Chapter 8: Cybershaming – Technology, Cyberbullying, and the Application to People of Color

Abstract – The information superhighway has also been a vehicle for bullies to harass targets in K-12, college, corporate sectors, and higher education (Long, 2008; Tu, 2002). While technology is useful, the public shaming component makes cyberbullying an indelible emotional assault that remains on the Internet years after the initial aggression. By reflecting on theoretical elements of public shaming discussed by Gilbert and Proctor (2006), and Dzurec et al. (2014), this conceptual essay will use descriptive statistics in a secondary analysis to document occurrences of cyberbullying in community colleges and reveal that people of color (56%) are more likely to be the target of cyberbullying than their white counterparts (41%). The contents of this chapter might be of interest to diversity officers and personnel considering acceptable use policies for technology on their respective campuses.