The Three Categories of Bullying and A Brief Introduction to Cyber-Bullying

          As a continuation of the previous blog I will highlight some key statements made by Maria el Mar Badia Martin in her article “The causes and nature of bullying and social exclusion in schools”. First, I will focus on the three categories of bullying presented within the article. Afterwards, I will briefly discuss some points made by Badia Martin on “cyber-bullying”. In order to clarify some points made by Badia Martin I have included some definitions provided by “Stopbullying.gov”.

The Three Categories of Bullying

Bullying can be separated into three categories: 1) Physical Bullying 2) Verbal Bullying 3) Relational Bullying

•  According to “Stopbullying.gov”: (http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/definition/)
•  Physical Bullying– “involves hurting a person’s body or possessions.” Examples of physical bullying include: “hitting, kicking, pinching, spitting, tripping, pushing, taking or breaking someone’s [possessions], and making mean or rude hand gestures.”
• Verbal Bullying – involves “saying or writing mean things.” Examples of verbal bullying include: “teasing, name-calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting, and threatening to cause harm.”
• Relational Bullying – “involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships”. Relational bullying is also referred to as social bullying. Examples of relational bullying include: “leaving some out on purpose, telling other [people] not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors about someone, and embarrassing someone in public.”

Brief Introduction and Overview on Cyber-Bullying

·         School bullying no longer requires a physical presence. For example, bullying can be done through the use of cell phones and computers. As a result, there has been the creation of a new term, known as cyber bullying.

• According to “Stopbullying.gov”: “cyber-bullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology”. 
•  “Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites.”
• “Examples of cyber-bullying include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.”

• Cyber bullies use “the anonymity of the internet to mete out pain without witnessing the consequences.” 
• Schools and parents often ignore the problem of cyber-bullying because they focus on problems that physically occur within school, while remaining ignorant to what occurs online and on social media. 
• Many bully victims do not report their cyber-bullying incidents because they “fear they’ll be barred from using the internet.”
• A suggestion to prevent cyber-bullying is to “be very careful about who you give your mobile phone number [and account information for locating you on the internet].”
•  The text suggests that if you get a message from a bully via the computer or mobile device, “save the message and take a note of the time and date for use as evidence.”