CYBERBULLYING: A STUDY OF STUDENT BEHAVIOURS AND BELIEFS ABOUT THIS PHENOMENON

Abstract

A literature review of research pertaining to cyberbullying was completed. Findings indicate that cyberbullying is becoming more prevalent as students spend an increasing amount of time using technology that keeps them connected to people at all hours of the day. There are many different ways in which cyberbullies reach their victims, including instant messaging over the Internet, social networking web sites, text messaging and phone calls to cell phones. There are different forms of cyberbullying including, but not limited to, harassment, impersonation, and cyber stalkings. It has been found that there are differences between not only the prevalence of cyberbullying between males and females and also the ways in which males and females cyberbully. Like bullying,
cyberbullying is a serious problem which can cause the victim to feel inadequate and overly self-conscious, along with the possibility of committing suicide due to being cyberbullied. Two such cases are included in this paper. There are numerous ways in which schools and parents can prevent cyberbullying and ways in which they can intervene if it has occurred.