook 2004), is a developing problem. Traditional bullying, the instance that there is intentional harm caused to a victim and these harmful behaviors are repeated (Olweus 1993,1999) is the foundation of cyber bullying. Another similarity between traditional bullying and cyber bullying is that both forms of bullying occur with the absence of adult supervision (Agaston et al 2012). Without adult supervision, it is expected that bullies will be more likely to be aggressive. However, that doesn’t always apply to cyber-bullying.
A main difference in cyber-bullying is the anonymity the aggressor has behind a keyboard. Without the aggressor seeing their victim’s reaction to being bullied, this may lead to deindividuation (Agaston et al 2012). Deindividuation may lead to more aggressive behavior by the aggressor, making some cyberbullying cases worse than regular bullying cases. Cassidy et al (2011) found in a study that despite the cyber bully’s anonymity, 43% to 80% of victims know who the cyber bully is. Despite that, cyber bullies continue to bully online, possibly by their feeling of anonymity behind a computer screen, posting or saying harmful things over the internet under a username or email not affiliated with their real name.
One of the main differences with traditional bullying and cyberbullying is the audience to each of these types of bullying. Traditional bullying usually consists of comments aggressor makes face to face, and only the people around them may hear what the aggressor says and see the response of the victim. With cyberbullying however, the aggressor’s comments and victim’s reactions aren’t limited to an audience in hearing distance. Any comments an aggressor makes on a discussion board or a forum will stay there unless they’re deleted. Therefore, the audience to the bullying is anyone who accesses the site, which may lead to more potential cyberbullies making comments toward the victim, even if they don’t know the victim. An example would be YouTube fights, where users will say some extremely rude comments to people they don’t even know, that they most likely wouldn’t say face to face. The feeling of anonymity gives people a sense of deindividuation, making them extremely aggressive online.
A main difference in cyber-bullying is the anonymity the aggressor has behind a keyboard. Without the aggressor seeing their victim’s reaction to being bullied, this may lead to deindividuation (Agaston et al 2012). Deindividuation may lead to more aggressive behavior by the aggressor, making some cyberbullying cases worse than regular bullying cases. Cassidy et al (2011) found in a study that despite the cyber bully’s anonymity, 43% to 80% of victims know who the cyber bully is. Despite that, cyber bullies continue to bully online, possibly by their feeling of anonymity behind a computer screen, posting or saying harmful things over the internet under a username or email not affiliated with their real name.
One of the main differences with traditional bullying and cyberbullying is the audience to each of these types of bullying. Traditional bullying usually consists of comments aggressor makes face to face, and only the people around them may hear what the aggressor says and see the response of the victim. With cyberbullying however, the aggressor’s comments and victim’s reactions aren’t limited to an audience in hearing distance. Any comments an aggressor makes on a discussion board or a forum will stay there unless they’re deleted. Therefore, the audience to the bullying is anyone who accesses the site, which may lead to more potential cyberbullies making comments toward the victim, even if they don’t know the victim. An example would be YouTube fights, where users will say some extremely rude comments to people they don’t even know, that they most likely wouldn’t say face to face. The feeling of anonymity gives people a sense of deindividuation, making them extremely aggressive online.