Any form of bullying is serious and needs to be directly confronted. The victim, bully and potential bystanders all need help in how to better handle the situation so the bullying will stop. Bullying is a social issue. It happens at all ages and in all areas of our society and world. We need to confront all types of bullying and "Give Peace A Chance!"
Peace, Tony

Although I voted "yes," this seems to me to be a "yes and no" question. I voted yes because I think the effects of cyberbullying can be more far-reaching than offline bullying. And I agree with Tony that any kind of bullying is serious, and it occurs in lots of places. Hopefully, engaging students in more collaborative online and offline projects will encourage more tolerance and understanding--one aspect of the efforts to discourage bullying.

Within the privacy of a home computer it is all too easy for bullying to take place. It can be painful and lasting. In order for bullying to be confronted, there must be education on what it is, why it is done (psychology of bullying), and ways to deal with it in a broadly consistent, reliable, safe way or students will continue to deny being a bully or a victim. Adults need to be savvy about checking for it as well. It takes a community of knowledgable people - that includes both adults and students of all ages. Perhaps a mentor type program for younger kids could help as well. This is a very serious issue!!

Cyberbullying is a huge issue in the middle schools and higher grades. Sexting is becoming more rampant, too. Bullies hide behind their screennames unlike bullying which occurs face to face. I've found a DVD titled, "Adina's Deck" to be an educational tool which helps middle school students understand the complexity of cyberbullying. My students think and act differently after viewing this well made educational DVD. I highly recommend it as another thought provoking tool.

Cyberbullying is just like any other type: Kids with low self esteem making other kids feel bad to build up their own. It is selfishness incarnate. The difference is the tool, not the act.

Bullying can be eliminated the old fashioned way with values educationstarting in pre K and discipline and counseling. Students who chronically bully should be treated as though they have a behavior disorder (which they often do) and provided special education evaluation and placement and counseling. A popular cheerleader or football player forced to explore the roots of his or her sickness is likely to control him self. The value of humiliation cannot be underestimated. Part of the punishment for bullying should be a substantial period of community service involving working with elderly people or disabled children should be required to teach empathy and right from wrong.

Bullies should also have a family evaluation to see if they are being abused or neglected. BULLIES SHOULD BE TREATED AS THOUGH THEY ARE THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM, NOT THE VICTIM.

Although the emphasis should be on curing the bullies, the students who are being bullied should be assisted in finding their shine. They should be built up and helped to feel important if they have a disability, family situation or difference that has made them vulnerable to bullying. If they are just emotionally weak, close supervision when using the computer and directing them toward positive activities such as inclusive church youth groups is important. If cyberbulling causes obvious emotional distress, blocking social networking sites might be the best policy. Volunteer work with elderly, disadvantaged or disabled might also be a good idea.

Bullies should

In regards to cyberbullying, the key word in all of this supervision. As long as computer users are supervised by competent and responsible adults, of types of abuse in this respect can be successfully prevented. We all got to be "cyber aware" so tools can be safely used.

Sadly, my grown children have experienced both face-to-face bullies, who were very violent, and cyber-bullies, who were just as vicious with their lies and caused trauma that was not easily addressed. I had to intervene when my daughter was called every name in the book for leaving an abusive boyfriend. I called the parents and let them know that this was more than lies - it was slander, as it was visible on a very popular web site.

My daughter lost interest in attending school, as some people believed the boy and sided with his attacks on her character. When I told the parents I was getting the police involved, they begged me not to and assured me they would "stop his behavior." After all, it was coming from their home into ours (she had nowhere to hide), with every student in between watching the events unfold. Who needed TV? This was real, and the damage was in live-action time.

That was 4 years ago, but it still feels like yesterday. My daughter has since moved out of state and matured by moving past some of the scars inflicted upon her by harsh and thoughtless young people who didn't care how she would survive the abuse.

I take a very strong stand on ANY bullying I see or read about! I refuse to be a bystander; the cost is too high, and I am unwilling to pay it, for the life of anyone's child!

While I believe that all bullying carries the same danger, I have to say that when we leave our kids unsupervised online, we are as irresponsible as we are leaving them in the classroom unsupervised. The danger in leaving them without supervision online is that there is not just a classroom of about 30 kids. There may be at least 300,000. There may be more incidents soley because there is ample opportunity.

I think there is people that are bullying and they think there better then the other people at the other end of the screen

I think that anytype of bullying is really bad but an advantage of cyberbullying is that you can just delete whatever was said and ignore it, with actual bullying in person you can just delete it which makes it hard to ignore.