Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication (usually via Facebook or texts) to bully a person, typically by sending messages of a humiliating, intimidating, or threatening nature.
While much of student cyberbullying takes place outside school hours, especially on weekends, the resulting problems often spill over to the classroom. That makes cyberbullying an issue that teachers and administrators can’t afford to ignore. As Sameer Hinduja1 reminds us, “Schools believe the Internet and computers are part of kids’ lives when honestly, it is their life.”
The Cyberbullying Research Center provides a wealth of information on this topic. In addition, Addiction and Bullying offers several helpful ideas and insights for dealing with bullying. While the latter site has a decidedly Christian bent (including the founder’s personal story), it shows the clear connection between bullying and substance abuse. It also contains useful descriptions of bullying tactics, plus statistics about the extent of this troubling problem and a list of bullying support hotlines.
Since bullying (both face-to-face and cyber) can have devastating and often life-long consequences, please consider this to be a call to action. (Note: Principals should consider sharing this link with teachers and bookmarking it for quick reference.)
1Cyberbullying: What teachers and schools can do. Scholastic (n.d.). https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/cyberbullying-what-teachers-and-schools-can-do/