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Of those that reported that they had been cyberbullied, over 50 percent reported the cyberbullying lasted on average 2-4 days, while approximately 30 percent lasted a week or longer. Over 41 percent of the time cyberbullying took place with instant messaging, chat rooms and blogs (MySpace, Xanga, Facebook, Bebo, etc). In addition, 35 percent reported that e-mail was used to cyberbullied them.

ngry, depressed and hurt were the top three emotions experienced

he most reported reasons those that admitted to cyberbullying (14/59) gave were out of revenge (57 percent) and anger (43 percent) while 21 percent admit to cyberbullying because they did not like the other person. When asked how the cyberbullying take place, the results are similar to the ones reported by victims of cyberbullying: 43 percent by instant messaging or chat rooms and 36 percent by e-mails or blogs

Many of the most egregious acts of cyberbullying do not take place during school hours or on school networks, a situation that presents a dilemma for public school administrators: If they punish a student for off-campus behavior, they could get hit with a freedom of speech suit.  If they do nothing, students may continue to suffer and school officials theoretically could get hit with failure to act litigation. For school administrators, it appears to be an unfortunate “catch-22.” For lawyers, it’s a “perfect storm,” pitting freedom of speech advocates against the victims of cyberbullying and schools that try to intervene. There are no easy answers in this arena, few laws, and no well-established precedents that specifically deal with cyberbullying.

“School administrators can intervene in cyberbullying incidents, even if the incidents do not take place on school grounds, if they can demonstrate that the electronic speech resulted in a substantial disruption to the educational environment.”

These cases illustrate not only a lack of precedent on cyberbullying cases, but also a dilemma for school administrators on how to handle cyberbullying.  “There are few laws that address how to handle cyberbullying, and many schools don’t have an internal policy to deal with cyberbullying that takes place off-campus,” offers Deutchman.  “It may take an unfortunate and tragic event on school property to get more schools to consider tackling electronic behavior that originates off campus.  It’s only a matter of time before a cyberbully, or the victim of cyberbullying, uses deadly force during school hours.”

"Parents are the key to this whole issue," explains Leasure. "They need to be involved and monitoring the computer and Internet activity of their kids. If they see something that isn't right, they need to act as parents and correct the issue."

parental awareness is truly the key to fixing this problem. If your child is the victim - or worse, the bully - it's time to step in. it's not being over-protective; it's trying to stop the current generation from 'virtually' destroying themselves emotionally

Cyberbullying Statistics: A recent survey of 395 students, ages 11 to 19, was conducted by the Kids/Teen Division of the Maine-based online safety organization Working To Halt Online Abuse. The study found that: � 28% of students have been cyberbullied, but... � Just over half tell their parents or another adult about it; of the students who did not report the cyberbullying, 25% felt it wasn't a big problem or didn't want to make a big deal out of it � 65% reported the cyberbullying was via IM, followed by email, MySpace, chat rooms and online games � 43% were cyberbullied by someone their age or in the same grade � 30% blocked or deleted the cyberbully, while 16% ignored them � 54 students admitted they had bullied somebody online themselves

Cyberbullying Cyberbullying or online bullying is repeated, unwanted or cruel behavior against someone through computers, cell phones, gaming consoles, or other Internet-based means. The Internet is always “on,” opening the door for 24-hour harassment. Cyberbullies can be anonymous. They never have to confront their victims, they don’t have to be physically stronger and cyberbullies may be virtually invisible to parents and adults.

Look for warning signs your child may be the victim of cyberbullying – depression, lack of interest in school and friends, drop in grades and subtle comments that something may be wrong. If your child is the victim of cyberbullying, take action. By filtering email, instant messages and text messages, you can cut off many of the ways the cyberbullies contact your child. By having your child avoid the sites and groups where the attacks occur, he/she can ignore the bully. If harassment continues, change your child’s email address, user names and Internet account. If these steps do not stop the cyberbullying, contact the parents of the child who is behind the bullying, contact the school, and if the situation is not resolved, involve the police. It’s important to compile copies of harassing emails and postings to have evidence for authorities or the school, so they can take action. Look for signs that your child may be the cyberbully themselves – if they sign onto the Internet under someone else’s name, if they use someone else’s password without their permission, if they posted rude or mean things about someone else online, if they use bad language online, or if they changed their profile or away message designed to embarrass or frighten someone. Talk to your kids about cyberbullying and why it’s wrong and hurtful.

The problem is that most incidents of cyberbullying occur off-campus because students have more unsupervised time. But the impact is at school where students are physically together. Although there is no data on the extent of harmful impact, anecdotally, it is clear that some incidents lead to students avoiding or even failing school, committing suicide and even becoming violent.

Studies on cyberbullying reported in the December 2007 issue of Journal of Adolescent Health reveal that both perpetrators and targets of cyberbullying report significant psychosocial concerns and increased rates of involvement in offline physical and relational aggression

One study reported that the victims of cyberbullying were eight times more likely than other students to report bringing a weapon to school. The concerns for student safety are very real. Students who do not believe school officials can help them may seek their own revenge or refuse to come to school.

A survey conducted by MSN United Kingdom found that 74% of teens as compared to 80% in this study did not go to anyone for advice when they were cyberbullied (www.msn.co.uk/cyberbullying, 2006). One reason some teenagers are reluctant to tell parents or adults is the fear of retaliation.

Many times parents don't get involved because they are afraid of invading their teen's privacy. Others may feel that as long as they have filtering software their teen is protected from negative material.

Parents need to be educated about cyberbullying- what it looks like, what the effects are and how to handle it. Rosalind Wiseman, educator and author of the best seller "Queen Bees & Wannabes", suggest parents consider the following: Use technology as an opportunity to reinforce your family values. Attach rules and consequences if inappropriate behavior occurs. Move the computer out of your child's bedroom and into the family room. Teach your child not to share passwords. Install monitoring and filtering software. Monitor your child's screen name(s) and Web sites for inappropriate content. If cyberbullying occurs, save and print out any evidence and decide whom you should contact for assistance.

what are the concerns students have regarding cyberbullying, why do they do it, and how comfortable are they in talking to others about cyberbullying.

The study found approximately 29 percent had been victims of cyberbullying and 24 percent had bullied someone online. Of those who had admitted to being cyberbullied, 59 percent admitted to bullying someone as well. In addition, approximately 80 percent of all of the students surveyed reported that they aware of instances of cyberbullying. When male and female experiences were considered separately, it was found that over 20 percent of males and over 34 percent of females had experienced cyberbullying. In addition, 29 percent of males and only 20 percent of females reported to have cyberbullied.

A survey of more than 200 Kansas State University students — mostly freshmen — indicates 54 percent of them believe cyberbullying is a "minor problem" or a "common problem" among students at the university.

The survey used the cyberbullying definition provided in Kansas' anti-bullying law, which took effect in January 2008 and was revised in July to include cyberbullying. The law requires schools to develop anti-bullying policies, plans and preventative measures. Cyberbullying is the use of any electronic communication device, such as e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, blogs, mobile phones, pages, online games or Web sites, to create an intimidating, threatening or abusive environment.

I also asked them why they allowed certain girls to be on their friends list when they know that some of them will resort to this type of bullying, and most said because they felt they “had to.” This kind of pressure to allow “friends” on one’s site could also be considered a form of bullying, as they feel there may be consequences to shutting some out regardless of their lack of Internet etiquette.

As a public school principal, I can’t legally discipline a student for cyberbullying actions that take place outside of school that don’t result in bodily harm at school. However, when cyberbullying that has taken place outside of school becomes a school issue, as it did today, we must reserve the right to take action if the effects of outside cyberbullying threaten the safety or well-being of the student(s) in school, even if it hasn’t caused bodily harm…yet.

School officials have the authority to impose discipline if the speech has, or there are particularized reasons to believe it will cause a substantial disruption at school or interference with the rights of students to be secure. Three types of situations generally meet this standard - violent altercations, hostile environment for a student, significant interference with instruction.

Both the state Senate and Assembly have proposed anti-cyberbullying laws. Kathy Wilson of Sen. Carl Marcellino's (R-Syosset) office said that the Senate has proposed two bills in the last two years that add computers to the list of modes of illegal harassment, but the Assembly passed neither.The Assembly's website states that the Assembly has proposed bills "to define and prohibit the bullying, cyberbullying and hazing of students and others on school property" as well as to add a database for reporting such complaints, but has not passed either yet.

Both the state Senate and Assembly have proposed anti-cyberbullying laws. Kathy Wilson of Sen. Carl Marcellino's (R-Syosset) office said that the Senate has proposed two bills in the last two years that add computers to the list of modes of illegal harassment, but the Assembly passed neither.

The Assembly's website states that the Assembly has proposed bills "to define and prohibit the bullying, cyberbullying and hazing of students and others on school property" as well as to add a database for reporting such complaints, but has not passed either yet.

Yet with so many different types of cyberbullying, ranging from online impersonation to e-mail hacking and distributing embarrassing materials about a person, it can be difficult for kids, let alone those trying to help them, to know how to respond and stop the 21st century bully in his or her tracks. "Awareness about the issue is high, but awareness about what to do when it happens is mixed," says Michele Ybarra, president and research director for Internet Solutions for Kids (ISK) and an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Research suggests that those on the receiving end of traditional bullying may be more likely to cyberbully as a form of retaliation. Kids involved in the more severe instances of cyberbullying also tend to have more psychosocial problems, exhibiting aggression, getting in trouble at school and having poor relationships with their parents, says Nancy Willard, an expert on cyberbullying and author of Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. And while traditional bullying appears to peak in middle school and drop off as kids reach high school, cyberbullying tends to slightly increase among kids in high school, a trend researchers can't yet explain.

One of the tricky things about helping cyberbullying targets is that they aren't always willing to talk about the problem. Teens often cite a fear of having their Internet privileges revoked as a reason for keeping quiet, Agatston says. Kids who receive threatening messages in school may not divulge what's happened for fear of getting in trouble, since many schools ban use of cellphones during the day. To get around that problem, Willard recommends having a frank discussion with your children about cyberbullying before it happens.

A punch in the eye seems so passé. Bullies these days are traveling in packs and using cyberspace to their humiliating messages online. Like the toughies of old, they are both boys and girls and they demand nothing less than total submission as the price of peace. It’s a jungle out there. For school districts, patrolling the hallways and adjacent grounds is just a start. In the 21st century, a new kind of vigilance is necessary—an expanded jurisdiction that serves to both stave off legal actions and ensure a safe and productive learning environment.

Today’s principals rely on district policy and practice to extend the presumed long arm of the law to off-campus incidents. Potentially, that could mean plunging headlong into the electronic frontier to rescue student victims and thwart cyberbullying classmates who thrive as faceless computer culprits.

A December 2009 study by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society found that students on the receiving end report greater emotional distress, are more likely to abuse substances, and are more frequently depressed.

In a survey of 45,000 children in middle school, 85 percent said they have been cyberbullied at least once, said Parry Aftab, executive director of the Internet safety group WiredSafety.org, based in Irvington, N.Y., about 20 miles northeast of New York. Just 5 percent admitted it at the high school level, she said.