Cyberbullying: Understanding and Addressing Online Cruelty

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School, High School

COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening

This multi-grade curriculum unit provides educators with the tools to increase awareness about the problem of cyberbullying among their students. Each lesson introduces age appropriate information and skills that encourage youth to think critically about Internet communication, develop empathy for others, respond constructively to cyberbullying and online aggression and interact safely on the Internet.

Research on Cyberbullying

Bullying and cyberbullying are concerns for our schools. For teenagers, and to some extent tweens, life is imbued with technology.

According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of youth (teens ages 13–17) in the U.S. have access to a smartphone and 46% say they are online “almost constantly” while another 48% say they go online several times a day. Pew Research also found that 42% of teens feel anxious when they don’t have their cellphones and, in these instances feel lonely (25%) or upset (24%).

For the current generation of teens, gaming, video chatting, instant and text messaging and social networking are a vital means of self-expression and a central part of their social lives. Online communication and technology are neutral entities and can be used positively and negatively. However, there are some youth who are misusing the digital spaces they navigate to bully and harass others, and even to incite violence against them. The Cyberbullying Research Center’s 2023 study revealed that 54.5% of students ages 13–17 reported that they had experienced cyberbullying (hurtful comments, threats, rumors, pictures, or videos posted or circulated online) in their lifetimes. Research from the Cyberbullying Research Center and Cartoon Network revealed that nearly two thirds of tweens (ages 9-12) had seen bullying at school, and half had experienced it firsthand. About 15% of tweens said they had been bullied at school many times. In addition, one in five tweens had been cyberbullied, had cyberbullied others, or had seen cyberbullying. Cyberbullying impacts people in this age group by affecting their feelings about themselves, friendships, physical health and schoolwork as well as in other ways. Further, online cruelty may be a precursor to more destructive behavior, including involvement in hate groups, bias-related violence and digital self-harm.