Cyberbullies use high-tech gear to torment students - Study says practice becoming common

Cyberbullies use high-tech gear to torment students - Study says practice becoming common
By Brendan McCarthy
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published August 18, 2006

Violence from school-age bullies used to come in the form of a knuckle sandwich, but more and more children are now attacking others via keyboards.

About one in every three children between the ages of 12 and 17 and one in every six kids ages 6 to 11 are victims of cyberbullying, according to a new national poll. And officials say the mean, threatening or embarrassing Internet missives are not only anonymous, but they are becoming more prevalent in today's digital age.

"In the coming school year, more than half a million kids in Illinois will be victims of cyberbullying," Tim Carpenter, state director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois, said at a news conference Thursday.

Cyberbullying is the use of electronic devices, such as e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, cellphones, pagers and Web sites, to send or post cruel or harmful messages.

With the widespread use among children of online diaries and social-networking sites such as MySpace.com, the attacks are becoming more common, Carpenter said.

There have been more than 200 reports of cyberbullying this year in Chicago, said Police Supt. Philip Cline.

He called cyberbullying a growing problem that can lead to violence and said every school across the state needs a bullying-prevention program.

"When the threat of physical harm is the motive [of] cyberbullying or any other online communication, it's criminal," Cline said.

The news conference, attended by local and state law enforcement officials, was held in a computer-lab classroom at Drummond Elementary School, in the 1800 block of West Cortland Street.

As officials detailed the extent of cyberbullying, 15 students typed away on computer keyboards, working on a class assignment. When asked how many of them use MySpace.com, about half of the students raised their hand. Reporters then asked how many had been victims of cyberbullying.

No hands were raised.

Although the small sample said cyberbullying didn't affect them, the poll says otherwise.

About 10 percent of all kids ages 12 to 17 and 4 percent of children ages 6 to 11 have been threatened online with physical harm, the poll says.

And about 17 percent of the younger group and 7 percent of the older group surveyed said they were worried about bullying as they start a new school year.

The poll results come from a survey conducted last month of 1,000 children across the country. The survey was conducted by the Opinion Research Corp.

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bmccarthy@tribune.com