Doctor to Discuss Cyber Bullying

The following article by a Pikesville High School student journalist was submitted by Alison Becker, journalism teacher at Pikesville High School:

Cyber Bullying is Topic of Conference Wednesday

By Ryan Raigrodski

When people hear the word bullying, they likely think about some big kid beating up some other kid or calling him insulting names to his face.

Unfortunately, with the upgrades in technology across the world, bullying exists in more ways than just face-to-face contact.

Many teenagers now must suffer through getting bullied on the internet, in what gets referred to as cyber bullying.

Well, Dr. Sameer Hinduja has dedicated his life to trying to help prevent cyber bullying and other over the internet crimes.

Dr. Hinduja, having worked in the cyber bullying prevention field for several years, has many ideas on why cyber bullying occurs.

“There are many things that people are afraid to say to someone’s face that they can much more easily say over the internet. Others may do it out of boredom or just to create drama,” Dr. Hinduja said.

Dr. Hinduja also has an interesting theory as to why teens can be so adversely affected by being cyber bullied.

“Teenagers lives are built on how their peers perceive them, so negative comments or insults really hurt them,” Dr. Hinduja explained. “High school is a lot about survival, as when you get to college you care a lot less about perception.”

Dr. Hinduja travels often to try and express his message to teenagers around the world to prevent cyber bullying and other mistakes teenagers make over the internet.

On March 14 and March 15, Hinduja will come to Pikesville to express his message.

“I really want to speak to the students about being responsible over the internet. I do not want teenagers sabotaging their future by making one silly mistake.”