Is Bullying Worse Online, or In Your Face?
Who knew? Cyber-bullying is apparently less emotionally harmful than in-person bullying. I guess it makes sense. Someone standing in front of you calling you a racist slur is a lot more alarming because he's in your face. But I maintain that cyber-bullying is every bit as bad, despite the conclusion a new study came to. Newswise.com reports that, contrary to popular belief, cyberbullying that starts and stays online is no more emotionally harmful to youngsters than harassment that only occurs in-person and may actually be less disturbing because it's likelier to be of shorter duration and not involve significant power imbalances, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association. Although technology-only incidents were more likely to involve large numbers of witnesses, they were least likely to involve multiple perpetrators, the study found. Also, while technology-only incidents were more likely to involve strangers or anonymous perpetr...