Final Organized Research Blog :Work In Progress (Not yet finished)

Research Question: Why is Cyber-bullying so popular amongst school children?

Homepage:
-Introduction: Cyberbullying is a serious issue that is effecting more and more school children each and every day. Some children live in fear of being cyber bullied by there classmates each time they log onto the internet. The purpose of my web essay is to get the word out about Cyber-bullying, because before I began researching this topic, I knew nothing about it, nevermind know how serious it was. In this essay I will explore what Cyber-bullying is and how it works. I will explore the reasons behind Cyber-bullying as well as the ways you can get involved to help prevent it.

Page 1- What is Cyber-Bullying?
-What is it?: Cyber-bullying occurs when a person (often a child, preteen, or teenager) is bullied, harassed, humiliated, threatened, embarassed, or targeted in some way by another person (often a child, preteen or teenager). Cyber-bullying is much like traditional playground bullying where there is name calling and someone is getting picked on, except cyber-bullying is done through the use of the internet, cell phones and other forms of digital technology. In order for it to be catagorized as cyber-bullying, the intent must be to cause emotional distress, and there much be no legitimate purpise to the communication. Cyber bullying can be something as simple as continuing to send an e-mail to someone who has said they want no furter contact witht he sender, but it could aslo include threats, sexual remarks and hate speech. Though the use of sexual remarks and threats are sometimes present in cyber-bullying, it is not the same as sexual harassment and does not involve sexual predators.
-Who it effects: Cyber-bullying normally effects any child, preteen or teenager who has access to the internet, email, text messages, etc... Again it is much like traditional playground bullying where fellow classmates, friends, and even enemies attack one another with harsh words and threats. Sometimes the threats are harmless and victim is able to brush it off of their shoulders, other times the threats and attacks are much more painful and can result in depression and sometimes even suicide.
-Who does the bullying: Normally done from one child, preteen or teenager to another. Cyber-bullying is also sometimes done as an adult posing as a child, preteen or teenager.
-Why?/Reasons for Cyberbullying: Cyber-bullying.org gives this explaination for why kids cyberbully:
Who knows why kids do anything? When it comes to cyberbullying, they are often motivated by anger, revenge or frustration. Sometimes they do it for entertainment or because they are bored and have too much time on their hands and too many tech toys available to them. Many do it for laughs or to get a reaction. Some do it by accident, and either send a message to the wrong recipient or didn't think before they did something. The Power-hungry do it to torment others and for their ego. Revenge of the Nerd may start out defending themselves from traditional bullying only to find that they enjoy being the tough guy or gal. Mean girls do it to help bolster or remind people of their own social standing. And some think they are righting wrong and standing up for others.
Because their motives differ, the solutions and responses to each type of cyberbullying incident has to differ too. Unfortunately, there is no "one size fits all" when cyberbullying is concerned. Only two of the types of cyberbullies have something in common with the traditional schoolyard bully. Experts who understand schoolyard bullying often misunderstand cyberbullying, thinking it is just another method of bullying. But the motives and the nature of cybercommunications, as well as the demographic and profile of a cyberbully differ from their offline counterpart.

Page 2-Cause and Effects (May not add this part)
-Causes:
-Effects:

Page 3-Sociological Research on why Cyberbullying occurs
-Research:

Page 4- Prevention/How to get involved:
-What can you do?

Page 5-Research on Cyberbullying

Page 6-External Links

Blog 10 and 11: Research Project

Outline for Cyber-bullying research project

Research Question: TBA

 I. Introduction

a. What is the purpose for my research

II. What is Cyberbullying

a. What is it 

b. who it effects

c. who does the bullying 

d. reasons for cyberbullying 

III. Cause and effects of cyberbullying

a. causes

b.effects

IV. Sociological Research on cyberbullying

a.

V. Prevention/Get Involved

a. What can you do? 

VI. Research

VII. Links

Cyberbullying occurs when a person (often a child, preteen or teenager) is bullied, harassed, humiliated, threatened, embarrassed, or targeted in some way by another person (often child, preteen or teenager) through the use of internet, cell phones, and other forms of digital technology. In order for it to be cyber-bullying, the intent much be to cause emotional distress, and there must be no legitimate purpose to the communication. Cyberbullying can be as simple as continuing to send an e-mail to someone who has said they want no further contact with the sender, but it could also include threats, sexual remarks and hate speech. Though the use of sexual remarks and threats are sometimes present in cyber-bullying it is not the same as sexual harassment and does not involve sexual predators. 

In September of 2006 abcnews produced a survey done by I-Safe.org. The data was based on a 2004 survey of 1500 students between grades 4-8. The results were as followed

-42 percent of kids have been bullied while online. One in four have had it happen more than once

-35 percent of kids have been threatened online. nearly one in five had had it happen more than once. 

-21 percent of kids have received mean or threatening emails or other messages

-58 percent of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once

-58 percent have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online

BBC news produced an article in August of 2007 stating "Social networking websites are seen by some teachers as the latest weapon of the school bully-prompting unions to all for them to be banned" 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6924422.stmwithin the article there is a 

quote from a student named Nathan "When people are bullied they often don't feel confident about speaking to people face to face." 

-perhaps the reasoning for people cyber bullying is because they feel more confident on the internet so they can say what they would never say to someone in person. 

www.stopcyberbullying.org says:

Why do kids cyberbully each other?

Who knows why kids do anything? When it comes to cyberbullying, they are often motivated by anger, revenge or frustration. Sometimes they do it for entertainment or because they are bored and have too much time on their hands and too many tech toys available to them. Many do it for laughs or to get a reaction. Some do it by accident, and either send a message to the wrong recipient or didn't think before they did something. The Power-hungry  do it to torment others and for their ego. Revenge of the Nerd may start out defending themselves from traditional bullying only to find that they enjoy being the tough guy or gal. Mean girls do it to help bolster or remind people of their own social standing. And some think they are righting wrong and standing up for others.

Because their motives differ, the solutions and responses to each type of cyberbullying incident has to differ too. Unfortunately, there is no "one size fits all" when cyberbullying is concerned. Only two of the types of cyberbullies have something in common with the traditional schoolyard bully. Experts who understand schoolyard bullying often misunderstand cyberbullying, thinking it is just another method of bullying. But the motives and the nature of cybercommunications, as well as the demographic and profile of a cyberbully differ from their offline counterpart.

may 2007: signs that a child may be a victim of cyberbullyinghttp://mblog.lib.umich.edu/cyberbulling/archives/2007/03/signs_that_a_ch.html

teenhealthandwellness.com is a website where teenagers can go to learn about problems going on around them including cyberbullying. they have to have a username and password to access the website but they can ask questions about their concerns, perhaps questions that they cant ask adults

I-safe.org is one of the most credible websites for cyberbullying information. New Jersey has a website just for prevention of cyberbullying www.njbullying.org/cyberbullying.htm on the NJ website they say that I-safe has been used by a number of NJ schools to make children aware of cyberbullying. 

I spoke with my boyfriend's cousins (ages 12 and 13, grades 7th and 8th) and some of their friends about cyberbullying. I spoke with 7 girls individually and each of them told me that they had experienced some type of cyberbullying at some point or another. A few of the girls took it to heart and were very hurt by what people had said to them. A few of the girls also told me that they had done some cyberbullying of their own that they weren't so proud of. The girls told me that a few times they had been cyberbullied they were able to brush it off without getting too worked up over it. "It is just typical teenagers trying to get at each others feelings" they told me. I asked the girls if they knew how dangerous cyberbullying can be, they all seemed to agree that it was, but you know how teenagers can be just yesing you to death until you shut up. The girls all go to school in Brick township, their school has taken time to provide assemblies for the students to make them aware of the dangers of cyberbullying. The school had informed them of the 2006 Megan Meiers incident as well as other cases of cyberbullying in our areas. The girls were aware of the website I-Safe.org as well, because the school had provided them with the website names. 

Analyzing My Patterns for Attention

1Q. List the kinds of media you use/read/engage with on a daily basis. Is your pattern for interacting with media the same or differnt than it was when you were 5?10?15? Give short descriptions to explain.
1A. I love to read, I always have a book with me and I read probably every day whenever I find a few spare minutes and also before I go to bed at night (it makes me more tired and I fall asleep easier). I go on the internet daily and I'm logged onto AIM 24/7 but I very rarely sit in front of the computer and chat with people for hours. I will normally log on to my e-mail accounts and facebook about two or three times a day, check it out for no longer than 10-20 minutes, then log off. The TV is always on in my room if I'm home but I'm very rarely watching it. I have satelite radio in my car which I'm constantly listening to when I'm driving but I'm normally listening to Howard Stern and talk shows rather than songs.
-When I was 5 years old all we really had was tv. I know I definitely didn't have a computer in my house just yet but I didn't have a tv in my room so my parents probably regulated how often I watched it.
-When I was 10 years old I had a tv in my room as well as a stereo system. I listened to music a lot and watched tv more than I did because it was in my room.
-When I was 15 years old I think I listened to the radio more than anything else, I've never been the biggest fan of television so I wasn't glued to it all the time. I had a computer in my room at this point and probably spent most of my time being a dumb teenager and gossiping with people online all day/night.

2Q.Rank the relative amount of time you presently spend with each medium-be as specific as you can.
2A. Reading-About 2 hours or more each day
Television- I probably only watch about 3 hours a day, maybe less
Radio-Depends how long I'm in the car for, probably 1-3 hours a day
Computer-1-2 hours a day

3Q.Describe any media associated with how you perform the following school related tasks:
3A.
Do math or other calculation-based homework-math is my worst subject, I don't take math, but if I did I'd probably concentrate more than have any media
Read assignments-the tv is on, but volume low
Write a paper-Tv is on to keep me awake, sometimes is a distraction
Study for an exam-tv is on, but volume low

4Q.Describe any media associated with how you do the following task:
4A.
Drive-radio has to be on, even if I don't like what I'm listening to, it must be on
Eat a meal by myself-TV or computer always on
Eat with my family-tv is usual on because my stepdad doesn't ever want to turn it off, eating with my friends we're ususal out and tv or other media is not on
Household chores-TV or music is usually always on

5Q.Describe what you do to relax or in your free time- and how you relax
5A. In my free time I usual read, again the tv is normally always on in my room for the background noise, even when I fall asleep to take a nap or to go to bed the tv has to be on, but I'm usually not watching it. When I have free time I like to get out of the house and do stuff like go for walks, which I always bring my ipod, or go to the gym-bring my ipod there too or I watch TV at the gym. It depends, if I'm reading a really great book all of my free time is devoted to that, otherwise I spread my free time around and do things that probably always involve some sort of media.

My ratings are as followed:
math=1
reading=2
writing a paper=4
studying=2
thats 9, divided by 4=2.25

drive=5
eat meal alone=5
eat meal with friends/family=3
chores=5
thats 18, divided by 4=4.5

relaxing I gave myself a 3

Reflection on Megan Meiers Case

Fake myspace account-is it legal? Should it be legal?
Contacted (13 year old) -underage--> should there be ratings on websites, penalties or should some government issued id be needed to access these websites

Posters pretended to be Josh Evans-Mrs. Drew, her 18 year old employee and 13 year old daughter. peer to peer-different standards for adults and children?

Establish relationships under false identity- friendly for months (Josh and Megan)-Are friendly relationships legal (obviously if Josh had never said anything mean to Megan she never would have committed suiced and we wouldnt even be having this conversation.)

"Josh" turned on Megan [happened within 24 hour period]--->Megan commites suicide

Who should be responsible for underage kids having access to myspace?
Myspace
Parents
ISP
Advertisers

Features of Internet
-Anonimity
-Information intensity
Interactivity Immediacy
Flash Mob reactions


What needs to be done about this?
-Do parents need to better educate their children about what and who is on the internet?
-Do we need to inforce laws to prevent children who are under the age of 18 from accessing Myspace and similar sites?
-Should the sites that allow these kids on them without monitoring what they're doing or without really checking their ages, should they be penalized in the same way that cigarette and alcohol providers are when they serve underage children?
-If we can't say what we want to on the interent it is violating our right to freedom of speech so how can we hold it against these kids for saying mean things over the internet?