Cyber Bulling

Its invisible, it’s dangerous, and it hides in child’s room
everyday. Cyber bulling, channeled through any technological means, is as
dangerous, if not more, than the average schoolyard bullying. It started with
the introduction of internet, as this new phenomenon revealed many flaws.
Bullies can now hide behind computers, remotely harassing anybody they detest,
especially schoolmates they have an issue with. The only problem to this new
form of bulling is actually spotting it.

Dr Dvir Abramovich, a senior lecturer at one of the state’s
leading universities, Melbourne University, gives us an overview of the
severity of cyber bulling in this golden age of technology, and aims this at
parents, advising them to have a more assertive grip on this situation, rather
than a passive one, and for them to start controlling what comes into their
child’s computer. Dr Abramovich is a senior lecturer, and has conducted
extensive research on how to reduce prejudice and hate, over his time at Melbourne
University. Abramovich first
utilizes a warning tone, summarizing up the infinite possibilities of cyber
bulling, and their ill-effects, which include ‘harassing, intimidating or even
humiliation’ upon your children, with even students driven to suicide as their
only option out of this torture. He uses this strategy to target family values,
and even security, as an anecdote is effective in demonstrating his knowledge
on this topic. His statistics, including that “42% of adolescents were harassed
online”, were also proof of this threat were ongoing and is still at large. He
then moves from the fearing tone to an advisory one, encouraging parents to
explain to their children about cyber bulling about its ‘unacceptable and
illegal conduct’ and for parents to remain ‘vigilant’. He then includes the
parents in that ‘we’ would have to work together in achieving this goal, which
will prove inspirational for parents to take action over this catastrophe.

Ms Paula Beauchamp starts us off by giving us a dark insight
of the truths about cyber bulling. Also utilizing a mix of fear and warning
tones, she aims this at parents as well, as she also employs the expertise from
an adolescent psychologist, Michael Carr-Gregg. The extreme usage of anecdotes,
with children’s online identities being manipulated and used maliciously,
usually on popular social sites, like ‘www.myspace.com’ and ‘www.facebook.com’,
with their personal details posted, usually with false pretexts designed to
‘humiliate’ the owner of the account, usually with damaging statements like ‘I
am gay’, or ‘I like young boys’. She then switches, like the previous article,
to an advisory tone, by giving bold points to give parents’ possible solutions
to help prevent or aid their children when they get harassed in cyber space.
However, Beauchamp ends with a lesser effect on the audience, as she states
that the Federal Government is looking for a way to intervene, which, unlike
the previous article, would not inspire parents to take as much action, as this
article gives an illusion that the light at the end of the tunnel is much
closer than it really is.

There are many similarities and dissimilarities in these two
articles, as the source, audience and tone are similar, but the contention and
strategies were different. Both of these articles came from the Hearld Sun and
the audience for both these articles were parents, as both of these journalists
had probably thought that parents were the most suitable option in combating
this problem, and therefore opened up some helpful suggestions for them to
fight in this unknown territory. The tone were also similar, with both starting
up with a fearing and intimidating tone, to make cyber bulling seem dark,
brooding and evil. After the malicious descriptions and anecdotes of cyber
bulling, they both move on to offer options and temporary solutions to combat
cyber bulling, with the most common of those being to ‘talk to your child and
discuss the dangers of bulling through technological means’. The difference of
these articles, are the contention, as the first article appeals more to the
security side of options, and how to protect yourself against these problems,
while the second article leans towards mental health of children, and
determining if they have been bullied through technology or not. While the
first article, the writer is in full knowledge of how cyber bulling works, a
primary source, but the second article, the writer doesn’t and therefore seeks
the insight of a psychologist, which is a secondary source. The second article
has a bolder stance, with a big headline, and dot points which are appealing to
people who are just skimming or scanning the page for key points. However, the
first article is filled with proof of Dr Abramovich’s research and evidence.
Seemingly similar, these articles, yet so different simultaneously.

As both writers have used fear as a base to continually
throw information after information at their audience, parents. The Abramovich
story then moves from fear to flood the audience of parents with information,
then to reassure them with options to help parents inform their children about
this new form of bullying, while the Beauchamp story, while also utilizing fear
as the base, moves to give options to prevent and pre-warn children about cyber
bulling. However, Beauchamp has put most of the responsibility that should have
gone to the parents onto the Federal government, suggesting that they are close
with coming up a solution to combat cyber bulling. The usage of all these
strategies, which include fear, advice, and security, have most, if not all,
support of parents and their fight to protect their child from the dark looming
dangers of the cyber world.