ABSTRACT
Rapidly evolving technology is affording our world – and certainly our youth – an unprecedented level of power and potential than ever before imagined. Children and adolescents now have in their hands the same tools that, just a few years ago, only large corporations could afford. As Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider Man), “With great power comes great responsibility.” Unfortunately, some children (and adults) are choosing to use technology in irresponsible ways and they are hurting, humiliating, and embarrassing others by cyberbullying. Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) such as email, cell phone, text messaging, instant messaging, defamatory personal websites, and denigrating online personal polls, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others (Belsey, 2004; Kowalski, Limber, & Agatston, 2008). Cyberbullying seems to be even more nefarious than “offline bullying” because the attacks are more intense, frequent, unsuspecting, and difficult to stop. Compared to conventional or traditional bullying, cyberbullies are not restrained by space, pace, or time. They can anonymously attack others at any time, from anywhere, and whenever they want, and they can now do it in front of bigger audiences – much, much bigger. With the power of technology, cyberbullies can be even more cruel than offline bullies because, in addition to words, they can incorporate as part of their attacks a rich array of media, including sounds, altered graphics, text, video, slide shows, polls, and photos (Li, 2007; Sabella, 2008).
