Running Head: How to Resolve Cyberbullying

How to Resolve Cyberbullying

Ryann Tate
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

How to Resolve Cyberbullying

2
Introduction

Ding ding, a girls phone rings signaling an incoming message from Gossip Girl. The
message reads, Spotted at Grand Central, bags in hand: Serena van der Woodsen. Was it only a
year ago our It Girl mysteriously disappeared for boarding school? And just as suddenly, shes
back. Dont believe me? See for yourselves. Lucky for us, Melanie91 sent proof, Thanks Mel.
Gossip sure does travel fast on the Upper Eastside. Of course with the aid of technology.
Although Gossip Girl is a fictional story, it tackles some issues that are prevalent in this day and
age.
Throughout the Gossip Girl series, we follow the lives of several teens in the Upper East
Side. All of the Upper East Siders have secrets, its just a matter of when they will come out and
who they will hurt. Gossip Girl does not act alone in exposing the secrets of the Upper East Side,
she gets her tips from people in New York and the Upper East Siders themselves. Without her
followers that send in tips, Gossip Girl would be powerless. The posts sent out by Gossip Girl
were hurtful, and they ruined lives, relationships, and futures.
In this age, technology affects the culture of the world in a major way. The way we
communicate and interact with each other is mainly colored by social media. Because of this,
there is a world wide epidemic of cyber bullying. We no longer bully people face to face but use
tools like social media to bully people online. Cyberbullying has the same affect of face to face
bullying. This is why children need to be informed about the dangers of the internet and what
they should and should not be posted online. If we educate our youth on internet safety, it will be
beneficial for the case against cyber bullying. In this paper I will talk about the importance of
internet safety and the importance of education on internet safety to encourage the resolve of
bullying.
Literature Review
'Gossip Girl' tackles cyberbullying.
This article covers an episode of Gossip Girl called Carrnall Knowledge. In the episode there
is a rumor about a teacher sleeping with a student on Gossip Girl. The website talks about what
takes place during the episode. The person responsible for sending out the rumor, Blair Waldorf,
gets expelled. A board of parents meet to discuss whether they should shut down Gossip Girl or
not. The article brings up the many themes that are featured in the episode. For example,
disciplining students for cruel rumors, protecting the freedom of speech, maintaining the
prestigious schools reputation, defining bullying of teachers, condemning the values gossip sites
encourage, and questioning where those values find their origin all feature in the current
debates over censorship in schools and online.
A Parents Guide to Internet Safety
This article is directions from the FBI to parents on how to monitor what their kids are doing
online. It talks about how the internet is used to obtain information especially in an educational
setting. The article gives insight on how people try to sexually exploit children while online.
Furthermore, the article gives parents signs that their children are at risk online. It also gives
parents instructions on what to do if their child is at risk online. Additionally, the article provides
parents ways of preventing the victimization of their children by online predators.
Cyber Bullying Statistics 2014. (2014, February 24). Retrieved November 3, 2015.

How to Resolve Cyberbullying

This article gives a lot of statistical data about cyberbullying. For example, 25 percent of
teenagers report that they have experienced repeated bullying via their cell phone or on the
internet. Over half (fifty-two percent) off young people report being cyber bullied. Eleven
percent of adolescents and teens have reported embarrassing or damaging photographs taken
without the knowledge or consent of the subject. Of the young people who reported cyber
bullying incidents against them, one-third (thirty-three percent) of them reported that their bullies
issued online threats. () The article encourages parents and authority figures to talk to their
children about cyberbullying. It also encourages people to talk about cyber bullying as a way of
preventing it.
CyberBully and CyberGossip: A New Threat to Your Teen?
This article describes what bullying is, giving some examples of the way cyber bullying is done.
Via email or social media bullies say negative things, spread rumors, and/or threaten their
victims. This article also gives the reader cases of cyber bullying leading to death from different
parts of the United States. Moreover, the text describes cyber bullying as, a form of relational
agression. And it says that because girls are more likely to have relational aggression, they are
more likely to be cyber bullies. The article give parents tips on how to help their children avoid
cyber bullying. It also advises parents to not retaliate but to consider legal action.
Highlights of the Youth Internet Safety Survey
The article introduces a survey administered to over a thousand youth from ages ten to seventeen
who used the internet regularly. The survey focused on harassment, sexual approaches, and etc.
The article gives the results of the survey in sections. There were faults with survey because
people who took it could probably lie about their gender and age. The survey found that nineteen
percent of the youth who were surveyed received an unwanted sexual solicitation in the past
year. Furthermore, only six percent of those surveyed reported that they have underwent
harassment. The article advises parents to report any unusual findings to the police.
Back to School: Reading, Writing and Internet Safety
This radio show discusses the new law that has been passed in Virginia that mandates high
schools to teach an internet safety class. It talks about how an assistant attorney general to talk to
kids about the dangers of the internet and sexual predators. It also talks about legislation that
requires adolescents who want to join websites like Myspace to have parental consent. Similar
legislation has not passed in other states. It is brought up that you cannot really know if a parent
gives consent or not because it is on a computer. Myspace has taken precautions and kicked a lot
of sexual predators off the sight.
Clinical Report-The Impact of of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families.
This article gives multiple statistics on internet use by different tweens and adolescents. The
article then lists the benefits of adolescents using the internet such as accessing, learning
opportunities, health information, and social connection. Likewise, the article lists the risks of
adolescents using the internet such as, cyber bullying, sexting, and lack of privacy. Each of the
pros and cons have a detailed explanation with statistics to back it up. Furthermore, the article
talks about the role of Pediatricians in internet safety. Saying, pediatricians should advice parents
to talk to their children about what they do on the internet.

How to Resolve Cyberbullying

Assignment 1: Gossip Girl Observation

This text is an observation of three consecutive episodes of the Gossip Girl series. Each
observation was thirty minutes long. The text gives relative background information to readers
about the show. Furthermore, the text provides a figured world, actors, domain, practices of the
domain, etc. Each of the terms in the previous sentence were defined and an example was given
based on the show for each of the terms. Following the observations, there is an interview from
three fans of the show. All of the people who were interviewed gave their opinions of the show.
Educators Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats
This articles talks about how young people use the internet to connect and how more recently the
internet has been used to display negative commentary. This article defines cyberbullying and
lists the types such as, flaming, harassment, exclusion, and etc. Furthermore, the article talks
about the impact of cyberbullying and risky online behavior. It delves into legal issues of
cyberbullying. For example, the freedom of speech, liability of the schools, and criminal law.
Moreover, the article gives some examples of way to help resolve cyber bullying. It delves into
the responsibilities of the schools to change policies and to look for parent and community
outreach.
Entering the Conversation
In the Gossip Girl series, cyberbullying was a daily routine. Gossip Girl posted about
every incriminating detail of the Upper East Side, without rebuff. The difference between Gossip
Girl and the regular world, is that in Gossip Girl the people lived for the gossip; they loved
sending it in and reading it. The fictional characters never seem to face any long term
consequences from the posts Gossip Girl. In the society that we live in now, a website like
Gossip Girl would be frowned upon. And frankly, if some of the posts on Gossip Girl were
posted online in a real high school setting, they would lead to very bad consequences. Gossip
Girl is fiction and because of this factor no real harm is done to anyone who is apart of the series.
Whereas in the real world, the consequences of cyberbullying are more tangible.
As a way to eliminate or resolve cyberbullying I propose that there should be classes on
internet safety. These classes should start as early as middle school. Around the age of thirteen
children start getting social media and they begin to use the internet more frequently. In this class
students should be taught the importance of internet safety. Learning internet safety is imperative
for todays youth.
The world has changed because of the internet, which is a source used for
communication, entertainment, research, and et cetera. Our youth have outlets that previous
generations couldnt even imagine, thus we need to teach the youth the importance of internet
safety. Adolescents choose to use social networks like Facebook and Twitter to share information
about themselves to the world. This is perfectly fine in some cases, but it becomes problematic
when people get hurt. For instance, if a student vents online about a teacher and the information
finds its way to back to the school; that student is in risk of punishment. Teens need to know how
what they post online can affect their futures. For example, employers check potential
employees social media sites before hiring them. All it takes is one post do deter an employer
from potentially hiring someone. Furthermore, the internet is a passage for sexual predators to

How to Resolve Cyberbullying

lure children. Teens need to know how to avoid these situations and they need to know what
actions to pursue if they are in a situation like this occurs.
The lessons should include but not be limited to sexual predators, privacy, digital foot
print, and cyberbullying.
For example, the students should be taught the dangers of putting personal information
such as an address or telephone number online. They should be taught about how sexual
predators work to hurt children and what actions they should take if they are being pursued by a
sexual predator. Teachers should take time to explain to their students the definition of
cyberbullying. Teachers should also illustrate all the different forms of cyberbullying. The
students need to be aware of the consequences of cyberbullying both legal and emotional. Both
the legal and emotional consequences of cyberbullying should be talked about in debt. Kids need
to be aware of the possible outcomes of cyberbullying as way to deter them from doing it.
At the end of this course there should be a survey asking how effective the class has been.
If there is a course at middle schools that teach internet safety, perhaps there will be less
cyberbullying reported among the youth.
Conclusion
Cyberbullying is an issue all across America. It is a very important topic to discuss, and
anything there can be done to help prevent it should be done. We are not the characters that loved
to be talked about on Gossip Girl. We do not believe that the more we are talked about on social
media, the more popular we will be. We are real people with real feelings that can get hurt when
hurtful things are posted online. By setting up classes on internet safety we can teach students the
dangers of the internet. Not to say that the internet is a dangerous place where only bad things
occur. The internet provides many good advantages to todays youth such as social connection
and research and learning opportunities. If adolescents are educated about the internet they will
be less likely to cyberbully because they know what that may result in. Also parents should talk
to their children about what they explore and post on the internet. And if a parent has a child that
is being cyberbullied they should document the posts and if the cyberbullying gets out of hand,
they should take legal action. Community outreach programs can provide some information
about cyberbullying and internet safety as well. For more information about the cyberbullying
problem, I propose a new survey be taken by adolescents around the United States. I also
propose that along with the cyberbullying survey, there should be an internet safety survey as
well. This information will be beneficial for the advancement of the research in both of these
subjects.

How to Resolve Cyberbullying

References
A Parents Guide to Internet Safety. (2005, June 3). Retrieved November 2, 2015.
Cyber Bullying Statistics 2014. (2014, February 24). Retrieved November 3, 2015.
CyberBully and CyberGossip: A New Threat to Your Teen? (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015.
Finkelhor, D., & Mitchell, K. (2001, March 1). Highlights of the Youth Internet Safety Survey.
Retrieved November 3, 2015.
'Gossip Girl' tackles cyberbullying. (2009, February 27). Retrieved November 2, 2015.
Hochberg, A. (2007, September 17). Back to School: Reading, Writing and Internet Safety.
Retrieved November 3, 2015.
O'Keeffe, G., & Clark-Pearson, K. (2011, March 28). Clinical Report-The Impact of of Social
Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
Tate, Ryann. Assignment 1: Gossip Girl Observation. (6, Oct. 2015). UWRT-1104-007.
University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Notes. Retrieved November 2, 2015
Willard, N. (2005). Educators Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. Retrieved November 2,
2015.