cyberbullying 3

Social Media and Cyberbullying in Adolescents An Investigation on How the Use of Social Media Has Impacted the Rise of Cyberbullying in Adolescents

Amadita Zamora

Diana Cantu

Norberto Torres

Juan Guerrero

Management Information Systems 6330, Spring 2012 Dr. Vishal Midha April 30, 2012

Social Media and Cyberbullying in Adolescents ii

Table of Contents

Social Media and Cyberbullying in Adolescents ............................................................... 1

An Investigation on How the Use of Social Media Has Impacted the Rise of Cyberbullying in Adolescents ........................................................................................ 1

What is Social Media? ...................................................................................................... 3

Social Media: Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 ............................................................................ 5

Cyberbullying and Bullying .............................................................................................. 6

Cyberbullying Videos ................................................................................................... 7

Aims of This Study .......................................................................................................... 8

Questionnaire and Study Design ................................................................................... 8

Procedure ..................................................................................................................... 9

Table 1: Participants .................................................................................................... 10

Results ............................................................................................................................ 10

Table 2: Adolescents That Own a Cell Phone ............................................................... 10

Table 3: Bullying in School or Circle of Friends ............................................................ 10

Types of Communication Among Adolescents ............................................................. 11

Chart 1: Teens Use of Communication Technology ............................................................................ 12

Table 4: Teens Hourly Use of Technology .......................................................................................... 13

Table 5: Have You Been Bullied? ................................................................................. 14

Table 6: If so, By Whom? ............................................................................................ 15

Table 7: Bullied For How Long? .................................................................................. 16

Table 8: Have You Bullied Others? .............................................................................. 17

Table 9: Whom Have You Bullied? .............................................................................. 18

Chart 2: Cyberbullying Compared to Traditional Bullying ............................................ 19

Chart 3: How Cyberbullying Victims Felt ..................................................................... 20

Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 21

Cyberbullying Data: Victims ........................................................................................ 21

Cyberbulling Data: Offenders ...................................................................................... 22

Social Media and Cyberbullying in Adolescents iii

Gender Differences ...................................................................................................... 22

Impact of Cyberbullying .............................................................................................. 23

Use of Technology ...................................................................................................... 23

Suggestions for Future Studies ..................................................................................... 24

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 24

Appendix A: Cyberbullying Questionnaire ...................................................................... 25

Management Information Systems 6330, Spring 2012 Amadita Zamora

Dr. Vishal Midal Diana Cantu

April 30, 2012 Norberto Torres

Juan Guerrero

Social Media and Cyberbullying in Adolescents 1

Social Media and Cyberbullying in Adolescents

An Investigation on How the Use of Social Media Has Impacted the Rise of Cyberbullying

in Adolescents

Abstract

Bullying amongst school-aged children has

always been an issue, we have all experienced, seen or

heard of the lunch money bully and the playground

bully. However, bullying in recent times has taken on a new form - cyberbullying.

With our continual increase in technology and our desire for faster, easier and

instant availability, social media supplies our young people to immediate access to

whatever, whenever they want it. These new technologies have become a part of our youth

today so much that the ways of communication and even bullying have altered. Bullying

is no longer restricted to time, walls, or specific areas but is now at the tip of your fingers.

To further study this new bullying through electronic devices, we developed a

www.cartoonaday.com


questionnaire to research cyberbullying in adolescents. We say a student is being bullied

(cyberbullied) when another student, or several other students:

ü Sends angry, rude, vulgar messages about a person online or to that person via electronic devices

ü Telling lies or spreading false rumors to try to make others dislike him or her

ü Pretending to be someone else and sending or posting material that makes that person look bad

ü Sending or posting information about a person that contains sensitive, private, or

embarrassing information The above list is not all-inclusive but rather a snapshot of cyberbullying. Although cyberbullying is a broad term, for this study we narrowed our research to 7 subcategories. The decision to use these subcategories was based on technologies used among adolescents that would help us obtain a better understanding of which social medium is popularly used.

n Text Messaging (receiving abusive text messages (SMS) on your mobile phone)

n Pictures or Video Clips (nude/explicit picture or video-clips, sent to you or sent to others about you)

n Phone Calls (receiving obscene/upsetting or silent calls on your mobile phone)

n Email (receiving abusive emails to your email account)

n Chat Rooms (being bullied in chat room through abusive messages)

n Instant Messaging (bullying through messages on MSN Messenger, Yahoo messenger, or similar)

n Social Networking Sites (bullied through Facebook, MySpace, or similar)

We will explore the method used on the survey, the participant’s age, gender, the

bullying results, and our discussions or comments to our findings.


What is Social Media?

According to the Social Media guide there are at least 50 definitions of social media.

The definition you receive will depend upon on whom you ask or where you search. Some

definitions are as simple as people having conversations online ( Hansh Dabasia) or as

complex as social media are online communications in which individuals shift fluidly and

flexibly between the role of audience and author. To do this, they use social software that

enables anyone without knowledge of coding, to post, comment on, share or mash up

content and to form communities around shared interests (ProPR). Still, Merriam Webster

defines Social Media as - forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social

networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share

information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos). Quite simply, social

media is an all – encompassing electronic communication.

In an effort to protect the very young, Congress passed the Children’s Online Privacy

Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits Web sites from collecting information on

children younger than 13 years without parental permission. Because of this, most social

media sites official terms of service require a minimum age of 13 years to join. Such popular

sites like Facebook, incorporate the COPPA regulations.

In adolescents, social media is used as an outlet of communication and as a

form of connection. Briana Gerdeman states, “social media provides a place for users

[teenagers] to vent frustrations – whether it’s a simple bad day or as serious as suicidal

thoughts.” It allows teenagers to interact and share with friends and family or complete

strangers.


Social media enables teenagers to use blogs, social networking sites like Facebook

and microblogs like Twitter, to build virtual communities in an innovative way. The new

dynamics of these communities are instantaneous interaction with the covering of

anonymity (Sandler). The ability to speak or rather text, with nearly anyone around the

world at any time of the day for an unlimited amount of time and have him or her be your

“friend” to boot is a new concept.

According to Perri Klass, our children today are utilizing social media to

“accomplish the eternal goals of adolescent development, which include socializing with

peers, investigating the world, trying on identities and establishing independence.”

However, O’Keeffe & Pearson believe that “because of their limited capacity for self-

regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure, adolescents are at some risk as they navigate

and experiment with social media. Recent research indicates that there are frequent online

expressions of offline behaviors, such as bullying and clique-forming that have introduced

problems such as cyberbullying, privacy issues and sexting.”

Perhaps social media might be best illustrated rather than explained. Below is a

couple of illustrations depicting social media.

<http://videoconferencecenter.org> <http://www.jodinelson.com>


Social Media: Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

Cyberbullying is a new phenomenon due in part by the advancements of social

media. The interconnectedness of our “new” Internet facilitates adolescents to cyberbully.

A basic explanation of Web 1.0 is being a one-way passive recipient of information

like the interaction we have with our television, now think of Web 2.0 as a party where

many people attend some will socialize with strangers, others with friends and some will not

participate at all but all have the option to interact (Michele Martin). At a very small scale

the party is like the Internet but with no restrictions your “friends” can be someone you

know or a stranger and your audience in essence becomes the world.

These advances mean that adolescents have the opportunity to interact and instantly

communicate with a large audience enabling them to freely “say” anything they please.

The illustrations below highlight basic differences of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

JW Schmidt. June 2007. Web 1.0 Elements. Wikiversity. GNU Free Documentation License

JW Schmidt. June 2007. Web 2.0 Elements. Wikiversity. GNU Free Documentation License


Cyberbullying and Bullying

According to Hinduja & Patchin, Cyberbullying can be defined as “willful and

repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic

devices.” Key differences between “traditional bullying” and cyberbullying are the

following.

______________________________________________________________________________ Traditional Bullying Cyber Bullying

Direct Anonymous Usually occurs on school grounds Occurs off school grounds Poor relationship with teachers Good relationship with teachers Fear Retribution Fear Loss of Technology privileges Physical: Hitting, punching, shoving Far under the radar of bullying Verbal: Teasing, Name Calling, Gossip Emotional reactions: volatile Nonverbal: Use of gestures and exclusions Physical size can play a role Size does not matter Needs an audience Audience is everywhere & anytime Easier to prevent Much harder to prevent May have respite at home No respite anywhere stopbullying.org

Cyberbullying can be more widespread and vicious for the following reasons:

ü Electronic forums often lack supervision; personal messages are viewable only by the sender and the recipient.

ü Cyberbullying penetrates the walls of home a place where traditionally victims could

seek refuge from other forms of bullying.

ü The Internet is written in ink: publishing of defamatory material about a person on the Internet is extremely difficult to prevent and once it is posted, millions of people can potentially download it before it is removed.

ü Bullies may post victims’ photos or edited photos like defaming captions or passing

victims; faces on nude bodies.


The following video is a good example of what cyberbullying would look like if the

perpetrators words were out in the open and in front of others. The young girl in the video is

reading her messages toward another student, as though it was online when in reality she’s

publicly belittling the student in an auditorium

Cyberbullying Videos

The following video is school produced; it is well written and portrayed. Cyberbullying is

compared to a virus, one that affects many but sometimes without the victim knowing

they are affected. The video emphasizes the use of social media and cyberbullying.

THE CYBER BULLYING VIRUS - YouTube

► 4:40► 4:40

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5PZ_Bh-M6o5 days ago - 5 min - Uploaded by struttcentral

This is a PSA Web Video produced through STRUTT's new social awareness component in their programs for ...

Talent Show - Cyberbullying Prevention Commercial - YouTube

► 0:51

► 0:51

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQBurXQOeQ

Dec 3, 2008 - 51 sec - Uploaded by OhioCommissionDRCM

From the Ad Council: "Delete Cyberbullying. www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying" For more information about


Aims of This Study

The first aim of this study was to have a general yet better understanding of cyberbullying and its prevalence in the age groups 12-18 years. Since cyberbullying is a relatively new concept, this study aimed to increase the understanding of the concept of cyberbullying. The 7 sub categories included in the study will allow us to evaluate cyberbulllying in more detail. The second aim was to look at whether there were any gender or age differences, or any significant age or gender interactions. Finally, our last aim is to examine awareness generally of different forms of cyerbullying, and the perceived impact on the victim compared to more usual or traditional forms of bullying.

Questionnaire and Study Design

My teammates and I devised a bully/victim questionnaire with 4 one-answer questions, 16 multiple-choice questions, and 5 chart questions and within each chart 7 additional questions were asked. The last 5 chart questions covered the 7 subcategories of bullying: text messaging, picture or video-clips, phone calls, email, chat rooms, instant messaging, and social networking sites. The questionnaire itself took about 10 minutes to complete. The time frame for this study varied depending upon the question asked; for instance, 14 of the multiple-choice questions asked for “in the last month” while the 5 chart questions with the 7 subcategories, asked for “in the last 3 months”, thus the responses reflect those incidents during that time period.

To obtain participants, we called and visited various school principals in the deep

South Texas region. We explained our study and asked whether they would like to


participate. Several schools were contacted until we felt we had enough participants for the desired study. In the end, we obtained approval from three schools with a total anticipated student survey count of approximately 325. However, shortly before the permissible date allotted to us, two principals withdrew their approval, as they had changed their minds, fortunately one school district did allow us to proceed as planned.

Procedure

Students were handed the questionnaire, and we read out the instructions. The questionnaire included a cover page explaining who we were, the purpose of the study, it defined cyberbullying, it also described the 7 subcategories of our research (text messaging, picture or video-clips, phone calls, email, chat rooms, instant messaging, and social networking sites), most importantly it advised the pupils that the information collected was confidential and for academic purposes only. Finally, we informed the class of some of the aims of study.

Pupils were advised that participation was strictly optional and if they opted not to

complete the questionnaire they did not have to. We stressed to the students and teachers that the questionnaires would remain anonymous and that the school would remain anonymous in the report of this research.

The total number of questionnaires dispersed was 113 and the total number of

returned questionnaires was 101. Out of the 101 collected surveys, 5 were rejected due to inconclusive or incomplete responses, the remaining 96 completed questionnaires serve as the basis of this study.


Table 1: Participants

Table 1 below illustrates the gender and age of the 96 participants that returned a

completed questionnaire from one school district.

Age Boys Girls Total

12 2 2 4 13 6 12 18 14 4 8 12 15 18 8 26 16 8 8 16 17 8 2 10 18 8 2 10

Total 54 42 96

Results

Table 2: Adolescents That Own a Cell Phone

Question number 3 on the questionnaire asks the student if they own a cell phone?

Boys Girls Yes, Own a Cell Phone 52 32

No, Did Not Own a Cell Phone 5 7

Table 3: Bullying in School or Circle of Friends

Question number 7 asks if bulling takes place in school or with their circle of friends?

Boys Girls Yes, It Takes Place 50 40

No, Does Not Take Place 4 2


Types of Communication Among Adolescents

Communication Supporting Electronic Hardware Functions Enabled

Email Computers, cell phones, Personal Write, store, send, and receive asynchronous messages

Digital Assistants (PDAs) electronically can include attachments of word

documents pictures, audio, and other multimedia files

Instant Messaging Computers, Cell Phones, PDAs Allows the synchronous exchange of private messages

with another user; messages primarily are in text but can

include attachments of word documents, pictures, audio,

and other multimedia files

Text Messaging Cell Phones, PDAs Short text messages sent using cell phones and wireless

hand held devices such as the Sidekick and PDAs

Chat Rooms Computers Synchronous conversations with more than one user that

primarily involve text; can be either public or private

Blogs Computers Websites where entries are typically displayed in reverse

chronological order; entries can be either public or

private only for users authorized by the blog owner/author

Social Networking Computers, Cell Phones Online sites that allow users to create profiles, public or Sites

private, and form a network of friends; allow users to

interact with their friends via public and private means

such as messages, instant messaging; also allow the

posting of user-generated content such as photos and

videos ( such as www.facebook.com)

Video Sharing Computers, Cell Phones, Cameras Allows users to upload, view, and share video clips

with wireless capabilities (such as www.youtube.com)

Photo Sharing Computers, Cell Phones, Cameras Allows users to upload, view and share photos ( such as

with wireless capabilities www.Flikr.com); can be either public or private

Massively Multiplier Computers Online games that can be played by large numbers of Online Computer

players simultaneously; the most popular type are the

Games (MMOG)

massively multiplayer role playing games (MMORPG)

(such as World of War craft & Call of Duty 3)

Virtual Worlds Computers Online simulated 3-d environments inhabited by

players who interact with each other via avatars

(such as Teen Second Life)

Kaveri Subrayam and Patricia Greenfield


Chart 1: Teens Use of Communication Technology

Chart 1. Reflects the responses to question 4 on the questionnaire. The question asks

‘in the last month have you…?’ and proceeds to ask each question individually. For

example, the first sentence would read ‘In the last month have you used a cell phone?’

The random sample of the age group surveyed were 12 - 18 year olds from a small to

moderate sized school district in the deep south Texas region.

The surveyed activities referenced just 30 days or one month of previous activities

and the sample size was 96 or N= 96. The questionnaires were handed out and received on

the 23rd of April, 2012, this give us activity dates of ≈ March 24, 1012 to April 23, 2012.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

Teens Use of Communication Technology

One Month Activity

12-18 year olds


Table 4: Teens Hourly Use of Technology Number of students responding in each category.

1-5 hours

6-10 hours

11+ hours

1-2 hours

3-5 hours

6+ hours

1-10 hours

11-20 hours

21+ hours

Cell Phone

22 8

16 10

20 20

Internet

30 18

10 10

14 12

Twitter

20 14

4 2

4

You Tube

28 16

6 4

8 4

Chat Rooms

20 20

6 2

Photo Sharing

4 8

2

2 4

Email

30 24

4 2

14 4

Social Networking Sites

30 20

10 4

10 12

MMOCG

22 10

2

16

Gaming Console

28 18

2 4

12

Virtual World

4 4

2

2

Boys

72

30

34

82

16

24

84

14

40

Girls

40

22

36

68

10

12

52

10

12

Table 4. Highlights the extensive use of communication technologies in adolescents

by the hours used and the specific gender who used them. This table is in conjunction with

Chart 1 above as the questions continue with “if yes, for how long?” This is to say, the

question asks “In the last month have you used a cell phone?” If yes, for how long?’


Table 5: Have You Been Bullied?

Have you been bullied through any of the following technologies in the last 3 months? If so, how often?

Only once or twice

At least once daily

Several times weekly

Several times monthly

No not bullied

Other

Text Messaging

4 92

Pictures or Video-Clips

2 94

Phone Calls

1 95

Email

2 94

Chat Rooms

1 95

Instant Messaging

2 94

Social Networking Site

6 90

Number of students responding in each category.

Table 5. Depicts the number of cyberbullying victims. The victims indicated what

social medium was used to bully them and it also depicts the frequency of the bullying.

Some students may have been targeted with more than one medium. Note, that the rate of

occurrence is low- all students marked only once or twice.

As you can see the social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo

were used more to cyberbully. The least used were phone calls and chat rooms.


Table 6: If so, By Whom?

By whom have you been bullied? Mainly one

girl Several girls Mainly one

boy Several boys

Both boys and girls

Do not know (anonymous)

Other

Text Messaging

1 2 1


2

Phone Calls

1

Email

1 1

Chat Rooms

1

Instant Messaging

1 1


2 1 1 2


Table 6. Points out the gender of the offenders as it associates with the technology

used. Both boys and girls are reported as doing the cyberbullying but girls are noticeably

more involved in cyberbullying than the boys.


Table 7: Bullied For How Long?

How long has the bullying lasted? 1- 4 Weeks

1 - 3 Months 4 – 6 Months Over 6 Months No not

bullied Other

Text Messaging

2 92 2


1 94 1

Phone Calls

1 95

Email

2 94

Chat Rooms

1 95

Instant Messaging

1 94 1


5 90 1


Table 7. Shows the duration of the cyberbullying in accordance to the technology

used. Note, that most of the cyberbullying victims have been targeted for 1-4 weeks the rest

of the students marked “other” which we could only presume it means less time than 1-4

weeks as every time bracket after that increases rather than decreases.


Table 8: Have You Bullied Others?

Have you bullied OTHERS using any the following technologies in the last 3 months? If so, how often? Only once or

twice At least once daily



No not bullied

Other

Text Messaging 96


1 1 94

Phone Calls

1 95

Email

1 95

Chat Rooms

96

Instant Messaging

96


3 93


Table 8. Represents those students who in the past three months have cyberbullied

others. The table states the frequency of bullying and the technology used to bully. Notice

that the social medium preferred is social networking sites, such as Facebook MySpace, and

Bebo. Also notice that only one student has been bullied through pictures or video-clips at

least once daily.


Table 9: Whom Have You Bullied?

Whom have you bullied? Mainly one

girl Several girls Mainly one

boy Several boys

Both boys and girls


Other

Text Messaging

1


1 1

Phone Calls

1

Email

1 1

Chat Rooms

Instant Messaging


2 1


Table 9. Is in conjunction with Table 8. Remember, Table 8 represents those students

who in the past three months have cyberbullied others while, Table 9 represents the gender

of those being targeted and the social medium used to bully them.


Chart 2: Cyberbullying Compared to Traditional Bullying

Question number 5 on the questionnaire asks, “do you think cyberbullying compared

to ‘normal, traditional, conventional’ bullying has less of an effect, same effect, more of an

effect, or don’t know?’

Chart 2. Concentrates on how the students feel about the impact of cyberbullying

and conventional bullying. Although most boys and girls agree that bullying has an effect

on others, it is interesting to note that the boys believe that cyberbullying has less of an effect

than traditional bullying whereas the girls believe cyberbullying has more of an effect than

traditional bullying. It is also interesting to point out that exactly the same number of

students believe that both cyberbullying and traditional bullying have the same effect.

Please keep in mind that the students were asked this question regardless if they had

been a victim of cyberbullying or bullying.

Less of an effect Same effect More of an effect Don't know

Boys 22 14 8 10

Girls 4 14 18 6

0

5

10

15

20

25

Num

ber

of S

tude

nts

Cyberbullying Compared to Traditional Bullying?


Chart 3: How Cyberbullying Victims Felt

Question number 6 asks how victims of cyberbullying felt? The students were encouraged to mark all that applied and their responses reflected that. Some students answered multiple emotions while others did not answer at all. The vertical axis represents the number of responses not the number of students.

Chart 3. Simply asks how the cyberbullied victims felt. We did notice however, that

we received more responses to this question than what was given on Table 5, which asks

“have you been bullied?” It is possible that some students were victims in another time

frame, as our questionnaire does limit responses to most recent activity, of within the past

three months.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Sad Frustrated Angry Embarrassed Scared Not Bothered

Num

ber

of R

espo

nses

How Cyberbullying Victims Felt

Boys

Girls


Discussion

Cyberbullying Data: Victims

A large proportion of the students, 19%, reported that they had been bullied in some way at least once over the past three months.

Bullying by Text Messaging was second highest with 4% of the students stating they

had been bullied within the past three months at least once or twice. Of those victims 2% were bullied for a period of 1-4 weeks and 2% were bullied for less than a week. Pictures or Video-Clips were among the least used forms of cyberbullying with 2% of the students reported being bullied only once or twice in the past three months with 1% stating the bullying lasted 1-4 weeks and 1% were bullied a for less than a week. Phone Calls was one the least used were only 1% of students were bullied once or twice in the past three months and 1% were bullied for 1-4 weeks. Emails were used to bully 2% of the students once or twice in the last three months and 2% stated the overall bullying lasted 1-4 weeks. Chat Rooms had 1% of students bullied once or twice in the last three months and 1% were bullied for 1-4 weeks. Instant Messaging had 2% of students being bullied once or twice in the last three months with 1% of students stating the bullying lasted 1-4 weeks and 1% stating they were bullied for less than a week. By far the most used form of cyberbullying was through Social Networking Sites with 6% of students being bullied once or twice in the past three months and another 5% being bullied 1-4 weeks and 1% of students who were bullied for less than a week.


Cyberbulling Data: Offenders

From the students surveyed, a substantial amount of students, 7%, admitted to cyberbullying others within the past three months. Text Messaging, Chat Rooms, and Instant Messaging were not used to cyberbullly. 1% of students used Pictures or Video-Clip technology to cyberbullly others once or twice and another 1% of students bullied others at least once daily in the last three months. 1% of students used Phone Calls to cyberbullly others once or twice in the past three months. 1% of students bullied others through Emails once or twice in the last three months. The Social Networking Sites was used the most with 3% of students utilizing the sites to cyberbullly at least once or twice in the past three months.

Gender Differences

Based on our questionnaire both boys and girls cyberbullly however, in comparing the students responses we uncovered some interesting findings - girls were significantly more likely to cyberbullly than boys. We found that the victims of cyberbullying were being bullied by both boys and girls where 3% were boys another 3% were both boys and girls but a sizeable 15% were girls. As Table 6 shows, girls involvement in being cyberbullied is much higher than boys, with girls reporting greater victimization through all our 7 subcategories of cyberbullying technologies. In Table 9, both boys and girls were equally targeted at 4% but the boys were slightly higher than girls with 3% while the girls were at 2%. The discrepancy between the genders prompts the need for further research. A closer evaluation is needed to discover if these results are limited to our random sample or if these results reflect particular gender roles in cyberbullying.


Impact of Cyberbullying

Bullying has seen a dramatic shift from face to face confrontations to virtually anonymity. In our survey we asked how students felt between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, we also asked how victims of cyberbullying felt. In Chart 2 we must point out the drastic perception between the genders. Males believed cyberbullying had “less of an effect” whereas the females believed the exact opposite, where cyberbullying had “more of an effect” than traditional bullying. It is also interesting to note that in Chart 3 more than half the boys were “not bothered” by cyberbullying and as for the girls most felt angry, frustrated or sad.

Use of Technology

As explained earlier, the use of electronic technologies among adolescents has evolved into instant mass communication. With the development of Web2.0 the once static Internet has become an interactive playground. As stated on page 11, the most recent forms of electronic communication are email, instant messaging, text messaging, chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites, video sharing, photo sharing, massively multiplier online computer games, and virtual worlds. Chart 1 breaks down the use of all these electronic mediums by the number of students. The most popular are cell phone use and internet use with nearly all participants recently (one month) using them. Table 4 breaks this down further in detail as it takes the 7 subcategories and attaches the number of hours actually used by gender within the surveyed month. Males spent most of their time on the Internet, emails, and social networking sites and the females spent most of their time on email, chat rooms, and the cell phone.


Suggestions for Future Studies

As with all research room for trial and error is acceptable. Some questions were spot

on while others had the students asking us what it meant. Nonetheless, some of our

suggestions for future research are the following:

n Survey a larger number of participants

n Do the survey at a time of year that does not affect state testing

n The gender differences found in cyber victimization

n Ask for permission from more school officials rather than just the principal

Conclusion

Cyberbullying seems to be a type of bullying that is becoming increasingly prevalent,

as the use of technology increases by young people. Previous studies have mainly focused

on the frequency of cyberbullying but this study differentiated in that we explored 7

subcategories of cyberbullying and correlating them to the increase of cyberbullying. It

found that most cyberbullying was reported on social networking sites more than any other

social medium.

This study broadened our understanding of cyberbullying through the use of social

media, by looking at more detail information. Suggestions for further research have been

made, and for a better understanding of cyerbullying to be obtained.


Appendix A: Cyberbullying Questionnaire Cyberbullying Questionnaire

Hello! The University of Texas at Pan-American, Management Information System’s graduate class is conducting a research on cyberbullying and we would greatly appreciate your cooperation.

All information given is confidential; you will not be identified and will be used strictly for academic purposes only.

Your answers will NOT be shown to your teachers or classmates. No one in school will know what you answered, so please answer truthfully.

We say a student is being bullied (cyberbullied) when another student, or several other students

ü Sends angry, rude, vulgar messages about a person online or to that person via electronic devices

ü Telling lies or spreading false rumors to try to make others dislike him or her ü Pretending to be someone else and sending or posting material that makes that

person look bad ü Sending or posting information about a person that contains sensitive, private, or

embarrassing information In this questionnaire we will concentrate on the 7 most common technologies used in cyberbulling

§ Text Messaging (receiving abusive text messages (SMS) on your mobile phone)

§ Pictures or Video Clips (nude/explicit picture or video-clips, sent to you or sent to others about you)

§ Phone Calls (receiving obscene/upsetting or silent calls on your mobile phone)

§ Email (receiving abusive emails to your email account) § Chat Rooms (being bullied in chat room through abusive messages) § Instant Messaging (bullying through messages on MSN Messenger, Yahoo

messenger, or similar) § Social Networking Sites (bullied through Facebook, MySpace, or similar)

Please mark all the answers that apply.


SURVEY

1. What is your age?__________ 2. What is your gender?____M____F 3. Do you own a cell phone? _____Yes _____No 4. In the last month have you… Used a Cell Phone? ___ Yes ___No If yes, for how long?___1-5hours ___6-10hours ___More than 11 hours Used the Internet? ___Yes ___No If yes, how often? ___1-5 hours ___6-10 hours ___More than11 hours

Used Microblogs (ex. Twitter)? ___Yes ___No If yes, how often? ___1-5 hours ___6-10 hours ___More than11 hours

Taken Pictures with a Cell Phone? ___Yes ___No If yes, how many? ___1-25___26-49 ___50 or more Sent or received a Text Message? ____Yes ___No If yes, how many? ___1-25 ___26-49___50 or more

Used Instant Messaging (ex. Yahoo Messenger)?___Yes ___No If yes, how many in a day? ___1-25 ___26-49___50 or more

Used Video Sharing (ex. YouTube)? ___Yes ___No If Yes, how often? ___1-2hours ___3-5hours ___More than 6hours

Used Chat Rooms? ___Yes ___No If yes, how often? ___1-2hours ___3-5hours ___More than 6hours

Used Photo Sharing (ex. Flikr)?___Yes ___No If yes, how often?___1-2hours ___3-5hours ___More than 6hours

Used Email? ___Yes ___No If yes, how often? ___1-2hours ___3-5hours ___More than 6hours

Used Social Networking Sites (ex. Facebook)? ___Yes ___No If yes, how often? ___1-10hours ___11-20hours ___More than 21 hours

Played Massively Multiplier Online Computer Games (ex. Modern Warfare 3)? ___Yes ___No If yes, how often? ___1-10hours ___11-20hours ___More than 21 hours

Played on Gaming Console (ex. PlayStation, Xbox)? ___Yes ___No If yes, how often? ___1-10hours ___11-20hours ___More than 21 hours

Visited a Virtual World (ex. World of Warcraft, Whyville)? ___Yes ___No ___1-10hours ___11-20hours ___More than 21 hours

5. Do you think cyberbullying compared to “normal, traditional, conventional” bullying has ___Less of an effect ___Same effect ___More of an effect ___Don’t know 6. If you have been cyberbullied how has it made you feel? __ Sad __Frustrated __Angry __Embarrassed __Scared __Not bothered 7. Have you heard of bullying taking place in your school or circle of friends? ___Yes ___No


8. Have you been bullied through any of the following technologies in the last 3 months? If so, how often?

Only once or twice

At least once daily



No not bullied

Other

Text Messaging


Phone Calls

Email

Chat Rooms

Instant Messaging


9. By whom have you been bullied?

Mainly one girl

Several girls Mainly one boy

Several boys

Both boys and girls


Other

Text Messaging


Phone Calls

Email

Chat Rooms

Instant Messaging


10. How long has the bullying lasted?

1- 4 Weeks

1 - 3 Months 4 – 6 Months Over 6 Months No not bullied

Other

Text Messaging



Phone Calls

Email

Chat Rooms

Instant Messaging


11. Have you bullied OTHERS using any the following technologies in the last 3 months? If so, how often?

Only once or twice

At least once daily



No not bullied

Other

Text Messaging


Phone Calls

Email

Chat Rooms

Instant Messaging


12. Whom have you bullied?

Mainly one girl

Several girls Mainly one boy

Several boys

Both boys and girls


Other

Text Messaging


Phone Calls

Email

Chat Rooms

Instant Messaging


THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!!


Bibliography

Ahn, June. “ The Effect of Social Network Sites on Adolescents’ Social and Academic Development: Current Theories and Controversies.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 62(8):1435-1445 (2011) Advances in Information Sceince. Wiley. University of Texas-Pan American. 26 March 2012 <http://www.ezhost.utpa.edu>.

Aftab, Parry. “Stopcyberbullying.org.” WiredSafety. 27 March 201 <http://stopcyberbullying.org>

Cormode, Graham, and Balachander Krishnamurthy. “Key Differences between Web1.0 and Web 2.0.” AT&T Labs-Research. 13 February 2008 28 March 2012 <http://www.docs.google.com>

Cyber Bullying vs Traditional Bullying. HubPages. 27 March 2012 http;//www.cyberbullyinghubpages.com>

Gerdeman, Briana. “Social Media Aim to Offer Support and Prevent Suicide.” Red and Black. 12 March 2012. 27 March 2012. <http://www.redandblack.com>

Hinduja, Sameer and Justin W. Patrick. “Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard.” Cornwin Press 27 March 2012

Hinduja, Sameer and Justin W. Patrick. “Cyberbullying Research Center.” 28 March 2012 http://www.cyberbullying.us

Hernandez, Daniela. “Too Much Facebook Time May Be Unhealthy for Kids.” Los Angeles Times 6 August 2011 22 March 2012 <http://www.articles.latimes.com>

Klass, Perri. “Seeing Social Media More as Portal Than as Pitfall.” The New York Times 9 January 2012 24 March 2012 <http://www.nytimes.com>

Mbajwa, Philiswa. “Cyberbullying Suicide Fears” The Citizen 25 March 2012. 27 March 2012. <http://www.citizen.co.za>

Merriam-Webster Social Media 27 March 2012 <http://www.merriam-webster.com>

M. Emelda, “Difference Between Bullying and Cyberbullying.” DifferenceBetween.net 18 April 2011. 28 March 2012 <htpp://www.differencebetween.net>

Mustaq, Shafeen. “Hello to Hell No!...Cyberbulling – are you being affected?” 15 Dec. 201126 March 2012 < http://shifs.wordpress.com/>


O’Keefe, Gwen S. and Kathleen Clarke Pearson. “The impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families.” American Academy of Pediatrics 127.4 (2011): 800-804 22 March 2012 <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/4/800.full>

Sandler, Elana P. “Can Social Media Help Prevent Suicide?” Psychology Today (2009) 24 March 2012 <http://www.psychologytoday.com>

Shapiro, Laura “Bullying in the 21st Century.” Cartoon. The daily telegraph’s Warren Brown. April 30, 2012 < http://thepunch.com>

Slonje, Robert and Peter K. Smith. “Cyberbullying: Another main type of bullying?”

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 49:147-154 (2008) Personality and Social Sciences. Wiley. University of Texas-Pan American. 26 March 2012 2012 <http://www.ezhost.utpa.edu>.

Subrahmanyam, Kaveri and Patricia Greenfield. “Onine Communication and Adolescent Relationships.” The Future of Children 18.1 Children and Electronic Media (2008) 119-146. Online Library. JSTOR. University of Texas Pan American. 26 March 2012 <http://www.jstor.org>.

Talent Show. Advertisement. The Ad Council. Dec. 2008 you tube. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQBurXQOeQ>

The Cyber Bullying Virus. Advertisement. PSA Web Video. March 2012. you tube. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5PZ_Bh-M6o>

Tommassi, Mathew. “50 Definitions of Social Media.” The Social Media Guide. 27 March 2012 <http://www.thesocialmediaguide.com>

Web1.0 vs Web 2.0 13 . Ruminations of an Online Instructor/MD 13 May 2008. 28 March 2012 <http://www.dryder.edublogs.org>

“What is Cyber bullying and What Can We Do About It?” Online Posting. 21 January 2012. Social Networking. 25 March 2012 <http;//www.whatissocialnetworking.com>

“What is Social Networking?” Online Posting. 21 January 2012. Social Networking. 25 March 2012 <http;//www.whatissocialnetworking.com>

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