Nadia Abdul Wahab Prof Madya Dr.

Wan Ahmad Jaafar Wan Yahaya

Center for Instructional Technology & Multimedia, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia

Cyber bullying can be defined as sending or posting harmful texts or images through the use of digital communication devices (Willard, 2005). Among consequences of Cyber bullying to the victims:
isolate themselves from other people and

activities, become stressed, become ill, possibly contemplate suicide (Willard, 2005).

Flaming sends an angry, impolite or rude message to someone, either concealed or openly; Harassment repeatedly sends messages aimed at offending the feelings of someone; Denigration sends a message that brings harm (false information or slander) about someone to others; Cyber-stalking harassment or threats with intimidation that could harm the bullys victim;

Masquerading the bully pretends to be someone else and spreads certain information or materials in a smear campaign; Outing and trickery try to obtain confidential information about someone and then publicize the said information with the intention to humiliate or tarnish the victims reputation. Exclusion the act of excluding someone from an online community for example online groups and such.

Since 2010, 7.5 million of Facebook users are under-aged, being younger than the conditional 13 year-old. 5 millions are aged 10 or younger, and they are allowed to use Facebook without parental supervision. 1 million of them are bullied, harassed or threatened through this site. ("Facebook a Magnet for Underage Users, Survey Finds," 2011).

According to Beale & Hall (2007), parents need to: monitor their childrens use of the computer, understand what they should be vigilant against, find out what they should discuss with their children regarding the Internet understand the acronyms frequently used like PIR (parent in room), ILU (I love you) and such. Most parents are not aware that Internet service providers offer parental control facilities to monitor their childrens Internet activities. Only 16% of children agreed that they discussed with their parents what they do on the Internet.

Keith and Martin (2005) suggested that at the very least, parents should have online agreements with their children. This agreement should clearly state

which websites the children could visit, what they could do at the particular website, determine the duration to browse the Internet, what should be done when there is a cyber threat, how to protect personal information.

Unstructured Interviews with 9 respondents: Primary School Students

2 girls and 1 boy aged between 10 and 12 years

Secondary School Students

1 girl and 2 boys aged between 14 and 17 years

Parents
2 Female and 1 male 2 has tertiary, 1 has secondary education.

All of the students that we interviewed:

Have Internet access at home, Facebook and email accounts, Know how to use SMS and MMS services, admitted around of their classmates have Facebook accounts, Agreed that facebook accounts are the most popular channel of communication, They had never been educated about cyber bullying, Their parents rarely monitor their online activities, Had revealed passwords to friends.

The students admitted that they have friends who have bullied or been bullied in the Internet e.g:
friends spilling and sreading their secrets, insulting and on the Facebook or forwarded SMS spreading superimposed pictures or pictures of an

embarassing nature via Facebook and MMS.

One student had been insulted with coarse words on the Facebook, did not know the bully, complained to her parents but no action had been taken. One student admitted that his Facebook account had been hacked and the bully had written rude expressions on his wall.

The students :

2 have Internet at home, 1 access internet at cyber cafe. Have mobile phone, Facebook and email accounts. 2 have Twitter acount, 1 is an active blogger. Know how to use SMS and MMS services. Almost all of their classmates have Facebook and email accounts, several has their own web blogs. Often use chatting application on Facebook. Read and are followers of their friends web blogs. They had never been educated about cyber bullying. Their parents rarely monitor their online activities. 1 had revealed passwords to friends.

All three admitted that they had been involved with this phenomenon, or at least know of friends that cyber bullied or have been cyber bullied through acts like slandering, spreading untrue stories, hacked accounts and such. One boy admitted that he has criticised a classmate on the Facebook with the intention of making fun of that friend. A girl admitted that she had circulated emails that revealed the secrets of someone. One girl had friend who spread untrue stories about her on the Facebook.

All three students admitted that if the incidents were not serious, they would not complain to their parents or teachers. They would instead feel more at ease sharing the experience with their peers. Two of the teens revealed that their parents rarely monitored their online activities Only one admitted occasional monitoring by parents but this teen had removed the mother from the Friend list.

All have Internet access at home Parents to children who are actively pursue online activities. All did not fully grasp the concept of Cyber Bullying
2 parents never had any exposure

1 parent had heard about cyber bullying but had not

been too concerned about it before.

2 parents (one with tertiary and another with secondary education) rarely monitor their childrens online activities. All were uncertain if their children had ever been cyber bullied. All admit that there had never been any discussions with the children concerning safety and privacy as well as bullying in the virtual world.

All three parents agreed that :

Their children might probably have been or will be

involved with cyber bullying if they were not monitored. Cyber bullying is a serious problem that could distract their childrens attention from learning as well as have negative consequences on their childrens psychological growth. They should gain more in-depth exposure so that they would be better able to comprehend this problem.

Cyber bullying clearly is present in our society especially amongst children and teenagers. Nevertheless, the understanding and awareness of the parents and children regarding this issue is still at a very low level. The effort to increase understanding and awareness should be extended to all levels of society especially amongst parents. In Malaysia, academic background did not play a role nor did it determine the level of awareness and monitoring of cyber bullying.

It was found that most parents in Malaysia are still in zone C and D whereby, awareness and monitoring of cyber bullying is considered low.

Web-based Multimedia Learning (WBML) has good potential for development as it could be used as a tool to assist parents in increasing their awareness and monitoring of cyber bullying It is hoped that WBML will affect changes in the scenario in Malaysia, whereby parental awareness and monitoring of cyber bullying will shift from zone C and D to zones A or B. At both zones A and B, awareness and monitoring are at the highest levels without taking into account if the parents have a higher or lower educational background.