Cyberbullying: Social Media and Its Effects

Is cyberbullying an old problem with a new disguise? Bullying in the real world has been around for a seemingly endless amount of time. Due to the rise of technology in society today, bullying in the cyber world, also known as cyberbullying, has erupted. Cyberbullying can be defined as using technology, such as the Internet, social media, and text messages, to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person (Hirsch). According to 11 Facts About Cyberbullying, nearly eighty-three percent of teens believe bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person. This shows that cyberbullies use online networks to camouflage themselves from reality. Cyberbullying is emotionally abusive to the victim’s mental health because the scars imprinted from the cruel remarks sent through text messages and posted throughout social media are bound to forever impact one's life.

Bullying is a behaviour that is meant to be hurtful, targets a person or a group of people, happens more than once and embarrasses, threatens or intimidates the person being bullied.

According to the American Psychological Association, “Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Bullying can take the form of physical contact, words or more subtle actions” (Bullying, 2013). People bully each other for several reasons and there are different outcomes that are a result of those reasons. People can be bullied physically, emotionally, or verbally. Bullying can take place at school or online. Bullying should be a considered a crime, but kids get away with it all the time; furthermore prevention can be used in order to keep kids safe from bullying.

Bullying is defined as mean, hurtful behavior that occurs repeatedly in a relationship with an imbalance of power or strength. A bully is a person who uses superior strength to intimidate someone, typically to force him or her to what one wants. There is four common types of bullying, verbal, physical, relational, cyber bullying.

“Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on

Bullying: In general, bullying is behavior by one person that intimidates another. Often, bullying involves a real or implied threat of physical aggression and is directed by a physically larger or older person toward someone smaller or younger. Other definitions of bullying include both physical actions (hitting, pushing, punching), as well as verbal actions (threatening, taunting, teasing), or even excluding the target from group activities.

Bullying is any kind of repeated aggressive, mean, or hurtful behavior that scares or upsets someone else, sometimes to the point of suicide. It is spreading rumors, posting inappropriate pictures, verbal threats, even excluding someone on purpose. Bullying can happen to anyone, it can be in person or online, and it is always serious.

— Val McDermid Bullying is any negative aggressive behavior by another youth or group of youths who could be siblings, student classmates, or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying usually inflicts harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social, or educational harm.

Today, bullying is a social issue that chimed its way to the top of the list that’s causing self harm or the harm of others. Bullying is defined as a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people. There are many forms of bullying: Physically, which involves hitting, tripping, and other kinds of force in which someone put hands on you. Verbal, involves hurtful name-calling, teasing, and comments. Social is using relationships to hurt someone. Lastly, Cyber bullying, is when someone uses social media or cellular devices.

favor of another. It is also known as the feeling of envy towards the success or

The American Psychological Association (n.d.) defines bullying as “a form of aggressive behavior in which a person may intentionally cause another individual harm or humiliation”. While bullying is classified as form of aggressive behavior, studies reveal that bullying comes in many

Bullying has been defined as “an unprovoked attack that causes hurt of a psychological, physical or social nature.(Casey-Cannon, Hayward and Gowen 2001 p.138). Bullying is a type of aggression in which the bully is more powerful than the victim and commits aggressive acts against them. This definition of bullying is also referred to as “Double I R” (Imbalance of power, intentional acts, repeated overtime) (Newman Horne and Bartolumucci.). It is a repeated and systematic abuse of power (Olweus,1999; P. K. Smith & Sharp, 1994).

While social media and electronic means for communication have been around the better part of fifteen years, the past ten years have overall shown increases in cyberbullying. Although bullying in general over the past decade has been at a consistent rate, or in some cases even declining, cyberbullying on the average has been rising over the past decade. Statistics regarding

What is bullying actually? "Bullying is the general term applied to a pattern of behavior whereby one person with a lot of internal anger, resentment and aggression and lacking interpersonal skills chooses to displace their aggression onto another person or a person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people" ( Craft, 2006, para.2 ). It is usually regularly repeating action which can take many forms, such as assault, tripping, intimidation, rumor-spreading and

Bullying is defined generally as an act of aggression directed towards a party or individual deemed weaker than the aggressor in order to cultivate a feeling of