Bullying Goes Hi-tech

Bullying[威嚇] among schoolchildren is nothing new. Calling someone names， stealing their possessions， threatening them and even beating them up are all well-established bullying techniques. Yet for young people today， there is a relatively new form of bullying which can occur even when the bullies are nowhere near their victims—and it can have equally， if not more devastating， effects.

Cyber-bullying is one of the downsides of new technology， and involves using devices like mobile phones and computers. Cyber-bullies can strike at any time no matter where they， or their victims， are. So it is possible to cyber-bully someone within the safety of their own home. A staggering 22 percent of young people in the UK claim to have suffered from cyber-bullying.

Not only are cyber-bullies harder to avoid， they are also harder to catch. It is all too easy to send an anonymous[匿名的] threat by text on a pay-as-you-go phone with an unknown number. It takes no time at all to set up a false Facebook， Twitter， blog or social network account and to post an insulting message. And， if you know how to hide your IP address， you can upload an offensive video to a website like YouTube and your victim wouldnt know who to blame.

One of the most upsetting things about cyber-bullying is that it can involve more people than traditional forms of bullying. A bully can insult you or tell lies about you and share that information with the entire school at the touch of

a button. And for some teenagers that is all too hard to bear. The UK charity Beatbullying suggests that up to 44% of suicides among tento fourteen-year-olds， for example， may be bullying-related. The good news is that the world is starting to wise up to cyber-bullying.Schools and websites like http：//www.childnetint.org/ offer lots of advice and victim support. And social network sites now advise users to think carefully about their privacy settings so that personal information is only shared with friends. Many also provide a panic or red button to click to report disturbing activity.