Does Cyberbullying Still Exist

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.

Bullying has been around since the beginning of time. Parents may remember when they were kids and the bully would pick on them or their friends by stealing lunch money or just getting beat up, and that was the end of it. The victims remember the hurt, frustration, and sadness it caused. However, these days, bullying is not just happening on the playground or at the bus stop, it is happening on the Internet and on cell phones, making it possible to bully a child 24 hours a day with multiple bullies and thousands of kids watching. Cyberbullying follows children nonstop and into the safety of their house. Sometimes kids are afraid to inform their parents about the cyberbullying that they will think its there fault. Or that their parents will call the bullies parents or other parents, making the bullying worse. However, the effect and pain that comes from cyberbullying is real. People underestimate cyberbullying, just because it is happening online and not in person. Cyberbullying can lead to many different factors like drinking, and drugs, poor grades, depression, eating disorders. Many students have even taken their own lives because of another student saying something to them online. Cyberbullying has been taking place a lot more in middle and high schools because of the increased usage of social media networks and technology. Cyberbullying is worse and more harmful than traditional bullying.

All the people of this nation need to consider the national controversy of cyber bullying. If you gazed at someone being teased on the internet, what would you do frankly? Did you know that 14% of high schoolers premeditated suicide and half of them that considered actually did? Because 55% of all teens convey that they have spotted online teasing and 95% of them overpass the locality watched, hectoring online is becoming a contention. Out of all teens in this nation, 52% declared that they have been online bulldozed. Internet intimidating is the leading determinant of the youth of this generation to execute suicide. People should be more perceptive of cyber bullying for the reason that technology is an uprising, the suicide cases for online antagonizing are unforgettable, and the population of teens is decreasinhjjg twenty-four seven.

It was given to students between the ages of 12 and 17, to find the extent of cyberbullying in the particular age bracket. Five different forms of bullying was reported, with insults having the highest percentage reported, embarrassing pictures being the lowest, and threats, privacy violation, and password theft in between. Almost 1/5 of the respondents reported repeated experiences, and 72% reported that they had been bullied online during the past year. In 2002, Finn (2004) documented survey results that 10 to 15% of 339 students at University of New Hampshire had experienced multiple e-mail or IM messages that “threatened, insulted or harassed” (pg. 2) them. A survey that was given to 666 students at a university in Turkey in 2009 was used to assess the psychological needs of the cyberbully. The results that were found from this survey were “that aggression and succorance positively predicted cyberbullying, but interception negatively predicted it” (pg. 2). Also, 22.5% of students reported that they had cyberbullied at least once, and 55.3% reported that they had been a victim of cyberbullying at least once in their lifetime (Dilmac, 2009). Technology is becoming more accessible to today’s youth, and more questions are arising because of this. Extended research is needed to focus on the increase of technology and its impact on the events that are rooted from

Michael M. Honda states that “everyone in America likely has a bullying story, whether as a victim, bully, or as a witness.” Cyberbullying has become a major epidemic in the modern day world because everyone has access to the internet in some way. By taking an in depth look at cyberbullying, one can see just how urgent it is to stop it, because not only can it strike anywhere at any time, cyberbullying can also lead to suicide and cause serious mental health issues.

“Statistics on cyberbullying include: Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online; seventy percent of students’ report seeing frequent bullying online; sixty-eight percent of teens agree that cyberbullying is a serious problem; eighty-one percent of young people believe bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person; ninety percent of teens who have seen social-media bullying say they have ignored it; only one in 10 victims will inform a parent or trusted adult of their abuse; girls are about twice as likely as boys to be victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying; nearly 58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online; bullying victims are two to nine times more likely to consider committing suicide; furthermore about 75% of students admit they have visited a website bashing another

Cyberbullying is a highly controversial topic in the United States. Some believe it is a criminal act, and others believe it is typical behavior among kids. Despite the many different opinions, cyberbullies should not be persecuted for the insults put on social media.

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 just one of the many forms of bullying that can occur and unfortunately, it continues to occur in ever-growing amounts. In this generation, the internet is so easily accessible that no one can prevent themselves from potentially being entrapped by the heinous claws of cyberbullying. Since cyberbullying can reach so many people, it can also bring the detrimental effects along with it. Mental illness, self-harm, and suicide are just a few of the effects that can happen to a person being cyberbullied. Most of the time these effects can be prevented by the intervention of schools, friends, or loved ones. Most cyberbullying incidents happen to students and in most cases, schools are unable to take any form of action. People, especially young Americans should speak up and take action against cyberbullying. They must voice their concerns and make schools be required to intervene in cyberbullying matters that occur off campus, because it can affect them, their friends, or others around

    Each year 34,000 people commit suicide a year - about 1 death every 15 minutes. Suzanne Phillips, professor of clinical psychology in the doctoral program of Long Island University and on the faculty of the postdoctoral programs of the Derner Institute of Adelphi University, wrote an article titled “Cyber bullying is Dangerous”. In her article she discusses Cyberbullying - what causes it and how it affects people. Suzanne Phillips states,

Social media is destroying today's kids because of cyberbullying! Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology such as cell phones, computers, etc. Mostly on social media sites. When it comes to cyber-bullying, they are often motivated by anger, revenge or frustration. Sometimes they do it for entertainment or because they are bored.

Despite the fact that cyberbullying occurs in the virtual world, the emotional and behavioral consequences, such as anger, sadness, frustration, fear, low school commitment, substance use, and delinquency, affect students in a very real way. A survey of 1,913 middle school students found that victims of cyberbullying were 1.9 times more likely and perpetrators of cyberbullying were 1.5 times more likely to have attempted suicide compared to other students in the study. Some of the students in the study reported high levels of emotional distress, including frustration, sadness, and anger. Additionally, the article goes on to reveal exposure to cyberbullying increases the risk of delinquent behavior.

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).

Cyberbullying is the use of cell phones, instant messaging, e-mail, chat rooms or social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to harass, threaten or intimidate someone. People say and do things that they would not necessarily say to the person face to face and sometimes say more than they should without a thought in mind if they were in that person’s shoes how would they feel. It is a sad case that social media something made for the amusement and communication between people is now Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. Cyberbullying is becoming increasingly easy due to the increase of technology, the easy access to the technology and the vast number of people involved in these technologies for social

Cyberbullying can majorly affect the mental health of others in negative ways. Students take these criticisms and rudeness so personally and it creates a huge influence on their lives. Often, victims of cyberbullying start feeling powerless, overwhelmed, and dissatisfied with themselves. “Victims of cyberbullying were more likely to suffer from low self esteem and suicidal thoughts”(Cyberbullying Research