The popularity of instant messaging and social networking websites like Facebook have given rise to new forms of cyber-bullying and there’s no sign of the trend slowing down, according to a new study released Wednesday by Kids Help Phone. Despite widespread media attention and ongoing educational efforts to stamp it out, an online survey of nearly 2500 young people found 70 % of teens reported having been bullied online while 44% said that they have bullied someone else. Instant messaging proved the most common platform for bullying, followed by e-mail and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Donna Hansplant of Kids Help Phone said she was most surprised by how naïve young people are about cyberspace. Hansplant said teens will often do things like allow strangers to film them without even realizing the images could be widely distributed. Hansplant goes on to say that kids think that if they get to know people really well on the internet they will know them, but in all actuality they do not.Cyber-bullying is a big deal and it does need to be stopped, but I think that it is brought on by the victim. On Facebook you can accept and delete people that you want on your list so if you don’t know them or they start to hurt your feelings you can just delete them. The same idea goes for Hotmail, you can block a sender from sending you e-mails and then you won’t have these people hurting you. Physical bullying is still a bigger problem because you cannot avoid it. If you are getting bullied over the internet you can stop using the internet but if you are getting bullied at school or on the playground you can’t just stop going. Internet bulling is a big deal but I think that everyone is just looking to far ahead and not looking at the little picture. The internet is a big thing and if you can’t handle it you can stay off of it.
