Traditionally, bullying has been a face-to-face ordeal, often involving a kid or teen being emotionally or physically cruel to another. But now, thanks to advances in technology, bullies can attack their victims in cyberspace, through things like emails, texts and posts on social media sites.

Who is Affected?

According to an article on StopBullying.gov, statistics from 2008-2009 show that 6 percent of students in grades 6 through 12 experienced cyberbullying. A 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey found that 16 percent of high-school students were bullied electronically within the last year. As the article points out, although research on this topic is becoming more prevalent, it can be hard to accurately assess how common this problem is, in part because technology is changing so rapidly.

Cyberbullying may be difficult to measure, but schools and states are definitely starting to take it very seriously. NPR recently featured a story that focused on what laws are being enacted to deal with this issue. For example, New Jersey started a new anti-bullying bill of rights in 2011, which helps teach children to recognize all forms of bullying and encourage them to report it.

Cyberbullying can occur via any outlet including computers, tablets and cell phones. Examples of online harassment include nasty texts or emails, rumors about a person posted on a social networking website such as Facebook, posting embarrassing photos of someone without their permission or even creating a fake profile of someone on a website. This type of bullying can happen at any time of day or night, and they can often be posted anonymously. To make matters worse, once a photo or post goes out on the internet, it can be difficult to completely delete it.

Signs of a Bully

Kids who have been a victim of cyberbullying are more likely to engage in behaviors like alcohol and drug use, not wanting to attend school and/or skipping class, getting poor grades, and having more health problems. They may also report face-to-face instances of bullying before, during or after school.

As the NPR interview pointed out, one of the main problems with establishing anti-cyberbullying laws is that it can cross over into the area of free speech. If students are writing mean things about someone on Facebook while they are at home and not on campus, schools may have a hard time disciplining them.

In addition, the way that so much of the bullying can be done anonymously creates an inherent problem to stopping it; the bully can hide behind the virtual curtain of the internet and post all sort of negative and untrue things, but it can be very difficult at times to trace who is actually doing it.

What to Do

The prevalence and seriousness of cyberbullying just reinforces the importance of parents being aware of what is going on with their children. They should also be vigilant for any instances of online harassment that crosses over to identify theft and what is known as shoulder surfing. As an article on LifeLock.com points out, children make perfect targets for identity thieves because they do not typically have any credit records that are being checked regularly. An article on the Equifax website said that child identity theft is now one of the biggest concerns and priorities at the Federal Trade Commission, and any problems should be reported to them immediately.

To learn more about cyberbullying, what it entails and how it can impact kids of all ages, the Stop Bullying website is an outstanding source of information.

Paul Johnston

Paul is a single dad and part-time freelance writer who lives in New Hampshire.

For those of you who are under the illusion that the youth of today don’t care are lazy and have no influence, you need to think again.

Recently The CEO of  Abercrombie and Fitch ,Robin Lewis, made some unfortunate comments in Business Insider. The article inferred that A&F markets to “cool kids,” while excluding those who are unattractive or overweight.

And the youth are fighting back with there very own campaign which has already gone viral. The online campaign is attempting to “rebrand” Abercrombie & Fitch by donating its clothes to the homeless.

Greg Karber launched the campaign, which uses the hashtag #FitchTheHomeless, in a video posted to YouTube on Monday.

The moral of this story – the youth will fight back.

So what are the current bestsellers in young adult books and what do they tell us?

The New York Times has the top sellers when writing this as:

1. THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, by Stephen Chbosky. (Simon & Schuster.) What it’s like to grow up, from the perspective of a high school boy.

2. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, by John Green. (Penguin Group.) A 16-year-old heroine faces the medical realities of cancer. (Ages 14 and up).

3.  DIVERGENT, by Veronica Roth. (HarperCollins Publishers.) A girl must prove her mettle in a dystopia divided into five factions.

4.  LOOKING FOR ALASKA, by John Green. (Penguin Group.) A boy seeking excitement finds that and more in a girl named Alaska.

5.  INSURGENT, by Veronica Roth. (HarperCollins Publishers.) In this “Divergent” follow-up, a faction war looms.

Amazon has a slightly different lot, listing these as the top five books

So what do they tell us?

This generation clearly see themselves as the heroes they are destined to be, if you look towards generational culture. The Hunger Games and DIVERGENT are books of good versus evil, although not that clearly defined, with young people leading the rebellions and change. However, they are also a highly practical and real generation too; The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Fault in Our Stars both gripping books with a heavy dose of reality. So all in all, they are fantasies that believe they can change the world with a heavy dose of realism.