Abstract:
The objective of the study was to determine the reasoning behind the transformation of cyberbullying via Social media given the existence of the Anti-Cyberbullying laws. The study addressed research questions concerning the reasons why adolescents use social media sites to bully their peers. Cyberbullying continues to increase due to the vast use of the Internet by adolescents. The Pew Internet (2008) reports that 89% of boys and 95% of girls around the world have sent or received email, 56% of girls, and 55% of boys have visited chat rooms while 75% of teenagers reported spending 30 to 60 minutes texting their friends. The researcher conducted a phenomenological qualitative study on grade school adolescents by means of interviews and focus group discussions. The research questions used in the individual interviews tested the disinhibition, dissociative anonymity, and social dominance theories revealing characteristics in adolescent bullies of deindividuation and desensitization in the evolution of cyberbullies.
