OTTAWA – Youth are in constant communication with one another. Their worlds are progressively becoming more wireless and more mobile. Students are using Social Networking Sites more than ever before. Some may engage in mean, unsafe behaviour online and on wireless devices. This is cyber bullying.

Cyber bullying is defined as harmful actions that are communicated via electronic media and are intended to embarrass, harm, or slander another individual. Cyber bystander behaviour includes behaviours such as helping a student who is bullying, passively watching someone being cyber bullied, and assisting the person cyber bullying (e.g. adding more mean comments to a mean post). The problem with cyber bullying is that it is faceless and is often harder to identify and stop than bullying in the offline realm.

Canada Safety Council, along with the Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network (PREVNet), encourages students from all over Canada to participate in the Cyber Bullying Survey. The survey aims to gather information about online behaviour.

The researchers at Queen’s University want to know what students do online, and how individuals would act when bad things happen online. The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete and is open to students in grades 5 to 11.

Click the link below to participate in the survey:

www.safety-council.org/news/archives/cyber-bullying-survey

Thank you in advance for participating in the Cyber Bullying Survey, all your answers will be kept private and confidential. The research gathered will help to better understand student safety and online bullying.