The Phenomenon of Cyber Bullying: The Role of Educational Policies in Identifying and Preventing Cyber Bullying

Abstract

Cyber Bullying has become a social problem, which not only attracts the interest of the community and the media, but for many countries is now recognized as a crime; a criminal offense punishable by law. One of the most concerned issues is the online aggression experienced by students which is one of the features of cyber bullying. Exponential growth of Internet usage has further expanded the concept of an information age with dramatic change in every aspect our daily lives. Cyber bullying is defined as using electronic communication to torment others through devices such as Internet, e-mail, text messages or even social networking sites. The cyber stalker can, trace, track and find out personal details of the target, including address, phone number, and details of the target’s family. Most people do not recognize the symptoms of stalking and the techniques a stalker employs to target them. The purpose of this paper was to give a brief overview of current knowledge in the literature about cyber bullying as one of the typologies of bullying. After a brief introduction and description of the phenomenon, different classifications of cyber bullying were analyzed, in particular in accordance with the goals of their behavior and the kind of relationship with the victim. Alternative tactics for preventing this phenomenon in the field of education were discussed in this study.