CYBERBULLYING EMOJIS With the use of technology, cyberbullying has become a prominent way for teens and adults to say things that are intended to be intimidating and/or mean to others by hiding behind a screen. 10 Behaviors can include harassment via digital devices, setting up defamatory personal websites, or deliberately excluding someone from social networking spaces. This may also include online posting or electronic distribution of embarrassing or intimate images or videos, real or altered, without the consent of the person contained in the images/videos. Cyberbullying can happen at any time and can be in a public or private setting; occasionally only known to the target and the person perpetuating the bullying behavior. Cyberbullying is the newest phenomenon of the four types of bullying. Given the pace of the development of new technology and the younger age at which young people are introduced to digital devices and the internet, information and trends on this type of bullying behavior change rapidly. Cyberbullying has changed the traditional face of bullying in three significant ways – Access, Scope, and Anonymity (ASA): • Access : it is virtually impossible for targets to get away from those who cyberbully. Most youth have access to all types of technology, which provides those who cyberbully the ability to reach their targets almost all the time. Targets do not have a safe haven as they do in cases of traditional bullying, and sometimes allows traditional bullying to follow the victim online. • Scope : unlike traditional bullying, due to technology, audiences of cyberbullying (both victims and those witnessing) have few barriers and can grow exponentially. • Anonymity : those who cyberbully can hide their identity. Anonymity, which is inherent in electronic communication, promotes a lack of inhibition. As a result, normal behavior restraints can disappear, allowing youth to act harsher than they would offline.
10 Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA). (2023). What is Cyberbullying . StopBullying.gov. https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it
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