Mobile harassment refers to the sending of 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.
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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.
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.
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.”
In popular culture
The television show Gossip Girl contains many episodes with storylines that revolve around gossipy, misinterpreted or questionable text messages.