Cyber Bullying

Introduction

With today’s technology bullying has become easier then ever; the children and youth of this generation do not even need to have personal confrontation. Cyber bullying can be defined as any communication posted or sent by a minor online, by instant messenger, e-mail, website, diary site, online profile, interactive game, handheld device, cell phone or other interactive device that is intended to frighten, embarrass, harass or otherwise target another minor. Cyber bullying is disturbingly common among Canadian teens. Cyber-Bullying: Our Kids’ New Reality is a survey that was conducted from December 2006 – January 2007 by the members of Kids Help Phone that had over 2500 respondents. More than 70 per cent of respondents to the survey reported that they have been bullied online, while 44 per cent said they have bullied someone online. At least 38 percent reported having experienced cyber-bullying within the last three months. Of the methods used, 77 percent reported being bullied by instant messaging, 37 per cent by e-mail and 31 per cent on social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook. When bullied online,