Cyber Bullying

Abstract

Teenage bullying has existed for many decades within the school yard boundary. With youths being labeled as the digital generation, bullying has now transformed to the electronic world that can be accessed 24/7. Although most youths have had a positive experience while using modern technology, bullying by electronic means, or cyber bullying, has become an increasing problem. The effects of Cyber Bullying are traumatic, long lasting, and in extreme cases can also lead to something more serious if students continue to underestimate its effects. The tragic suicide of a "Rutgers University's" Tyler Clementi clearly exemplifies the results that can be disturbing for all parties involved and therefore calls for an urgent need for collective awareness. There have been many cases before him and there will be many after him, if no solution is found soon. So, the next time when your child is on the computer, please talk to them about the relevant issue, and it will be the best conversation you have ever had.

The Case Scenario

The story of Tyler Clementi, a shy 18 year old who joined Rutgers University in 2010 committed suicide due to Cyber- Bullying is an appalling event. During his freshmen year, he shared a room with another student named Dharun Ravi who is an Indian descent. They had very little interaction in the first few weeks of the semester between themselves. They communicated through texts and other messages and had a strained relationship from the start. Just days before his death, Tyler, who was gay, had met a 32-year-old non-student online. One evening Tyler texted Ravi in order to use their room. However, Ravi met the man abruptly; initially he was skeptical about the strange looking man. He then expressed his fear of theft to his friends and with this concern Ravi left his webcam on his computer switched on, so he could monitor the visitor's movements in his room. Instead, what Ravi and his friend Molly Wei witnessed was a sexual encounter with the same man and Tyler Clementi. Ravi immediately sent a text and Twitter messages to all his friends commenting on his roommate kissing another man. Ravi's next view of the webcam with his friends did not work, maybe because Tyler was suspicious and had turned off the webcam or perhaps Ravi was guilty and turned it off himself. However, after this incident, Tyler requested a single room to his Resident Assistant as he did not want to share a room with Ravi who was spying on him. On 22nd of September, Clementi left a suicide note, leaving his dorm and walked towards the George Washington Bridge. As a final message, just before he committed his tragic act he left a sad note on his Facebook page saying "Jumping off the George Washington Bridge sorry". Police recovered the body on 29th of September and confirmed it was Clementi's. Ravi stated to the police that he was unaware of the Facebook posting.

Wei and Ravi left Rutgers shortly after their arrests. Dharun Ravi was not directly charged with causing Tyler's death, but accused on other counts of hate crime. Initially, if convicted Ravi could have faced prison up to 10 years. However, on May 21, 2012, Dharun Ravi was sentenced to a 30-day jail term along with three years' probation, 300 hours of community service, and counseling about Cyber-Bullying. Whereas, Molly Wei co-operated with authorities after her arrest and agreed to do 300 hours of community service and undergo counseling for Cyber- Bullying. While, Tyler Clementi's family grieves and searches for answers, the families of the other two students charged with violating his privacy are also struggling with the very real notion that the lives of their own children have also been ruined. There are no winners in this catastrophe (Sharpton, 2012). This unfortunate event has simply raised question about bullying and teen suicide. Many other cases like Tyler Clementi's beg us to demand answer on what exactly is cyber bullying and why has it become a serious issue today with the youth being labeled as the" Digital Generation". Thus, this case study shall provide us a better insight on how Cyber-Bullying actually works. We will also be able to provide a case study that could help in preventing another Tyler Clementi Cyber Bullying case.

Bullying in a new guise

Bullying has been prevalent since eons and has been one of the many acts in the society performed by an individual or a group of individuals on the weaker members of the society. Cyber bullying by definition is the harassment, torment, humiliation, or threatening of one minor by another minor or group of minors via the digital means such as internet or cell phones (Reynolds, 2012, p. 364). Emails, blogs, chat rooms, text messaging, or cellphone cameras, can be label as some of the medium through which cyber bullies target their victims. These cyber technologies have provided students with a new territory for abuse towards their victim. Tyler Clementi's story proved that electronic medium can be an easy tool to make someone feel humiliated. According to the website "Bullyingstastics.org" over 25 percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones and this site also claims that an alarming statistics of only 1 in 10 teens report this to their parents if they have been a cyber-bully victim. Children fear that if they tell their parents, they may over-react by taking away their computer, internet access or the cell phone. Bill Belsey, President of Bullying.org Canada also found that students fear a parental sanction if they tell them what is happening to them while they are online. Had Tyler shared the incident with his parents, the misfortune could have been avoided.

Usually, bullying has been considered to be a natural phenomenon and accepted as a normal part of a childhood-rite of passage. It took place at the vicinity of school yards or hallways and typically the scenario would be of a bigger kid traumatizing a smaller kid. The smaller kid however had privilege of running away to his or her home in order to escape the bully. This is no longer the case however in the age of booming digital technology and modern tools. Cyber Bullying has now tracked the kids to their homes as students have included the internet and other communication technologies for seeking information, communicating with friends and making new friends. Tyler Clementi's case just demonstrates the above scenario that cyber bullying can take place anytime, anywhere and can happen to anyone. As a result, the bully does not have to wait for a recess or a trip to and from the school to harass his or her victim since, it is possible for him to go everywhere via