ABSTRACT
Elsewhere (Shariff and Hoff, 2007), I have discussed why there are many parallels between what happens when adolescents are left on a deserted island without supervision, as in Golding’s (1954) fictional study, and what is happening in cyberspace today. Left alone with no supervision, for example, Golding’s boys harass, then terrorize and ultimately kill one another. Peerto-peer cyber-bullying similarly puts students on a virtual island with no supervision and very few rules, which allows bullying to escalate to dangerous, even life-threatening levels, as illustrated in the examples presented in the chapters on profile. Furthermore, the boys on the island realize that being hurtful to peers is easier when they assume a different persona, and so they paint their faces for anonymity before they attack. Cyber-perpetrators are no different; they hide behind pseudonyms (recall ‘Raveger’ (Shariff, 2001)) and well-disguised IP addresses, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the victim to determine the source of the threat. This anonymous nature of cyberbullying is perhaps the most troubling of all for students because it leaves them wondering in the classroom or school playground, ‘Is it him?’. Is it her?’ Indeed, it might be anyone. Like being on an island, there is no escape.
