The Dark Side

Being a victim of traditional bullying at school as a little girl is a terrifying experience and one that I won’t ever forget. The names I would get called, the amount of pushing, gossiping, rumour spreading that would occur was horrendous. I was just an ordinary girl that wanted to have fun and learn amongst other students, why was it that I felt constantly isolated and picked on, was it because I was different? Who knows. All I remember was feeling scared to go to school every day and pleading my parents to let me take the day off. I didn’t want to go back to a world of darkness where I was scared to be seen, or a place that I was getting left behind and not respected. And the funny thing is I didn’t do anything wrong. An example was when I was in sixth grade. I was somebody who loved to give gifts of all kinds to a group of friends who thought cared for me. But it turned out that they complained about the quality and the condition they got their presents in. Some broke it, others threw it in the bin in front of me. They retaliated and said how I always bought things that were of cheap quality, and was of value equivalent to a devils curse. Doing a good deed and having that happening is certainly darkness at its finest. But the thing is  bullying doesn’t only occur at school, it can happen when you’re at work,  or in a public place, or when you’re talking to a family member , it’s all around us. We have all become a victim of forms of bullying and its certainly one of the worst feelings in the world.   Have you ever thought about why bullying even occurs?  Traits of anger, revenge , frustration, entertainment purposes, boredom and to have a laugh why people pursue it.

Three common types of Traditional Bullying consist of (Hines N H 2011) :

•   Social - results in harming an individual’s psychological state  and social connections’
•   Verbal - bullying consists of teasing, taunting, or mocking the victim in a direct face to face manner.
•  Physical- bullying taking the form of hitting, punching, kicking, shoving, pinching, or any other behavior that can inflict physical pain on an individual.

However as technology has progressed forward it has changed how people interact.  We have taken bullying and harassment to a whole new level through technology. 

This known as Cyber bullying  takes under many forms examples consisting of : (Hines N H 2011)

•   sending offensive/insulting messages,
• distributing false information about somebody through email or instant messaging, 
•   fighting and abusing through online messages,
• breaking into somebody’s social networking account and posting embarrassing material to others through impersonating.
•  sharing secrets to others,
•   sending threats and cyber-stalking

 In comparison to traditional bullying , the bullies in the cyber world are ‘’anonymous’’ , they have a ‘’unique sense of power and control ‘’.  (Steffgen G & König A 2011).

An international research project led from the Australian Catholic university found differences between cyber-bullying and traditional bullying. 927 students were surveyed in Victoria and results depicted that 15 per cent had been engaged in cyber bullying , and 21 per cent in traditional, and 7 % in both.  Results showed that ‘’exclusion’’ and ‘’spreading of rumours’’ was the key factors for cyber bullying.  (Australian Catholic University 2012)

Here are some media releases that sum up the effects of cyber-bullying, We all need to stand against it, build more of an awareness and put a stop to it.

          

References

Hines N H 2011, Traditional Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Are the Impacts on Self-Concept the Same?, Western Carolina University, accessed on 6^th Febuary 2013, <libres.uncg.edu/ir/wcu/f/Hines2011.pdf>

Steffgen G & König A 2011, Cyber Bullying: The Role of Tradional Bullying and Empathy, University of Luxembourg, accessed on 6^th of Febuary 2013, https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:vlFBBg_5t4YJ:icbtt.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/COST298-Template-Cyberbullying_Steffgen.pdf+&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgsEdomh3QzNmlcH_eVmWAgbr_oz2NAHF5XsyUEjd0Cn3_4q11iTHp7OTWlfv409WU6c82BfiVpB5thDIyptghMPv1r3yQTeHEj3Cf_p2As2DEakNPhyBZwALrRRJg8Hv9NQiPh&sig=AHIEtbRPBNLTumMAIecfmRfDRBY2t1eP0g

Australian Catholic University 2012, Research finds factors leading to cyber-bullying different to traditional bullying, Australian Catholic University, accessed on 6^th of Febuary 2013, http://www.acu.edu.au/about_acu/our_university/newsroom/news/media_releases/repository/research_finds_factors_leading_to_cyber-bullying_different_to_traditional_bullying

Struttcentral 2012, The Cyber Bullying Virus , Youtube , accessed on 6^th of Febuary 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5PZ_Bh-M6o

Aussiecriminals 2012,  Olivia Liv Penpraze tells her story, Youtube, accessed on 6^th of Febuary 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzjFf8ywk3c