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Nicole Hucks
Eng. 112-78
Professor Connie Douglas
Round Table Essay
19 October 2016

Cyberbullying at the Table

In todays world a normal conversation has ceased to exist. Teens and children
all around the world use the Internet more and more each day. These young people feel
that the Internet is a natural way to communicate by laptop or a mobile device.
However, the use of these tools has turned into a negative situation. Right under the
noses of the parents, bullying is taking place. Children and teens have chosen to bully
online instead of bullying in person. There will be three different voices that go over
different viewpoints on cyberbullying. These viewpoints present ideas on what is being
done and can be done to prevent cyberbullying from happening. The three different
voices will be school counselors, parents, and students. Every voice will go over ways
to prevent this great epidemic.
Looking back children were nowhere near as cruel as they are today. The
internet had become more noticed in homes in the 90s, and has become a part of
peoples daily lives. Every day a child is bullied and many stay silent, but these
problems can easily be prevented. Each child deserves the chance to feel safe, and not

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feel as if they need to end their lives. These children can overcome the battle of
cyberbullying and prevention can take place. The dangers are real, and parents, school
counselors, and teenagers need to become aware and take responsibility.
The first voice is that of the students. When the bullying begins no child will go to
their parents and tell them. A lot of the times the child wants to stay private and put their
guard up. It also can be the gender factor, but the difference on how it can impact the
boy or girl makes no difference. A study showed that girls are harassed sexually more
so than boys, but the boys were afraid to say anything. However, girls express their
feelings while boys choose to keep quiet and deal with it on their own. The students that
are the victims may become worried that their parents will take away any device that
can be used as a communication tool. Psychologists studies show that cyberbullying is
linked to depression, and any type of bullying can be degrading, shocking, and even
humiliating.
Students that are not plugged into a device that can be linked to the
cyberbullying world do not participate in it. Roughly nine to twenty-five percent of
children had said they would not report being bullied, but fifty percent of children had
used prevention methods such as, blocking a screen name, the passwords changed,
and even keeping their buddy list to a minimum.
According to the article, Parents must Break Down Teen Barriers it has tips on
what to do. The parents can put together many ways to prevent harm being done to
their child. Becoming fearful of the child is never the answer. Parents need to get
prepared and learn to communicate in the right formats. The parents should let their
child be able to come up with a solution first by going over their options. Provide

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encouraging positive feedback on their good points. Let them know they have a voice,
and make sure they know that trust is there. Do not call them names or do anything to
hurt them. When the child shows signs of pain at school they become a walking target.
Parents also should not be weary of checking the history after the child gets offline.
Trust for a child is not what is important; the parent needs to be able to trust their child.
Children need to have guidance, and by telling them monitoring will be taking place it
will prevent any mistrust later on down the road.
Parents have a tendency to become so busy that its easy to just give them
unlimited computer time or to give them a device that they can text on. When
communication isnt provided in the home the parent cant discover if anything is
bothering their child. Children hide things very well and it needs to be brought to their
attention that they can communicate whats going on whether its good or bad. The
parents need to teach their children the dos and donts. It can also be a good idea for
the parents to maybe talk about a time when they were bullied, and to give their own
perspective on the subject. The world of technology is continuously growing and good
parenting skills are needed.
Finally the last voice, the school counselors. The school counselors are in the
position to be able to prevent cyberbullying. They need to ensure to all children that they
are able to listen to any problem and take any precautions necessary. School
counselors need to show concern for the students subjected to cyber-bullying that might
be experiencing a range of anxious feelings, these feelings can be addressed in
counselling. The counsellor can provide guidance curriculums, individual counsel, a

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group session, and recommendations of other support services. When these methods
are used it helps the child to be able to handle the situation better. School counsellors
need to be willing to listen to every child regardless of the gender. According to the
article Psychological Impact of Cyber- bullying, both boys and girls that are victims of
sexually based types of cyber-bullying, pretend to be someone else along with sending
private pictures to others and are considered to be the most negative types of a cyberbullies.
However, many children are not likely to tell about cyber-bullying. School
counselors need to be able to tell the difference between cyberbullying and depression.
Once it is ensured by the counselor, then they should not feel afraid to tell. The staff
cares about their students and are willing to have an open ear.
After reviewing all of these articles it shows that further means should take place
to help with the cyber-bullying situation. The article, The Cyber-bullying Epidemic
included a heartbreaking poem about Izzy Dix who hanged herself after the torment of
being bullied. The beginning of the article it says Why isnt more being done and it tells
about how much the parent does not know and understand about their youth, and how
the internet has in fact become their world. Adults need to get educated about the online
world. Something as simple as googling the childs name should not be an instance of
losing trust. Trust is earned it is not something that just happens.
The high rate of cyberbullying is directly related to the number of children and
teens who have access to Internet technology. During a study done by Rideout, Foehr &
Roberts in 2010, "in Canada 84 percent of children between ages 8 and 18 have access
to the Internet at home. They found that 66 percent of these youth had a cell phone, 29

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percent had their own laptop computer and 22 percent owned webcams. Therefore,
bullies were able to send text messages, social media messages and even pictures or
videos from anywhere at any time. With these tools, bullies were able to carry out seven
types of bullying, according to the article entitled: Psychological Impact of Cyber
Bullying: Implications for School Counselors. The different types of bullying were
described as name calling, threatening, rumor mongering, sending private
pictures, impersonation, sexual comments and sexual behaviors. All of these forms
of cyber bullying caused psychological problems such as sadness, embarrassment,
anxiety and depression. Other effects that come with being a victim to cyber bullying
were more outward, such as skipping school, not being able to sleep, eating more or
less than usual, hurting themselves, wanting to run away from home or even acting out
in violent ways.
In conclusion the numbers of suicides are increasing, but no data can confirm the
exact numbers of the children that are cyber-bullied. However prevention methods need
to begin to be used to lower these numbers, and maybe even one day cyber-bullying
can be removed. No child should be in fear to go to school, or even just live day by day.
Parents, students and the school counselors need to stand together, and take action.

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Bibliography

Cilluffo, Rena. "Parents must be Involved with Children's Lives to Spot Bullying. The
Dispatch Sep 17 2012. ProQuest. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
Nordahl, Jennifer, Tanya Beran, and Crystal J. Detrick. "Psychological Impact of CyberBullying: Implications for School Counsellors/L'Effet Psychologique De CyberIntimidation: Implications Pour Les Conseillers Scolaires." Canadian Journal of
Counselling and Psychotherapy (Online) 47.3 (2013): 383-402.ProQuest. Web.
27 Oct. 2016.
Rea, Sandy. "Parents must Break Down Teen Barriers." Herald Sun: 34. Mar 02
2012. ProQuest. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
Taylor, Kelley R., Esq. "Cyberbullying: Is there Anything Schools can do?" Principal
Leadership 8.9 (2008): 60-2. ProQuest. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
Wilkinson, Julie K. "The Cyber Bullying Epidemic." Prep School Spring 2014: 303.ProQuest. Web. 5 Sep. 2016.