Interesting research article on cyber bullying from the Journal of School Health
… Two of the strongest predictors of whether a teen would experience cyberbullying were the amount of time spent online and whether they were the target of bullying offline. Anonymity didn’t seem to play as much of a role as some have feared, as nearly three-quarters of the victims were confident that they knew who had harassed them.
Oddly, although IM was the most frequent vector for bullying, a quarter of the targets didn’t bother to use the blocking capabilities built in to most IM clients. Even fewer (only 10 percent) notified anyone of the bullying. Again, the authors suggest that fear of having Internet access curtailed could be a major factor in this, as a third of the victims specifically mentioned this. But half also said that they felt they need to learn to handle it on their own.
The authors feel strongly that the fact that real-world bullying strongly predicts cyberbullying and the parallels in behavior both suggest that cyberbullying may not actually be a distinct phenomenon. “These findings further underscore the continuity between adolescents’ social worlds in school and online,” they conclude.
And then some good advice for all of us from the Squidoo blog
People online are real people.
If you send a nasty email, there’s a real human being on the other end who gets it.
If you flame in a forum, you’re wasting real people’s time.
If you spam someone, you’re really only making yourself look bad.
If you write IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS it sounds like shouting.
If you want something to happen your way, try asking instead of demanding.
If you give, you’ll probably wind up getting, too.
If you blog just to pick fights, don’t be surprised when people don’t trust you.
If you collaborate, say thanks.
If you’re independent, say no thanks.
If you like someone, tell them.
If you don’t, walk away from the computer.
If you’re giving feedback, lead with just one good thing.
If you’re getting feedback, realize that the person must care a lot to have sent it.
If you goof, apologize.
If you apologize, mean it.
If you smile, mean that too.
If you don’t like something, don’t do it.
If you do like something, spread it.
But far far more important:
Give people a break.
The break you probably deserve yourself.
People are out to do good, 99% of the time.
You probably are too.
Say thanks out loud and a lot.
Try making someone’s day.
Chances are they’ll make yours in return.
