By Stevie Smith Mar 29, 2007, 16:11 GMT
According to a worrying report published this week by the Reuters news agency, the preconceived notion of bullies being limited to the school playground and perhaps, in more extreme circumstances, the workplace, has been shattered by a Canadian research team.
Researchers at the University of Toronto claim that modern communication technology has spawned the cyber bully, a new breed that chooses to abuse e-mail, text messaging, and social networking in order to successfully deliver their own specific brand of victimisation – even to the point where bullies are forcing victims to strip naked before webcams before distributing the imagery to other online users.
More pointedly, Professor Faye Mishna of the University of Toronto, who has been actively researching the abuse of children in cyberspace, believes that cyber bullies are applying pressure to their girlfriends where taking off their clothes online is concerned. “This is particularly [true] for girls to send pictures of themselves with their tops off,” offers Professor Misnha. “Girls might send it to their boyfriend and she is pressured to do it thinking he’s just going to see it. So she gives in and the next thing you know it’s all over [the Internet].”
Professor Mishna also suggests that the possibility of personal and suggestive imagery being banded around by the online community increases significantly if a relationship breaks down and a couple splits.
Mishna and her Toronto University research team amassed their findings after conducting focus groups with 47 students spread from grade 5 to grade 12, which returned preliminary results revealing that advanced and knowledgeable computer geeks were becoming the newest iteration of the schoolyard bully.
Further revelations surfacing from the focus groups indicated that victims of cyber manipulation opted not to tell an adult about the sustained abuse (much like with physical bullying) due to fears of punishment. Professor Mishna believes that young victims are generally more concerned that their computer privileges will be suspended if they reveal their victimisation, and they also think seeking help serves little purpose as online culprits hide behind the protection of anonymity.
The study’s official results should be published in Q3 of 2007.
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sakisMar 30th, 2007 - 16:21:12
So the computer geeks finally get their day, huh.
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