Cyber-Bullying : The Dangers Of The Internet And Social Media

We live in an era ruled by social media, primarily when it comes to teenagers, social media is used for everything. From communicating with family and friends to being used as a news outlet, and even advertisement for business and companies. This article is titled “Social Media: What's Not to Like,” written by Alison Pearce Stevens. The topic of this essay is the effect social media can have on teenagers. Social media, on one hand, can be used as a great way to share with the world and boost teens’ self-esteem. On the other hand, social media can be used as a place for bullying, body shaming and can cause depression or even suicide in teens.

Social media itself is a huge danger to society. It causes many suicides within the world because of the cyberbullying and spreading of rumors. “Recent studies have shown that one out of four teens have been the victims of cyberbullying and one out of six have admitted to having cyberbullied someone” (Trautner 1). The internet and social media is supposed to be used to communicate with friends and for searching information, “Kids use technology different than their parents do. Sometimes it is hard for adults to understand that this can even be a possibility” (Trautner 1). It is not supposed to be used to bully someone, especially not to the point where the victim would think about suicide. “One of the statistics that has been highlighted within this news coverage is the threefold increase in the suicide rate for girls ages 10 to 14. The rates for girls in this age group increased from 0.5 to 1.5 per 100,000 during this time period. The increases for boys in this age group were not as high, climbing from 1.9 per 100,000 during 1999 to 2.6 per 100,000 in 2014” (Olsen

The internet and social media have opened so many doors for our generation. Thousands of resources are at our fingertips that 30 years ago would seem impossible. However, this information can be more of a burden rather than a blessing. Scrolling through Instagram you will most likely find images of people with ‘perfect’ bodies in swimsuits. It is very easy to compare your body to these images and not feel confident about yourself. Now put yourself in a young teenager’s perspective, looking at all these images. Their main question might be “Why don’t I look like that?” This raises an issue for teenagers to be more likely to not be comfortable in their own skin, have lowered self-esteem, and body shame themselves. Another issue with social media is the anxiety that can come from it. Today it is apparent that most teenagers using social media platforms tend to be worrying about the color scheme of their profile, number of likes and how fast they show up, their following ratio, regulating the number of posts, the number of followers, number of retweets and many more anxieties. In a weird way, it can be easier to make fun of someone or bully someone behind a screen and not right to their face. This raises another version of bullying known as cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is the most common online risk for teenagers and adolescence (O’Keeffe 801). Researchers have found signs of depression from the use of social media (802). From repeated and extended use of social media there has been 92% of teenagers ages 13-17 going online every day in the US, negative things are sure to come from that usage (Dunlop 35). As just mentioned, there are major negative effects of social media on adolescence, including cyber-bullying, anxiety, lowered self-esteem, and depression.

Social media is becoming a toxic mirror not only to teenagers, but to everyone who is or has used it at some point in their life. Social media is known for having an impact on body confidence of the users. Most people who use social media of some sort are worried about cyberbullying, but that is not the only bad thing coming from the media. People all around the world are experiencing issues with their body image because of the pictures or posts they see on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Cleveland State University psychology professor Richard Perloff explains the connection between social media and body image by stating,“The interactive format and content features of social media, such as the strong peer presence and exchange

As of 2016, suicide has replaced homicide as the second-leading cause of death among U.S. teenagers because of social media bullying. Social media has taken a significant toll on our society, one that affects millions of students around the globe. Every day, online platforms are gaining in popularity. So much that study now shows that the average person spends more time each day on their phone and computer than they do sleeping! While social media offers some benefits in regards to education and relationships, the risks of cyberbullying, social anxiety and identity theft far outweigh these advantages.

The use of cyberbullying has heightened throughout the years between teenagers and “statistics reveal an increasing problem. Four in ten teens have experienced online bullying [...]” (Phillips 1). Cyberbullying is a rising problem found among students due to the expansion and wide use of technology in our society today. The important controversy of cyberbullying in the world around us causes many individuals to have critical mental diseases. From this, a wide variety of other problems occur such as suicide and alternative fatal situations that are prompted by rude or negative comments found on social media. Rude comments that are posted on social media diminish teenagers self esteem, which makes it difficult for them to achieve in school and

More than 40% of adolescents and teens have been cyberbullied online and 1 in 4 have been repeatedly cyberbullied. Cyberbullying started to become a problem once the internet became a common tool. Today around 90% of teens go online everyday.

Depression is another problem that those who use social networks often may experience when they worry too much about themselves and the ways they present themselves. Time Magazine once said that “girl have more body image and [eating disorder] than boy have.” For example, my sister is younger than me and she is so thin, because she not eating much in an effort to grow stronger. Through what I see with my sister, the body image of girls is the important to them especially during their adolescent years. A Researcher of the Brown University School of Public Health said that “the more user of the social network the more increase in depression.” Teenage girls who are often on the social networks and have experiences that include bullying and

When victims of cyber bullying are publicly put down, it can be frightening and destructive. The effects of cyber bullying on its victims are nothing other than pernicious. Though most effects that cyber bullying inflicts on its victims are minor to moderate (ex. Depression or low self-esteem), some cases have resulted in suicide or attempted suicide, which wistfully, I have personally heard of on numerous occasions. In fact, “Many cyber bullying victims have a low self-esteem and are more likely to commit suicide or other harmful act as a result” (Huskerson 59). Irrefutably, it is obvious that the world would be a happier place without the existence of cyber bullying. In addition to cyber bulling, there more are negative effects of social media, such as growing body dissatisfaction among

With the increase of children having their own cell phones, tablets, and other internet-accessible technology, so increases the rates of cyberbullying. In the foreword of Cyberbullying: Bullying of the Digital Age., a letter written by the father of a teen who committed suicide after months of being cyberbullied shows how unpredictable and heart-wrenching the effects of cyberbullying can be. In an excerpt from the letter. John Halligan, father of bullied teen Ryan Halligan, says “October 7, 2003 will always be the day that divides my life. Before that day, my son Ryan was alive. A sweet, gentle, and lanky 13-year old fumbling his way through early adolescence and trying to establish his place in the often confusing and difficult social world of middle school. After that day, my son would be gone forever. A death by suicide. Some would call it bullycide or even cyberbullycide. I just call it a huge hole in my heart that will never heal.” The main article expresses pathos for victims of cyberbullying- who are not just the targeted victim but the family left behind struggling to cope with the loss and their attempts to change the way the cyberbullying is dealt with.

Bullying is everywhere and it is getting worse, people are killing themselves from getting bullied on the internet. This essay is going to be how people deal with bullying and how people tell others about it and how the cyberbullying is going to be dealt with by the us and how they are going to make it a law for the people that bully.

How do we fix bullying on social media? People can experience less bullying on social media if they had less interaction with it. Bullying happens in and out of school nowadays bullying has become more prevalent over the years on social media.

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.

In 1991, the world was graced with a brand-new invention- the World Wide Web. Since that time, more and more people have been able to access the internet. Every day, billions of people access the internet. With so many people being able to access this new source of connectivity came the rise of social media. In 2011, there were 1.2 billion people logging into social media sites on a daily basis. This number is up 6% from 2007 (Dijck, 2013).While social media helps to connect more people together than ever before it does have its dark side. With the rise of social media, the number of people being exposed to cyberbullying is increasing. These incidents of cyberbullying are leading to body image issues.

Twenty percent of high school students admit to being a victim and/or participating in cyberbullying (“Cyberbullying”). This form of bullying that takes place on the Internet, is beginning to become a major problem in our society. Cyber bullying must be terminated in order to prevent teenage depression, fights breaking out in schools, and adolescences growing up to become criminals.