Cyberbullying: Bullying Of The Digital Age

Cyberbullying is a relatively new threat, and it is very similar to traditional bullying. Despite the fact that cyberbullying and traditional bullying both share the common goal of harassment, cyberbullying differs from traditional bullying in that it does not stop at the schoolyard, and can continue when the victim is far away from the aggressor. It is just as devastating as common bullying, and sometimes is even more damaging. Professors Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin note in their journal, “Cyberbullying Creates Dangerous Stress and Anxiety”, that cyberbullying affects anywhere between 10-40% of students (contingent on their age group) (par. 1). J.D. Kelly A. Albin, in her article “Bullies in a Wired World”, defines cyberbullying as “…the ‘willful and repeated harm inflicted through use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices’” (157). It is caused by the fact that children feel their actions are mitigated when they use social media, as it creates the illusion of indirectness, and its effects range anywhere from mild depression to suicide.

Anyone can be caught in a bullying situation either as a bully, a victim or a bystander. Since the internet is widely used by anyone from all different age groups and is used publicly or privately, it is hard to know a person 's real identity. There are many instances where the bully is hiding his or her identity and one cannot see who is the predator. As for the victims, many had publicly written down some suicidal thoughts online or described how their life is complicated online or offline. For instance, a young girl claimed to be the richest girl on the app and was commanding people to be her peasant. She was harassing the other players with rude comments. The reason she chose to resent everyone was because she was once bullied before. Based on the studies on cyberbullying, the evidence strongly suggests that our mental health plays a part on how people bully others.

Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages in an threatening nature or tearing down an individuals character based on religion, gender, ethnicity, or disability. In terms of effects overall, cyberbullying has increased the use of communication via technology and has become more common among teenagers (Cabral 3). Technology has made it easy for bullies to find individuals via social media in the privacy of their on own homes., which has allowed them to express how they feel anonomously. This has become an issue that is occurring more and more in High Schools and Middle Schools across America. One of the biggest discussions when dealing with bullying and cyber-bullying would be how do we stop this epidemic to save the soul of our youth? Education is key, we have to educate one another on the effects of bullying to know that this is real and affects so many people to this day. Much of cyberbullying is the

School bullying is a problem that has been happening for years across the United States. It leads from physical, to verbal, making posts on social media, spreading rumors and many more. I'm going to focus on the ways bullying can be prevented, verbal, physical, the difference between girls and guys, and how suicide comes into a big part. In the paper, I'm going to touch base on cyber bullying because sometimes that is a cause of school bullying. Bullying in schools has gotten worse and worse every year and there needs to be a way to put a stop to it all.

In their e-book, Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard, Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin define Cyberbullying as: “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, or other electronic devices” (36). Hinduja and Patchin are both Ph.D.’s, professors at universities, as well as primary researchers at the Cyberbullying Research Center. The research and community outreach that they are involved in could greatly reduce the number of cyberbullying cases worldwide. Cyberbullies typically operate through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to harass, intimidate, threaten, embarrass or otherwise target an individual. Cyberbullying is awfully prevalent nowadays and it is a far bigger issue than most people realize. It is an issue that is quickly growing; as there are hundreds of thousands of people signing on to use these networks for the first time every day. According to NoBullying.com, 25% of teenagers report that they have experienced repeated bullying via their cell phone or on the Internet, while 52% report having experienced it at least

In order to understand the importance and consequences of cyberbullying, the main idea of cyberbullying must be expressed. Suzanne Phillips states that “cyberbullying like any form of bullying is relational aggression. It is intended to make the victim feel frightened, humiliated, helpless and too often—hopeless. What makes cyber bullying particularly harmful and in the case of too many young people who have committed suicide, so deadly, is the nature and virulent reach of electronic medium” (Phillips 1). Students are put in danger everyday due to the relevance of cyberbullying that surrounds them. The effects are detrimental to their health and have major impacts on the society. Justin Patchin explains that teens have unhealthy ideas when he states that “cyberbullied youth also report having suicidal thoughts, and there have been a number of examples in the United States and abroad where youth who were victimized ended up taking their own lives” (Patchin 1). Average teenagers express everyday that the effects of cyberbullying are harmful to their well being and self esteem. This causes most teens to feel worthless and makes them believe that their lives are not meaningful. Justin W. Patchin also shows the many outcomes of cyberbullying and displays that at “first, many targets report feeling depressed, sad, angry, and frustrated.

Cyberbullying is a new form of bullying that allows individuals to threaten or intimidate others via online resources like social media and instant messaging, as well as other electronic technology like smartphones and tablets. Due to the fact that cyberbullying is a fairly new concept, due to the advances in technology it has become one of the most prevalent sources of bullying among adolescents. The ease in which children can gain access and use electronic technology, and the fact that cyberbullying most of the time can remain anonymous, has led to an increase in this form of bullying. With reports indicating that 93% of teens are active users of the Internet and 75% own a cell phone, up from 45% in 2004, there is great potential for cyberbullying among youths (Schneider, O’Donnell, Stueve, & Coulter, 2012).The increase in cyberbullying has led to an increase in suicide rates among adolescent, and has expanded bullying past the traditional school environment.

Why can some people be so nice face to face, but when they go online they become a whole different person with a whole new attitude? People who could complement what someone looks like one day, but the next day say bad stuff about them over the computer. Cyberbullies are all over the internet, but many do not see them as that.

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.

Cyberbullying, intentional aggression through means of digital technology, is slowly becoming recognized as a social problem that needs to be addressed. This new form of bullying, emerged with the information and communication revolution during the last two decades of the twentieth century. Cyberbullying occurs largely through communication devices; cyberbullies harass their victims “by sending photos, text messages, e-mail, instant messages, and video through cell phones, personal digital assistants, and computers” (Swartz 2009). Since there was an initial gap between those who grew up with the new forms of communication technology and those of the older generation who had not adapted, the threat of cyberbullying was often left unchecked

Bullying is everywhere and with the recent stories about the most violent cases it is becoming so public, a new major issue has been found for in our nation. The tolls of years of bullying are effectively pushing victims into two corners. The victims either seek out help and fight back or fall in deeper and resort to self harm. Whatever it maybe be, it's everywhere. Bullying has found a new home on the internet. Cyberbullying is so common in today's society. Teenagers spend most of their time on social media sites and those sites are perfect for potential cyber bullying. One in ten teens go to parents for help when cyberbullying is involved.

Bullying is a worldwide epidemic, it happens no matter where we are, or who we are. This problem faces many women, children and men. It occurs in all different environments like school, work or even just walking down the street. Many people are often a victim of cyber-bullying “The use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature” (Google). Cyber-bullying effects many people internally, it can cause depression, anxiety, and self-esteem issues in all people, including the individual doing the bullying. There are many studies of cyber-bullying, the main area being high schools, a lot of cyber-bullying tends to stem off of the peers of the victim and others think it stems

In the United States, 23% of teens, in a study, reported being targeted by cyberbullying (Pappas). Once someone is singled out by a bully, different peers will know that the person is a target, and they will join in the bullying against that particular child. The number of adolescents being directly affected by cyberbullying has grown everyday. As more adolescents get involved with technology, unfortunately more of them have felt the need to get involved with other peers in a negative manner. Without finding a root cause to stop it, children and teens can be affected by serious and sometimes fatal mental health illnesses. According to a study, more than 15% of children said that they were either being cyber bullied or they were the target of some aspect of cyberbullying. (Ockerman, Kramer, and Bruno). As a result, whether children are bullying or being bullied, the numbers are increasing. This has the possibility to dig America in another hole that it does not need to be in, with adolescents being horribly affected every day. Cyberbullying worsens the mental health of children ages 12-18 in the United States. Online abuse worsens the mental health of adolescents by increasing

Cyberbullying is an online harassment of children by others. The works of Patchin, Shariff, and Willard, all prominent researchers in the study of cyberbullying. They found issues related to cyberbullying that can be understood. Most cyberbullying instances happen at home and is often brought to the school campus. School systems are left unsure of how to response to the bullying while balancing legal and ethnic responsibilities. Students across the nation are being bullied online and are bringing to school the residual effects of these personal attacks The issues include traditional bullying, teen social media use and cyberbullying. The issue of cyberbullying cannot truly be addressed unless it is approached reactively. It has become increasingly evident that the Internet has brought to our campuses another threat to student safety. It has come to the point where school districts have zero tolerance policies against bullying to case of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying by federal and state statue definition includes “bullying or harassment by use of an electronic communication device.”

Internet usage in children and adolescents has been increasing in a steadily fashion in the past number of years and with the increase in internet usage, a new form of bullying has developed – Cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can be defined as “the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person,” (Merriam-Webster, 2012). This form of bullying can come through various mediums including but not limited to text messages, emails, videos, and social networking sites. There is an overwhelming amount of information that defines cyber bullying, identifies the demographics of bullies and victims of cyber bullying, and identifies the outcomes of cyber bullying on victims. More focus needs to be placed on who the perpetrators