TRENTON – Senator Barbara Buono announced today the introduction of a bill that would expand the current definition of “bullying” among school-aged children to include electronic communications, such as instant messaging and text messaging.
“The near anonymous nature of the Internet and cell phones have lent themselves to providing bullies with another means to harass their victims,” said Senator Buono, D-Middlesex. “In fact, electronic communications are empowering a whole new wave of bullies as it is much easier to type a message and press ‘send’ than it is to walk up to someone and say the same thing. It may not seem as serious as physical or verbal bullying, but the effects can be even broader and ultimately more harmful.”