Cyber Bullying “If you bully somebody face to face, and they get upset, you see them cry and be hurt. When its over the Internet, you cant see the emotional reaction and go along thinking its no big deal.” Dr. Robin Kowalski Introduction: The advent of technology which has brought about the development of a whole new e-world aka, the Digital Age characterized by blogs, social networking sites and instant messaging, have significantly transformed the manner in which we communicate, yet threatened the very social fabric of our societies by posing unique challenges – cyber bullying being one of them. Cyber bullying is one of the fastest growing trends in the field of cyber crimes among teens, in recent times, and often leads to disastrous consequences for the victims ranging from long term psychological damage to physical and emotional distress and at times even death (Kowalski, Limber and Agatston, 2012). The widespread reach and scope of cyber bullying among teens is apparent from various worldwide polls and surveys conducted over the years, which highlights the gravity of the issue. According to data made available by the Cyber bullying Research Center (Cyberbullying Research Center, 2011) approximately 20% of students reported experiences some sort of cyber bullying in their lifetimes, about 13.7% of them reported experiencing hurtful or insulting comments made against them; 12.9% of them reported being victims of rumors spread against them; which is incidentally one of the most common forms of cyber bullying. According to another customer research survey conducted in the U.S. in the year 2011, about 1 million children were reported to have been harassed, threatened or subjected to various forms of cyberbullying on social networking site such as Facebook during the period of one year (Consumer Reports, 2011). Figure 1: Source: Cyberbullying Research Center (2011) Meaning & Definition: According to Trolley and Hanel, (2009) Cyberbullying is defined as any activitiy involving "the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phones, and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal web sites, and online personal polling web sites to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others" (pp. 33). It has also been defined to include the use of any form of internet media, or electronic device to cause intentional harm or injury to others. It includes but is not limited to, the acts of cyber stalking, impersonating, virtual threatening and / or hacking into others’ personal accounts such as email ids or social networking site accounts etc., with a sole intention of damaging the other person’s reputation and causing mental, emotional or social distress / harm. Background: Contemporary technology has revolutionized the social as well as cultural dimensions of human interaction, particularly with regard to the manner in which students especially teens, interact with each other. This has completely transformed the concept of bullying from its conventional approach of in-school to online bullying, more popularly known as cyber bullying. The adolescent aggression which was so far being witnessed in classrooms and playgrounds have now ventured into more private spheres via electronic communication (Hinduja and Patchin, 2008). The internet is fast becoming one of the most inevitable parts of our social lives, and in the process has redefined the meaning and scope of interpersonal communications. The digital citizens of today, who grew up with internet around them are more exposed to the ill effects of the same, than never before (Herring, 2008). The fact that internet has penetrated almost all aspects of our lives, is quite apparent and undeniable. The overwhelming presence of such a powerful tool, and its easy access to teens have increased the vulnerability of the victims of bullying to unprecedented levels. Furthermore, the trend of social networking sites and instant messaging as a part of our everyday lives, has opened up novel ways of communication, at the same time exposing individuals to varied forms of cyber bullying across all platforms. In contemporary society, physical spaces are shrinking and the virtual space is expanding at a rapid rate, presenting newer avenues for the youth to hang out and socialize. The sheer amount of time spent by young people and adolescents on the internet, be it social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter or on blogs, virtual chat rooms or instant messaging, has provided them with an opportunity to form virtual identities, thus giving them immense power to dictate their terms and dominate others in the virtual spheres (Kowalski, Limber and Agatston, 2008 ). Cyber bullying includes flaming, harassment, cyber stalking, as well as denigration. Flaming refers to an activity whereby the perpetrators of the crime engage in abusive behavior towards the victims, by way of passing on rude, abusive or derogatory messages about a person and share them in an online group such as social networking sites, group chat rooms or blogs (Li, 2007). The key characteristic of "flaming" is that it occurs in virtual public settings, where the messages posted by the perpetrators are visible and accessible to everyone else (Kowalski, Limber and Agatston, 2008). The term harassment refers to repeated exchange of abusive messages through electronic means (Li, 2007). Unlike flaming harassment occurs in a private setting such as private email messages sent to the victims, or through one on one chat, although in some cases, it may occur in public settings as well. Cyber stalking refers to repeatedly stalking people online, keeping tabs on their online activities, in order to intimidate them (Kowalski, Limber, and Agatston, 2008). Denigration refers to posting of derogatory messages or hurtful comments against a person through an online medium (Willard 2004, in Liu, 2007