Bullying vs Cyber-bullying
Bullying is the act of verbally, emotionally, and physically abusing another person. It is not a one-time incident but is done over a period of time as a way to enforce the bully’s superiority over the person that he is bullying.
It may be done by only one person or by a group in places, such as, the workplace, home, church, community, and in schools. Children are more susceptible to bullying, and more than ten percent of schoolchildren experience bullying in school.
It usually happens in hallways, bathrooms, school buses, and during group activities. It might be done in isolated places, but it can also happen even with people watching. It is not only their peers that bully schoolchildren; sometimes even teachers and the system commit subtle abuse.
Bullying can also happen in the workplace, in the military, and it is also done online through the use of technology such as text messages through cellular phones and emails, or instant messages through the Internet.
This is called cyber-bullying, which is a type of bullying that is hard to detect, and the perpetrator is hard to distinguish because he can easily pose as someone else. It includes sending hate mails, threats, sexual remarks, and posting false things about someone in order to embarrass him.
While traditional bullying is done face to face, that is, the victim knows the person that is bullying him, in cyber-bullying, the bully can hide his identity which makes him bolder and able to say and do more destructive things to the victim.
Aside from this, any humiliating and false things being said about the victim is read and seen by thousands of people who are using the Internet. Cyber-bullying has a more damaging and longer lasting effect on the victim than traditional bullying.
While cyber-bullying can be avoided by changing phone numbers and email addresses and avoiding certain chat rooms, if the bully chooses to publish humiliating and false statements about the victim at forums and websites, there is nothing that can be done to prevent it from being read and seen by Internet users once it has been posted.
Many teen suicides have been attributed to bullying, and with the advent of cyber-bullying, the number of suicides due to bullying has alarmingly increased. It is easier to prevent traditional bullying than cyber-bullying. In traditional bullying, once the victim is home, he is already safe from the bullies, but cyber-bullying can happen even at home because the victim will still use his phone and computer at home.
Summary:
1.Bullying is the verbal, emotional, and physical abuse of a person by another while cyber-bullying is a type of bullying that is done using devices such as cellular phones and computers.
2.Bullying is easier to prevent than cyberbullying.
3.While both are emotionally and mentally damaging to victims, cyber-bullying has a longer range and more damaging effect than traditional bullying.
4.With traditional bullying, the victim can have a respite at home, but with cyber-bullying, he can still be reached even in the safety of his home.