Cyberbullying Is A Crime?

Bullying is one of the leading causes in teen suicide today. People bullied in the past or present have been studied and it has shown that they have a lower quality of life. Though they have a lower quality of life, the have better physical and mental health. (“Seaman” 1). Studies have shown that most bullying happens in middle school and high school. There is bullying in elementary school but it is minimal and less serious (“Bullying Statistics” 1). Most kids refuse to speak up while being bullied in fear that the bully will just taunt them more (“Cyber-Safety Act” 2). Bullying has become a very serious issue regarding our society today.

According to Bulent Dilmac, “bullying is defined as aggression with the intention of hurting (Kepenekci & Çınkır, 2003) and is an anti-social form of behavior that produces negative consequences (Taylor, 2006).” “Cyberbullying is defined as the repetitive use of information and communication technologies by an individual or a group in order to hurt other individuals. (Akbaba & Eroǧlu, 2013).” There have been several cases where cyberbullying causes teenagers to take their own life’s (commit suicide). It can cause individuals to suppress negative emotions within them. Lowering their self-esteem and looking at life with a sense of hopelessness. Jessica Laney was a victim of cyberbullying when she was insulted on social media.

As the drastic increase of social media networks has increased, so too has the cyberbullying prevalence. Merriam-Webster defines cyberbullying as the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person often done anonymously. Kassandra Gahagan and her fellow colleagues studied cyberbullying among students and its outcomes. Studies show higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors with victims of cyberbullying, along with higher rates of depression, anxiety and paranoia (Gahagan, Vaterlaus & Frost, 2015). While cyberbullying can be both intentional or unintentional, it is a negative process which effects the victim. This includes comments, posts without consent and messages. The study conducted sought to determine the prevalence of cyberbullying among young adults and the negative outcomes through asking three questions.

It had been said by Reed, Cooper, Nugent, and Russel (2016) that, “Evidence supports that cyberbullying can contribute in the development of adolescent depression” (40). Those who are diagnosed with depression can be given medication to help cope, and although it is good for the pharmacies, it is not good for his or her mental health. With cyberbullying and social media effecting one’s mental health with depression and possible suicide, it is important that people know the correlation of the two.

Causes of suicide vary but as technology advances new causes are apparent. Social media plays a major role in causes of suicide. Technology allows cyber bullying to happen frequently and recur until something or someone stops it. Victims of bullying often think they have no way out of their situation or feel like there is no help. People with suicidal thoughts struggle either mentally, physically, or emotionally. “Three million children are absent from school each month due to bullying. Twenty percent of those bullied kids have suicidal thoughts” (Bullying and Suicide, 2016, p.1). Media’s such as snapchat, instagram, twitter, or facebook all provide factual information about previous cases of suicide. Cyberbullying is a serious problem especially among adolescent girls. Girls are more likely than boys to attempt suicide due to cyberbullying, because girls are struggling to find themselves as a person (Bichell, 2013, p. 3). Any form of negativity or put down affects them, and who they are trying to become.

Cyberbullying is an ever-growing issue that occurs daily. A survey was conducted on 80 random teenagers with the topic of Cyberbullying. The survey consisted of 15.19% of the surveyors being between ages14-16, 45.57% of the surveyed were teenagers between the ages of 16 to 18, 27.85% were between the ages of 18 to 20 and 11.39% of the surveyed were above 20. The survey results showed that 88.75% of people knew someone who has experienced cyberbullying and 58.75% have experienced cyberbullying themselves. The survey also stated that 40.51% of the 10-surveyed said that they know someone who has committed suicide based on the influences online. Out of the 58.75% who

Every day, millions of people roam the internet. There has been much discussion on whether or not people should be prosecuted for cyber bullying. I believe that they should. Although many think that prosecution affects the first amendment, cyber bullying promotes getting hurt, affects the targets life, and promotes depression.

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.

A large sum of suicides are indirectly or directly influenced by experiences with online aggression. Suicide is not an uncommon result of tormenting through social media. “The psychological impact [of cyberbullying] can be devastating, and suicide is not unknown among young victims. For some victims, the damage to their sense of dignity and emotional well-being could persist for years." (“Jessica Mendoza”) The effects of online bullying are extremely harmful to children. Any child that is having suicidal thoughts from online bullying is a deeply harmed child. Suicide in teens is not uncommon either. Jennifer Holladay states, “Our study of upwards of 2,000 middle school students revealed that cyberbullying victims were nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide compared to students not targeted with online abuse.” Online abuse it a growing problem with the modernizing society. More and more people at younger and younger ages have more access online, and to social media. This increases the online abuse, and will lead to more and more suicides in teens

In 2014-2015 over 21% of teenagers have been cyberbullied. The effects of being cyberbullied include, usage of alcohol and/or drugs, skipping school, poor grades, have low self-esteem, have more health problems, and depression (What is Cyberbullying). Victims of cyberbullying are twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who haven’t experienced cyberbullying. Each year, approximately 4,500 teenagers commit suicide due cyberbullying and bullying. Self-harm is also common to victims of cyberbullying; the amount of teenagers who commit suicide and self-harm due to bullying rise along with the usage of social media.

The current study shows the extent of a nontraditional form of peer aggression—cyberbullying which can also be related to suicidal ideation among children and teenagers. A random sample was done in 2007 1,963 middle-school students were chosen from one of the largest school districts in the United States to complete a survey of Internet use and experiences. Children who experienced traditional bullying or cyberbullying, was an offender or either a victim that had more suicidal thoughts; and more likely to attempt suicide than those who had not experienced forms of bullying. The bullied victims was more strongly related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors than the offenders.

Bullying and harassment through social media can have a major impact on one’s life. Bullying through means of social media or cyberbullying for instance, may cause feelings of loneliness, depression, rejection, unsafety, fear, hopelessness or feeling stuck in a situation, confusion, stress, feeling like you don’t fit in, and shame. Any of which may lead to avoidance of friends, social media, school and the intent to cause harm oneself or others may arise due to these feelings. In rare cases of bullying it could result in an occurrence of school shootings which has been occurring more frequently. Cyberbullying may also lead to the suicide of the student due to constant tormenting and inability to escape from harassers. However, this may be avoided

This review will critically argue of the methodology used within this literature. The cross-sectional method of analysis has a number of limitations. For instance, much of the current literature on 'cybersafety' pays particular attention to the health and emotional effects associated with cyberbullying, the findings from the research state that depression, physical health, low self-esteem, academic grades, depression and suicidal ideation are associated with the victimization of cyberbullying. This study would have been more useful if the cross-sectional study focused on assessing the effectiveness of the interventions provided, in terms of lessening the risks associated with bullying through the use of the internet and mobile phones.

While cyberbullying affects each child differently, there has been a clear correlation between victims and non-victims and their self-esteem. In one study, bullied victims had less self-esteem than those who were not bullied online. Additionally, it was reported that victims of cyberbullying were thirty percent more likely to think about committing suicide (Cyberbullying Research Center, 2012). With the lack of parent supervision, it was found that those who spent more than three hours per school day on social networks were 110% more at risk to be a cyberbully victim as compared those who do not spend as much time online (Gilkerson, 2012). What may be worse is the fact that majority of those bullied online do not tell their parents or an adult about what occurred. Despite the fact that most adolescents state that bullying occurs more offline then online, cyberbullying is still a real and large threat to the youth of America (Lenhart, 2007).

The following literature review is all about how cyber bullying affects the life of the ones who got bullied, the chances of committing suicide among the victims and the laws in several states regarding cyber bullying.