The Associated Press reported last week, here via the Huffington Post, that young people are reporting instances of cyberbullying to family members at a higher rate, which seems to be helping the cyberbullying situation a little.
According to an Oct 24 AP-NORC/MTV poll, 34 percent of people aged 14 to 24 who had been harassed online went to a parent, compared with 27 percent who sought parental guidance just two years ago. Siblings have also been recruited for help with cyberbullying: 18 percent of those bullied online in 2013 sought help from a sibling, while in 2011, only about 12 percent did. This increase in familial notification accompanied a decrease in the number of 14-to-24-year-olds who reported being harassed online from 56 percent in 2011 to 49 percent this year.
“I feel like we’re making progress,” the AP quoted Sameer Hinduja, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center and professor at Florida Atlantic University, as saying. “People should be encouraged.”
A few more findings: 72 percent of cyberbullying victims said changing their email address, screen name, or cellphone number helped, making these changes the most common way young people effectively dealt with cyberbullies. About two-thirds said talking to a parent help, the second most effective way reported.
Finally, revenge doesn’t seem to be any good at all. Less than a third of all people polled found retaliation helpful, but about the same number said it had no effect, good or bad, and 20 percent actually said retaliation made the problem worse.
About a week before the report was released, two girls in Florida, ages 12 and 14, were arrested and charged with felonies in connection with the cyberbullying of Rebecca Anne Sedwick, 12, of Lakeland, Fla., who committed suicide.
And today, about a week after the report was released, 11 Annapolis High School students in Anne Arundel County, Md., were punished for cyberbullying by school officials, though no reports were circulating as to whether police had been called in their case, WBAL-TV (NBC affiliate) reports. In the Annapolis case, a picture was allegedly taken by one teen of another teen, without the subject’s permission, and then circulated by cellphone and then social media.
