The New Virtual Bathroom Wall

Judgment. Anonymity. Cruelty.

These three words define cyberbullying as Pinnacle High School (PHS) students perceive it today.

The virtual world of blogs, text messages, e-mails and social networking has opened the door to a new generation of cyberbullying. What was once ridicule in the physical world through slam books and wedgies, has transformed into pixilated letters on an LCD screen. The issue reaches not only PHS students, or even just high school students. But children, teenagers and adults from every region of the world. Ranging from catty gossip to malicious insults, cyber bullying occurs constantly.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a teen devotes an average of at least 95 minutes each day to texting. While Facebook reports that users spend 7 billion minutes on the site each month. A recent poll conducted by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national nonprofit organization made up of law enforcement leaders and survivors of violent crimes, found that 13 million children ages 6 to 17 were victims of cyberbullying. And of those victims,more than 2 million did not report their attacks. This oftentimes leads to low self-esteem and depression. According to cyberbullying.us, the alarming increase in teen suicides correlates with cyberbullying.

Unfortunately, not having a Facebook profile and blocking certain numbers from cell phones no longer exempts someone from being victimized.

With each new technology introduced, the potential exists for any device to be used to insult, criticize or gossip about another person. With technological advancements, the issue’s complexity only intensifies and creates new forms of harassment. Including “text bombing” and prank dialing from the web.

Internet users now have the ability to type in a number, write anything they want in a message, and flood their victim’s text inbox with hundreds of duplicates. They can also type in the recipient’s number. As well as the caller’s number, enabling the person to act as though he or she were someone else. Why do people feel justified in such actions? The answer isn’t simple.

Some bullies see themselves as the defensive player.

Others feel comfortable with the anonymity of technology. Ted Feinberg, assistant executive director of the National Association of School Psychologists, and Nicole Robey, school psychology intern for Cumberland County Schools, believe that oftentimes bullies exert power through fear. For many people, no reason seems to justify cyberbullying, yet the affliction continues. Because the issue has grown in magnitude, however, it has attracted recognition from celebrities and national organizations.

Entertainers such as Madonna, Selena Gomez and Chris Colfer from “Glee” have openly discussed the destructive causes of cyberbullying. While national organizations like Stop Bullying Now, The Trevor Project and the National Center for Bullying Prevention work hard to put an end to the harassment. These organizations offer resources to help teens and parents not only understand the problem, but also find solutions to overcome it. At the community level, students and faculty at PHS are working to reverse the negativity generated by cyberbullying.

The campus is home to multiple anti-bullying clubs, including Project Students Against Bullying, Peer Mediators, Freshman Mentors and the Gay-Straight Alliance. The school also hosts assemblies and events that inspire students to put a stop to the harassment. Students seeking guidance or just someone to talk to have the opportunity to do so with the help of supportive teachers and programs on campus. According to PHS assistant principal Brenda Corte, Pinnacle follows up on all anonymous phone calls made to the bullying hotline. “Everything stops so that we can solve it,” she says. And even if the incident occurs off campus, Corte says,“we step in,” so that all students feel safe at school.

Bullying happens everywhere to people of all ages.

Whether it’s a co-worker, team mate, a boss, a stranger on the road or a neighbor, schools aren’t the only place for bullying. Today, criticism and judgment no longer end when people leave home. Bullies now have the ability to easily instigate conflict through a computer screen. Or even by making a phone call. Throughout the years, the reasons fo bullying have remained the same. Though methods have evolved and escalated to a whole new level. And although bullying is still in our everyday lives, people are beginning to bring attention to the issue. Through personal stories that empower society to change in the hopes that, one day, it will.

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