Children and young adults are growing up in an era where the internet is widely used for everything. We consume all of our knowledge, information, and entertainment there. The internet is considered a whole new world to us separate from reality. The internet is, also, one of the largest forms of communication through social media. Although the internet and social media include many positive aspects, this is also used to target young people worldwide. Young people often fail to understand that they are experiencing a form of bullying until it becomes so brutal, and so degrading that they can no longer cope.
Bullying is a cruel and intentional behavior whose aim is to show the imbalance in power between the bully and the victim. Bullying is a repeated action and can involve verbal, physical and relational behavior (Nansel, Tonja et al. 2094). There are different ways of bullying, a boy is more physical when they start bullying, but girls often use social seclusion as a means of harassment. Bullying has been witnessed in the school and workplace from time immemorial. Bullying has taken a new routine in the recent with the introduction of social media, and it has expanded its target. Cyberbullying has been introduced through social media, and it is bullying done through internet and social media like through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Myspace, and Tumblr. Social media users send their friends or other social media users hurting messages that might be used as a way of exposing one’s privacy. There are some social media sites like Formspring, and Tumblr messages are sent anonymously whereby the user sender remains unknown. Bullying has become a hot topic in the schools and the workplace.
Schools today are constantly updating their code of conduct due to cases involving cyberbullying. The average teenager has a social media account and can easily access the account at any given time. Many teenagers rely on social media for various reasons which then increases the potential for cyber bullying to occur. Cyberbullying can be seen on such media like, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. Cases of cyberbullying between teenagers have created a great dilemma upon parents and school districts. Since online bullying is not done face to face, the bully feels more daring and aggression towards the victim. Most of these cases have ended in tragedy and were not taken care of correctly by administration at schools. Bullying and harassment
This problem has become more pressing and has been a greater focus in the media. Social media has also brought the issue to the forefront in the last several years and, itself, plays a role in today’s age of bullying, cyber bullying. The Matt Epling Safe School Law (2011/2014) was amended in 2014 to add a section specifically directed at cyberbullying. The legislation identifies bullying as anything that is composed, spoken, acted out, or conveyed electronically. These acts are said to disrupt educational opportunity, impart emotional disturbances, influence physical and mental health, and/or impact the daily functioning of the educational institution (Matt Epling Safe School Law, 2011/2014). These definitions demonstrate the severity of the social problem,
Social Networking has taken bullying to the extreme. Before advanced technology, children and teenagers were troubled by school bullies. Today, they are targeted by bullies via internet. Most people undergo some form of bullying in life. Growing up, I experienced the typical name calling and spiteful comments. I also dealt with minor cases of virtual bullies. These bullies are known as cyber bullies. I find this topic compelling because it’s a matter that has spiraled out of control.
However schools need to create strong anti bullying programs that will make bullying a minimum. School needs to be a place where kids want to go. ( Bullying Statistics ) Parents and students need to have good communication with each other. If the students tell the parents what is happening, more people will get involved and the faster it will stop. ( Bullying Statistics ) Another way to prevent bullying is simply getting moved away from the bully. Sit as far as way as you can and be around other people as much as you can so they don't have the chance to come in contact with you without having other people being
Fahy et al. (2016) showed that adolescents bullied through social media are likely to suffer psychologically. Therefore, an additional step to take may be to encourage positive interactions with others on social media. Encourage them to add genuine friends on social media and delete dramatic or those searching to cause trouble to form more positive connections to potentially prevent this issue from occurring.
Social media is an enormous part of our society and has opened a large window for bullying to occur. People of all ages, races, and religions are on social media and often take part in arguments where others are called vulgar names and are harassed. People are constantly being bullied on social media to the point that some view this behavior as being acceptable. In the movie Cyberbully, a girl is tormented on social media. Her classmates all thought it was acceptable and hilarious to see this girl get bullied and often joined in on the bullying. Bullying was brought to the attention of the school and police where they both said that they could not do anything about it because it happened on social media. Little did the girl know, it was her best friend who started bullying her on social media (Cyberbully). The internet allows people to say things behind a screen and even hide their identity. It is terrifying to see how cruel people are on social media and how others allow it and think it is funny. “When children, and many adults for that matter, aren’t talking to someone face-to-face, they are less likely to feel the implications of what they are really saying” (“Social Media
Facebook and other social media platforms have brought communication across the world to a whole new level. The rise of social media has created a place for children to communicate with others in both a positive and negative manner. Although it has made a positive impact on American youth, it has also contributed and exacerbated bullying in our schools. This new form of bullying, often referred to as cyberbullying, has created an around-the-clock atmosphere where bullying can occur even when school is not in session. Many professionals have sought to address the negative aspects of social media and have worked to develop a solution to bring cyberbullying to an end.
Bullying is intimidating someone by using superior strength or influence. There are three main types of bullying known as physical bullying, verbal bullying, and cyberbullying. Since 2011, the popularity of cyberbullying has increased by 85% because more children have access to social media. Tons of people do not know what cyberbullying is - it is any type of bullying via electronic medium, such as phone calls, text messages, and all social media. When cyberbullying started to become “popular”, it also caused the number of children 12 years old and up that mention self-harm to increase by 50%. There was little that could be done for those who were suffering through cyberbullying for the reason that not many adults understood social media and were unaware that this was happening.
For such a long time, physical bullying has been the largest problem schools and parents had to face with their children, but now another form of bullying has arisen; cyber bullying. In society today, teens are drawn cell phones, laptops, and other technological advancements. Social media is a way for many teens and adolescents to interact with one another and share countless happenings of their personal lives. Cyber bullying occurs when individuals use the internet to send or comment cruel and unnecessary messages to another. In its various forms cyber bullying includes, indirect and direct harassment, posting inappropriate pictures, impersonating another being, or just being plain cruel. Although anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying, improper use of the internet can further induce harassment, due to the adolescents desire to use modern day technologies. The harassers could be classmates, online “friends’’, or anonymous users. One barrier that is difficult to overcome is determining who is responsible for the attacks online, because many bullies hide behind fake usernames or profiles to protect their real identity, which is commonly known as “hiding behind a screen”. (Bonanno 2013). The motives for a cyber-bully are never clear, some might say
One topic that has received much needed attention as social media has boomed over the years appears to be cyberbullying. Bullying in schools has always been a problem, but since the early 2000s, it was not considered an extremely serious issue. However, that began to change as social media applications like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat became such a huge part of the teenage life. Bullying slowly began to transform into cyberbullying with the growth of all of these forms of social media. Cyberbullying has garnered much national attention in the media and among schools and parents that it has left many to ask how far school officials should go in addressing and preventing cyberbullying amongst students. Despite the fact that cyberbullying is mostly made off school grounds and digitally, school officials should have the right to intervene because it affects the student emotionally, mentally, and physically.
As if adolescence isn’t a hard enough period in one’s life, imagine going through it with the critical nature of social media. Sadly, however, teens aren’t the only ones capable of cyber bullying.Social media allows for bullies to hide behind their computers, detached from the impact their words have on their victims. Similarly, social media allows for a void between one’s actions and consequences, kids can become very self conscious, and have an unreal expectation of how a lot of real life things should be. When
Many people have had situations with bullies and some even being the bully themselves. With the use of social media and cellphones bullying has become worse. Not only do children deal with bullies at school but now deal with them at their own home. The behavior is repeated or can be repeated over time. With technology becoming more advanced, Cyber bullying has become the new way of bullying.It has become more easier to bully those without letting the victim know it's them. With bullying increasing it has become an increasingly worrisome health concern, as bullying has a long effect on physical and mental distress that can lead to suicide thoughts or actions. Lawmakers need to make laws to help those who are victims of bullying.
Cyberbullying is an alarming issue that is currently affecting children of all ages around the world. Due to the development of our technology today, cyberbullying has become one of the most difficult issues to deal with in our society. Cyberbullying is when someone uses technology to bully a person, in many cases by sending messages in a threatening nature, and there are many different kinds of cyberbullying in today's world, such as; exclusion, impersonation, trickery, flaming, harassment, and cyberstalking (Bauman 23). The scariest part of cyberbullying is that it can takes place on nearly any social media site. Examples of cyberbullying include, but not limited to; mean text messages or emails, or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures. The “Cyberbullying Resources” article stated that, “Nearly 43% of kids have been cyber bullied online and one in four has had it happen more than once.” At the end of the day, bullying should be taken more seriously and be considered a criminal offense.