Jessica Logan Cyberbullying

Adolescents are still trying to discover what type of person they are or want to be. Leaving them more vulnerable to the opinion of others due to the fact they put the values they were once taught aside. According to Steven L. Brewer. Jr., “youth suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds worldwide (World Health Organization, 2016).” Jessica Laney a 16-year-old Floridian committed suicide after being the victim of cyberbullying. She received hateful messages on the website Ask.fm saying, “Can you kill yourself already?” or “Nobody even cares about you.” Then shortly afterwards was found dead at her house. She was also having family problems, she did not talk to her brother anymore, claimed

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

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.

Sarah Lynn Butler, a 7th grader from Hardy, Arkansas had just been nominated queen for Fall Festival. She started receiving messages on her myspace page accusing her of being a “slut” and a “stupid naive little girl”. She hung herself on September, 26, 2009 while her family was away. In her suicide note she stated that she could not handle what others were saying about her. Many people believe that suicide is caused by mental illness, but in most suicide cases it is caused by bullying.

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.

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.

Would you support The Megan Meier Bullying Prevention Act? Individuals should be prosecuted for cyber bullying. The individuals can harm themselves over what the bully has told them. The bully can ruin the victim’s reputation. The 1st Amendment says that we have freedom of speech. Even though some people believe that the 1st Amendment give people the right to speak freely, individuals should be prosecuted because even though the 1st Amendment gives you freedom of speech there is still limits on what they should say.

Cyberbullying is one of the many factors for a teen to commit suicide. Cyberbullying is the use of the internet to send harm to another person. It is a way of bullying that happens anonymously through the internet. “While cyberbullying alone is not likely to lead to youth suicide, it may worsen feelings of hopelessness in adolescents struggling with stress in their lives” (Hinduja, Sameer, and Patchin). Cyberbullying can easily be started by just making fun of someone and continuing to something more serious. People think that making a joke online is funny, but little do they know it can really affect someone. As teens, we do not fully think before typing something online and what seems like no big deal to someone, can be a breaking point for someone else. There are many movies that talk about cyberbullying and it is suppose to spread awareness about this kind of bullying. When cyberbullying became a big deal, everyone started doing something to stop it, and it is still around today but not many people are paying attention to it anymore. Most likely the suspect will harass and will continue harassing the victim till they have reached their breaking point. People bully online to make other’s feel less then they really are (Phillips). They may use hurtful words or even just

In the article, “If Suicide Happens… Questions Raised on Bullying as Cause” Gail states, “The bullying may reinforce negative images the person already has of him or herself, and plays into their sense of reality.”(Gail). Being mistreated by others can change your perspective of yourself. When other individuals say appalling things about another, those comments by others build up and become too much to deal with. When it becomes to much, the teenager can only see one way out and that is suicide. In the article “Should schools punish cyberbullies?” Kaitlin Menza states, “Yes. Being bullied online makes school unbreakable.”(Menza). Being bullied online makes going to school an even more difficult to get through than it already is. showing up at school after being bullied online can make matters worse. People that were being bullied online are now being bullied at school and this can mess up one's focus in class and extracurricular activities. Although bullying is tough at school, the Government can resolve this issue with a law that will help many

Many negative effects are outcomes of cyber bullies. The impact cyber bullying has on kids is detrimental. Victims can develop psychological problems. For example, victims begin having anxiety, lower self-esteem, and frustration. They may also be diagnosed with depression. It’s tough to ignore cyber bullying. Compared to school bullies, internet bullies cause their victim more emotional pain. Children and teenagers are able to escape school bullies when they return home. However targets of cyber bullying don’t have that advantage.

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.

This type of bullying has the potential to lead to many health problems in an individual. Victims of cyberbullying are more likely to turn to drugs or alcohol at a young age to escape the pain they are feeling (“Cyberbullying”). This type of behavior changes the person through and through. They are now dependent on a substance to subside their pain that has been inflicted on them. Another health problem that has been linked to cyberbullying is having abdominal pains and headaches (Drummond). These victims have so much anxiety due to the torture they are facing their bodies are reacting in an unhealthy way. Insomnia has also been connected to this type of bullying (Drummond). This may be because adolescents are unaware of when another rumor or piece of private information about them is going to be published. 34% of teenagers are said to be the victims of cyberbullying in a study conducted by Finnish researchers which shows that these victims are more likely to have abdominal pains, and suffer from insomnia (Drummond). If the bullying continues more problems are likely to develop in the individual, physically or mentally.