ShareThisThe printouts read like alphabet soup, except for some key words. Between the "lol" (laughing out loud or lots of luck-love) and the "OMG" (Oh my god) there's reference to beating people up and "shoot them all."
The transcript of an Internet chat between two South Carolina high school girls seems almost incomprehensible. But some of the messages have clear meanings: threats, verbal assaults and allusions to fights.
Bullying has moved into cyberspace. Now bullies are able to reach out and touch others in new ways.
"It's not just text messaging," said Mickie Morton, assistant principal of Pendleton High School in Anderson, S.C. "It's MySpace, it's Facebook, it's instant messaging. It can happen anywhere."
Cyber bullying has become one of the top disciplinary issues facing school administrators across the country.
"It's a new modality for bullying," said. Susan Limber, professor with the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life at Clemson University." The characteristics are the same - there's an imbalance of power, and it's repeated over time."
Anderson County Sheriff's Deputy Matt Szymanski, who works on campus at Pendleton High, said one student threatened to beat another so badly that the other "would beg for mercy." Both students are girls. The text message was sent during a math class.
"It's a threat, and we have to deal with it. We have to take it seriously," Morton said. "When we get a report of something, we have to address it."
According to statistics from I-Safe, a national, nonprofit organization focused on Internet safety for children based in California, a survey of 1,500 children in fourth through eighth grades, 42 percent of respondents reported being bullied online. Twenty-one percent said they had received mean or threatening e-mail or other messages.
It's called cyberbullying, or net bullying, and it's a growing problem, experts said.
According to netbullies.com, a web site operated by Parry Aftab, a cyberabuse attorney dedicated to protecting children on the Internet, net bullying is abuse, humiliation, embarrassment or threatening of a child by another child through electronic communications like cell phones, web sites, social networking sites, Internet polls,
"Sometimes the bullying takes place through the use of a web site where the victims are ridiculed by being voted the ugliest, fattest or most sexually active student in the school, " the netbullies.com site says. "Sometimes cell phone cameras are used to take pictures of the victim in a locker room or dressing room or in an otherwise compromising situation. Their faces may be superimposed on pornographic images.
The methods used by bullies online are limited only by the limitless imagination of other preteens and teens. But this type of bullying can be harder for children to deal with, Limber said.
"I think there are a few things that can make getting those messages devastating, at least for some kids," Limber said. "First, they can come anytime, anywhere. Children can be in the privacy of their own bedroom, the place where they feel the safest, at 11 o'clock at night and get a threatening message. That can feel very personally invasive.
"And second, it's the numbers of individuals who receive a message. In a nanosecond, most of a class or an entire school, can be sent a humiliating message about a student -- imagine an embarrassing picture of you being sent to an auditorium of your peers."
The impact on children is the same as traditional bullying though, Limber said. Bullying, regardless of its form, causes distress, self-doubt and anxiety.
Limber said changes in children's moods and behaviors could be an indication a child is being bullied.
"There are a number of warning signs," she said. "They may be visibly upset or angry after getting online or using the cell phone. They may withdraw. They may have a drop in academic performance. Or they may be the targets of traditional bullying. None of these warning signs means they are being bullied, but all of them deserve investigation."
Most of the incidents take place outside of school, one administrator said.
James Lindley, assistant principal of Starr-Iva Middle School in Starr, S.C., said he needs to deal with a bullying issue at least once or twice a month. It starts with children as early as sixth grade.
Limber said focus groups she has studied showed that more than 50 percent of children who were cyberbullied did not know who their attacker was.
The not knowing can create more self-doubt, she said.
"The anonymity can also add to the angst kids feel," Limber said. "They will think 'I'm not sure who did this. Is it my next door neighbor, is it the kid who sits next to me in math class?' There can be a feeling that the whole school is in on it."
The issue is one that doesn't just impact students, but those outside of the school as well.
"I think it's a parent issue, it's a school issue, it's a community issue," she said. "It doesn't just occur at school. It occurs anywhere that kids are gathered. I think that we know from research bullying can have detrimental effects on kids, and in some kids this can be long-standing. In many cases, kids can't deal with it. And they shouldn't have to. It's our responsibility as adults to keep kids safe."
Pendleton's Morton said parents needed to get involved, too." Our kids are so computer savvy," Morton said. "We've got to catch up with them. As parents, and school officials, we have to try to keep up with the technology."
(Liz Carey writes for the Anderson Independent Mail in Anderson, S.C.)
With BULLYING-SIDE
