Description: Cyber-bullying is similar to physical or verbal bullying as the victims are more likely to:
- Use drugs or alcohol
- Skip school/ be unwilling to attend school
- Experience in-person bullying
- Receive poor grades
- Have lower self-esteem
- Have more health problems.
However, cyber-bullying is different as it may occur 24/7, day or night, even if the student is at home alone. Furthermore, the bully may remain anonymous and may post images or messages to a very wide audience. Furthermore, it may be incredibly difficult for a victim to delete harassing images or messages after they had already been sent. Cyber-bullying may hurt students, disrupt classrooms, and negatively impact a school's culture.
Statistic: 15% of high school students were electronically bullied in the past year according to the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey.
Teaching Resource: This link will take you to a great website with plenty of teaching resources. It includes lessons that may be taught to students about cyber-bullying, ethics courses, and specific governmental laws against cyber-bullying.
