Cyber Bullying Vs Traditional Bullying

General academic debate on the issue of cyber bullying The amount of academic research focus on cyber bullying has been increased steadily as a result of the increasing prevalence of access to internet and social media. Gradually, two competing perspectives on the topic of cyber bullying emerged.
Cyber bullying is a unique form of violence different from traditional physical bullying A number of scholars endorsed the perspective which considered cyber bullying to be different from traditional physical bullying. Specifically, cyber bullying is different from traditional bullying as its effects on the victims were more severe than the consequences of being victimized by traditional physical bullying (Bonanno and Hymel 2013). The

Moreover, a number of studies also showed a robust association between anonymity and individuals’ tendencies to participate in violent and criminal behaviors (Silke 2003; Nogami 2009). Consequently, the perspective which perceived cyber bullying to be different from traditional physical bullying argued that the inherent anonymity associated with cyber bullying could lead individuals who were involved in cyber bullying incidents to participate in more serious forms of violent and criminal behaviors (Runions

Silke (2003) focused on examining the association between the level of physical anonymity and the extent of aggression exhibited by the individuals (Silke 2003). The main hypothesis predicted heightened level of physical aggression from individuals who wore masks during interpersonal conflicts which increased their perceived level of anonymity (Silke 2003). The results of the study revealed that individuals who wore masks during interpersonal conflicts caused more damages to their immediate surroundings, exhibited heightened levels of hostility and lower levels of sympathy towards their targets of aggression (Silke 2003). In other words, Silke (2003)’s study validated the well-known notion that individuals would become more malicious and hostile towards others in environments where the perceived sense of anonymity was