Last updated at 13:34, Thursday, 12 June 2008

The information superhighway has brought all kinds of benefits to all of us, from easier access to facts and figure and quicker, cheaper ways of keeping in touch with friends and relatives to shopping and banking without having to leave the comfort of our own homes.

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But for one in four children and one in 12 schoolteachers it has brought fear, misery and – in some extreme cases – even attempted suicides.

As e-mail, mobile phones, social networking websites and internet chatrooms become more and more popular, a new form of bullying has arisen: cyber bullying.

Cyber bullying is formally defined as the use of communication technology, particularly mobile phones or the internet, deliberately to upset someone else.

So the victims of cyber bullying will receive abusive or threatening mobile phone calls, text messages or e-mails, or have malicious comments about them posted on websites.

Sometimes hurtful or damaging pictures or videos are also circulated on image-sharing sites such as YouTube.

And of course, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, the abusive material can be sent around the world at the touch of a button.

Unlike bullying at school, cyber bullying does not stop when the victim walks out the school gates at the end of the day.

It can go on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Very often the bullies are anonymous, so the victim will not even know who it is who is making his or her life a misery.

A recent nationwide study found that a quarter of all children, and eight per cent of teachers, had suffered from cyber bullying.

However many others have never heard of it. So Cumbria County Council has held a special conference to inform schools and school governors about it, and discuss ways of dealing with it.

Moira Swann, the council’s director of children’s services, said: “Cyber bullying can have a devastating effect on a young person or teacher.

“What might seem like harmless fun can, and does, put people at risk of taking their own lives.”

And principal educational psychologist Mark Toomey added: “Cyber bullying is one form of bullying that is on the increase, and it doesn’t end at the school gate or at home time.

“It can go on 24 hours a day, every day, until it stops – if it stops.”

Mr Toomey chairs Cumbria’s anti-bullying group, which deals with all forms of bullying, and he said the group had noted it was increasing all over the country.

He said: “We know for a fact that children in Cumbria have experienced cyber bullying, just as they experience other sorts of bullying.

“We are keen to ensure that our schools are safe places for young people and for teachers, yet teachers have been victims of cyber bullying as well.”

One example he gave was of false information about a Cumbrian secondary school teacher posted on a social networking site.

“It was written in the first person, as if it came from the teacher himself, and suggested that he was interested in various activities, some with sexual connotations. It was completely false.”

In another example in March, six students at Carlisle College were suspended after footage of a fellow student appeared on YouTube.

The footage showed the student being kicked, punched and stamped on in a vicious street attack, but the victim refused to make a formal complaint, and so police were unable to investigate further.

In another case, a teenage girl on a webcam briefly lifted her top, thinking only one other boy was watching.

But the image was circulated around her school the following day, and Mr Toomey said: “The effect on this girl was devastating.”

The anonymity of cyber bullies is part of what can make them most disturbing for young victims.

“It is very unsettling for a young person just developing their self-esteem if they can’t trust people in their social network, because any of them could have been responsible for cyber bullying,” Mr Toomey said.

They can also be hard to identify because in many cases they don’t look like the typical school bully.

While we expect bullies to be aggressive figures picking on those smaller than themselves, Mr Toomey said the cyber bully might well be the youngster who appeared weak at school, but could gain power over others from behind a computer.

“A feeling of power can come to children who wouldn’t feel as powerful in the real world of the playground,” he said.

“It is a potentially different type of young person who could be tempted into this kind of bullying behaviour.”

A new type of bullying requires new solutions, and Mr Toomey said teaching children to use technology sensibly and with respect for other people’s feelings was one method.

“Unless you teach responsible use of electronic media, people sitting in their rooms can get a feeling of invincibility.

“And if children post lots of their personal details on websites, that can put them at risk of cyber bullies.”

When the bullying does take place the law can often intervene. Cyber bullies may be guilty of libel for some of the messages they post, and if it happens persistently they could also be charged with harassment.

“There are various ways you can tackle cyber bullying,” Mr Toomey said. “The solutions are not just technological.”

First published at 11:37, Thursday, 12 June 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk