Bullying is an epidemic that can cause serious problems. It is often seen between adolescents and teenagers and may not have been considered very serious most of the time. However, the effects of bullying can be detrimental to a growing child who may not have self-confidence or the simple ability to ignore harsh and cruel comments and gestures. Due to the popularity of the Internet, adolescents have gained a new form of bullying, commonly known as cyberbullying. I think that the reason cyberbullying causes such a threat is because of the possibility of anonymity. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, anonymous means “nameless, having no name; of unknown name” (OED). On the Internet, people can hide behind false identities that give them anonymity.
As nice as it is to ask questions anonymously that might be embarrassing or might cause the person asking to be judged, anonymity is abused. It also provides people with the ability to say things that would not be acceptable to say out loud because it is too harsh or too cruel.
Another way that people hide behind anonymity is on blogs. People who comment with strong words putting down another blog, more commonly known as trolling, probably would not make the same comments if their real identity was exposed. At the same time people who blog may be less concerned with what they say if they are anonymously blogging.
Because this topic of anonymity and cyberbullying is rather new, I know I will struggle to find good academic sources as well as book sources. However this topic has been fairly popular in the news this past year, so I will have the ability to relate it to what is happening today well.
Based on my research thus far, I think that anonymity can not be avoided however it does need to be tamed because it has gotten so outrageous that teenagers are committing suicide due to an online bully. Are people bolder on the Internet in terms of bullying because they can hide behind that anonymity?
"Anonymous." Home : Oxford English Dictionary. Nov. 2010. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. <http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/8061>.
Au, Wagner J. "New World Notes: My Top 3 SXSW Talk Takeaways: Avatar Anonymity Is (Mostly) for Kids and Has Helped Keep Second Life Niche; In SL, National/Racial Identity in SL Exposed by Chat & VOIP." Second Life: New World Notes. 14 Mar. 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. <http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2011/03/sxsw-e-race-avatar-anonymity-and-racism.html>.
This blog talks about how anonymous avatars are focused towards a younger age group.
Evans, William P.; Marte, Ricardo M.; Betts, Sherry; Silliman, Benjamin. 2001. “Adolescent Suicide Risk and Peer-Related Violent Behaviors and Victimization.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 12:1330-1348.
The writers discuss how much bullying can affect adolescents, to the point where those being victimized by their peers feel that the only escape is suicide.
Hershberger, Scott L.; D'Augelli, Anthony R. 1955. “The impact of victimization on the mental health and suicidality of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths.” Developmental Psychology. 31(1): 65-74. http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dev/31/1/65.html
The writers discuss the impact that bullying can have on children and young adults who are confused about their sexuality. It has become such a severe and traumatizing experience that many have committed suicide.
Levmore, Saul. "The Internet's Anonymity Problem." The Offensive Internet : Privacy, Speech, and Reputation. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2010. Print.
Ohab, John. "The Dangers of Friending Strangers: the Robin Sage Experiment | Armed with Science." Armed with Science | Providing You Information on Military Science and Technology. 21 July 2010. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. <http://science.dodlive.mil/2010/07/21/the-dangers-of-friending-strangers-the-robin-sage-experiment/>.
This author discusses the dangers of adding friends on Facebook that you don’t really know. Just because they have a picture of a person does not mean that is who they actually are. There is a chance that the person is a hacker and can access your bank and email accounts.
We have talked about the topic, and I suspect that some academic sources from education may well have information for teachers who deal with cyberbullies.
ReplyDeleteYou may also be able to apply research done on traditional bullying to your project. In particular, I wonder if tactics for coping with bullying in person apply?
Some search-terms to help you as you do research: trolls, flaming, flamers, flame-wars, trolling. All of them refer to those who engage in heated diatribes, just for the "fun" of it, online.