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Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

High-Tech Bullies

Spanish Translation

Elizabeth Winchester

Mariah Lopez, 12, didn't have much to cheer about after cheerleading tryouts last month. Girls started a mean rumor about her. The tale spread throughout her school, where other students made up more lies. Soon Mariah started to receive disturbing text messages and calls from numbers she didn't recognize. When the messages turned into threats, Mariah reached out to adults for help. She told her parents and contacted her school principal.

There was a time when bullies used spoken words and fists to hurt others on playgrounds and around school. Today, the bully battles have moved to a new frontier--cyberspace. Using e-mail, instant messages, websites and cell phones, cyberbullies deliberately harm or threaten others. With their identities hidden behind computer screens, cyberbullies can be harder to catch, and sometimes even bolder, than their playground predecessors.

Bullying By The Numbers

As more and more kids use e-mail and text messages to communicate, experts agree that incidents of cyberbullying, also called e-bullying, are on the rise. Two years ago, criminal-justice professors Justin Patchin and Sameer Hinduja surveyed 1,500 kids ages 10 to 17. They report that about one-third of the kids claimed to have been cyberbullied.

Sue Limber and Robin Kowalski, researchers and teachers at Clemson University, in South Carolina, recently finished a study of 3,767 students in grades 6 through 8. Their findings will be published in a book next fall.

The researchers tracked popular methods of cyberbullying. The most common form is instant messaging. Mean messages in chat rooms and e-mail and on websites were close behind. Limber and Kowalski also found that girls were twice as likely as boys to be the victims of attacks.

Casey Schimeck, 12, was one victim. Last month, she found her picture and negative comments about her and her family posted on her neighbor's MySpace page. "We were friends. I don't know what got her mad," the seventh grader from Sterling Heights, Michigan, told TFK.

That's E-Nough!

Several states are working on laws that would require school districts to ban cyberbullying and punish students who do it. South Carolina passed a law last year. Arkansas passed a law two months ago. Idaho and Iowa also have enacted laws. Rhode Island hopes to have its policy approved by the end of 2007. In Washington, a cyberbullying bill approved by the state senate could take effect as soon as this summer.

The Bully Challenge

But cracking down on cyberbullying is challenging. "The majority is happening outside of schools," says Nancy Willard, the director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. Some officials question whether schools can legally punish students for those actions.

Finding out the identity of the bully and getting kids to report a problem pose additional problems. "It is difficult for someone who is being cyberbullied to know who is doing it, because identities can often be hidden or false," Limber says. If you are a victim, she advises, ask an adult to help you. (For more tips, see "L8R, Bullies.")

Something to Cheer About

Mariah was thankful that her parents and principal got involved. After the cyberbullies were identified, her principal confronted them. "Before the girls apologized, I really wanted to quit school," Mariah says. "Now I'm feeling better about everything."

On March 13, Mariah's school district, which is in Highland, Utah, voted to add cyberbullying to its anti-bullying rules. Her school's efforts could give other kids something to cheer about.

Next: Just Call Him Toadzilla!