How Has Bullying Changed The Nature Of Bullying

It is reasonable to assume that bullying behavior has been around for as long mankind has existed. In fact, one can even come across an example of bullying in biblical scripture, as the book of Genesis gives an account of a seemingly bullying situation between the first set of siblings reported on earth, Cain and Abel, which ended with Cain murdering his brother Abel. Thus, one may conclude that bullying behavior is a part of human nature. Therefore, what makes bullying so unique in today’s day and age? How has cyberbullying changed the nature of bullying so drastically and what distinguishes cyberbullying from the traditional type of bullying that has been around for thousands of years? These are questions that the authors Sameer Hinduja and

One could say that it takes the reigns off the expectations that social norms place on youth’s interactions; teens are more likely to behave impulsively and partake in riskier behaviors online than they would in face to face social settings, where social conventions are more likely to dictate their behavior (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015). In conjunction with feelings of disinhibition, the obscure nature of social media generates a deindividuation in the user. When teens can hide their face behind a digital mask, they are more likely to join in with the crowd and participate in the bullying behavior (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015). Unfortunately, this dissimilation and increase in risky behaviors that are associated with social media are confounded by the fact that most teens’ interactions online take place outside of adult supervision (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015). Furthermore, it is not only the nature of the environment that exists within social media that makes cyberbullying so harmful; the nature of the technology itself has a significant role in to play. The internet enables information to be both pervasive and ever-present, creating a limitless amount of opportunities for victimization to take place (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015). All these circumstances factor in together to produce a new form of bullying that has become more problematic for today’s