Mobile harassment

Mobile harassment refers to the sending any type of text message, sext, photo message, video message, or voicemail from a mobile phone that causes the receiver to feel harassed, threatened, tormented, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise victimized. It is a form of cyber bullying.

Prevalence

In 2009, a survey in the United Kingdom showed that approximately 14% of the young people included in the survey reported that they had been victims of mobile harassment, ranging from name calling to sending threatening text messages, or sending photos or videos intended to frighten or intimidate.[1]

Another study out of Queensland, Australia suggests that number of victims could be even higher, finding that 93.7% of teenagers experienced mobile harassment of some kind. This study concluded that while boys tend to experience more mobile bullying than girls, girls are more likely to be upset about the harassment.[2]

Awareness

In November 2009, LG Mobile Phones released an advertising campaign in the United States, that used humor to encourage teens to think before they text. The adverts featured James Lipton. LG released a series of videos on YouTube with the tag line “Before you text, give it a ponder.”

The television show Gossip Girl contains many episodes with storylines that revolve around gossipy, misinterpreted or questionable text messages.

References

  1. ↑ Conwell, Chris (2009). Cyber Bullying. UK.
  2. ↑ Drennan, Judy, Mark Brown, and Gillian Sullivan Mort. 2007. The Impact of M-Bullying on Self-Esteem and Subjective Well Being Social Entrepreneurship, Social Change and Sustainability: Proceedings of the 2007 International nonprofit and Social Marketing Conference, Brisbane, Australia
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