Persuasive Essay On Online Bullying

Cyberbullying amongst young people between cell phones, social media websites and at schools. Children today seem to have more outlets for interacting with each other virtually than they do for interacting with each other in person. There is an alarming trend of social media outlets being used by young people to bully others; all around the world but especially in America. So what is considered cyberbullying exactly you may ask? Cyberbullying is threatening lying about stalking or otherwise harassing a person online via other electronic communication devices like a cell phone, or at schools. It is becoming a bigger problem as more and more people are spending time online as today. Subsequently cyberbullying problems are also likely to happen at schools; teachers, principals, and parents are responsible to prevent and discipline cyberbullying. The hopes of most parents of the school, is protection as the parents claim to be they are very “busy” with their works.

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.

Whilst cyber bullying is not physical it’s emotional and psychological effects are devastating for the victim and can often lead to suicide and depression (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). Social Networking sites act as a platform where bullies can say things they might not usually say to someone in person, anonymity and less physical proximity act as a wall between the bully and the victim, none the less, the words or rumors’ that are shared are still just as hurtful. Bullies often feel more confident online and they can contact their victims anytime, anywhere, day or night, not just in the school yard (Smith et al., 2008).” (Procon. (24 O). Retrieved from http://socialnetworking.procon.org/)

Societal norms in the United States in terms of adolescents utilizing the Internet once as an additional source of communication has become the primary mode of communication. Today, “92% of teens proclaim they go online daily to check popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter among others” (Lenhart 1). The alteration from physical communication to online communication has exposed a dangerous interaction for social relationships known as cyberbullying. In order to understand cyberbullying, it is critical to understand traditional bullying. Traditional bullying thrives off on aggressive behavior that is repetitive and involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Cyberbullying is a form of violence predominantly seen in teens that has the potential to lead to long-term harm. It involves the use of technology such as cell phones and the Internet with the primary objective of

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

(High School) The effects of cyberbullying can lead to many harmful decisions, including thoughts or acts of violence, depression, and even suicide. (Martin, Florence, et al.) An article written by Anke Görzig-PhD, states that “Victims of cyberbullying have shown symptoms of depression and emotional difficulties, while cyberbullies have shown externalizing problems (e.g., stealing, physical assault, damaging property).” Görzig concludes by saying that cyberbully-victims are perhaps the most psychologically vulnerable, and need the most support out of all bully victims. The results of a study Görzig conducted supports the fact that “practitioners and policymakers” need to have support for unifying prevention and intervention strategies- not just for the victims of cyberbullying, but the bullies themselves. A study done by Carla Zdanow and Bianca Wright in Africa on “The Representation of Self Injury and Suicide on Emo Social Networking Groups” reported their findings and concluded that in any social media group, there is a feeling that teenagers are getting the need to want to ‘fit in’- and in doing so, they are even willing to engage in dangerous, pre-suicidal behavior. Social media, without a doubt, has taken over societies life, but is it as great as people make it out to

The author provides the reader with twenty-eight short paragraphs, no more than five lines, every paragraph plays a pivotal role in providing a different piece of repetitive evidence. The paragraphs are explicit in detail and very straight forward to make the ‘bulling more visible’. The structure behind the text establishes a visual representation to the audience of the frequency of the ‘widespread’ issue on cyber bullying platforms that apply to the reader of ‘Facebook’ and ‘Instagram’. The authors applies a tone influenced by her personal ‘experience of cyberbullying’ where she grew up in a culture filled with ‘blatant misogyny’, emulating to the reader how women feel about this topic, as ‘still to this day women lead in all the stats of bullying, harassment and abuse’. The author strives to evoke an emotional awareness towards the liability of women to fall victim to cyberbullying. The anecdotes are also dense in emotive language appealing to the

Teenagers can seek approval from their peers at school as well as online. Nearly every school setting has established some sort of unofficial clique system— a hierarchy, and , naturally, everyone wants to be at the top. Often times, one’s “rank” is equated to his or her worth. While not everyone is a perpetrator of this fierce competitiveness, nearly all are victims of it. The current generation of teenagers in particular, has a great advantage in the game of social standings— the Internet. Behind closed doors and especially online, teenagers utilize both jarring invective and slanderous gossip to evoke a false sense of self worth. John Titlow utilizes “#Me: Instagram Narcissism and The Scourge Of The Selfie” to argue how, when accessing social media, “you start to get the feeling you’re peeking through a window of a world you’re not quite supposed to have access to”(1). Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and all other forms of social media serve as both the main source of ammunition and the weapon of choice for vicious social attacks. By castigating one’s appearance or online presence, bullies attack a teenager’s identity. Most worrisome, however, is the fact these cyber bullies do not realize the harm they are causing. By communicating anonymously, they are unable to see the direct results of their actions. They only feel the rush of power after exploiting someone else's insecurities, providing a false sense of security for themselves. Their narcissism only increases as they decimate any empathy they may feel for their

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified cyber-bulling an "emerging public-health problem,” notes Thomas Billitteri from the CQ Researcher. Cyber-bullying is a growing trend that has been blown out of proportion during recent years. Jaana Juyonen, a professor of psychology at UCLA, asserts that “more than 70 percent of heavy Internet users ages 12 through 17 — mostly girls — said they had experienced at least one incident of online intimidation via e-mail, cell phones, chat rooms and other electronic media in the previous years.” This high amount of energy teens spend on social media is making them susceptible to cyber-bullying. Alex Orozco, a 19 year old college student who also went to my same high school, recalled, “Just last week I was going through my Twitter’s news feed and I bumped into this horrible fight between two girls at my school. Worst part of it was,

Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin, the authors of “Bullying Beyond the School Yards”, define cyber bullying as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices” (Hinduja 5). Cyber Bullying began when the use of electronic devices began, but it became more common when social networking sites were invented. Over the years, social networking has become a place where what people write is something they would never say in person. Because people have become so naïve of the power of their own words, feelings are hurt. Online, teens have an opening to indirectly say what they want and a lot of the time they are victimizing people and putting them down by either commenting or blogging about a person’s secrets or beginning hurtful rumors. This form of adolescent aggression can be given the term “social sabotage” and is most common among girls (Hinduja 93). Cyber bullying in some cases can be more hurtful than bullying itself because

Society is constantly revolutionizing through technological advances that are creating, changing and shifting the individuals who live in it, especially cyber bullying. With the rise in the use of technology, digital culture and anonymity, cyber bullying has become a prominent issue that can have negative psychological effects on its victims through the power of these technological advances. This new 21st century term is derived from standard physical bullying has become a prominent and revolving issue as cellphone, texting and social media sites take away one’s privacy by causing harmful psychological effects on its victims (Siegel, 2012).

Social media is a way a person can stay connected to the world by a click of a button. But with the privilege to have access to such advanced technology comes responsibility and those people who abuse the right and take advantage of others via social media. In today’s society cyber bullying is discussed in the realm of the action taking place and the effect that it has on a victim and how people can step in and make a change in the fight against bullying. Cyber bullying is using any electronic communication system to hurt, harm, or belittle someone in a threatening or shameful manner. This topic is of importance because this is very relevant for the teenage group. Discussing in details the death ratio resulting from being a victim of cyber bullying also finding actual stories of victims who have been through that nightmare of depression conveying the truth behind the horror. Bullying is a character killer, in order to raise awareness research equipped with professional insight and victim testimony will unveil the truths of this demon and show that web us is a privilege and people need not use and abuse it for self-entertainment disregarding people’s feelings. Cyber Bullying is all around the modern technological world and the little actions accumulate and the people of the community need to have the knowledge to react, counsel, and end bullying; speak up and stand up for what is right and just.

History has taught us that with advances in technology, there are inevitably abusive applications of it. The internet is no longer a way to only acquire information, researching, emailing, and entertainment purposes. Now that society accounts social networking as a means to communicate with users all around the world, individuals can now use these sites to launch viral and seemingly indefensible assault on one's peers. While name calling and bullying behaviors have always been an unfortunate aspect of childhood and adolescence, the misuse of social networking sites in today's society have served as a tool for bullying now defined as cyberbullying. Social networking sites create a negative atmosphere amongst adolescents in means to cyberbullying their fellow peers.

Bullying, or being bullied, was once thought of as a normal process of growing up that had little to no impact in life. Now, it has become lethal enough to even go as far to convince one to end their life or commit a felony. The action of bullying a person has increased not just physically but also through the cyberspace world. As the world’s internet continues to expand with more social media and entertainment pages like Facebook, WorldStarHipHop, video blogging website, music video promoters, television shows, TV cartoons, etc., nobody is safe from each other’s artistic craft of producing a positive or negative impact. Social media allows us to express ourselves without worrying much of the repercussion as an individual. It acts as a barrier to protect our well-being from the spotlight. In entertainment, bullying in a cartoon/prank, with the usage of offensive dialect that is often directed towards another character on screen, is considered as jokes with laughter even though each individual reacts differently on the same subject. In America today, pop culture encourages bullying in cyberspace and reality. It has become a subconscious trend that many (mostly young people) tend to promote for self-pleasure without realizing the amount of harm they are inflicting towards their victims.

Bullying is viewed as a part of “growing up” and it is publicly accepted that the bullying experience will only makes children stronger as they move towards adulthood. Over time bullying sends a negative message to a child that changes their mindset of ‘what is right and wrong way on handling situations’. This form of bullying is what leads to long-term violence with disregard as to how adolescents are affected and inevitable psychological effects. The bullying behavior is another form of harassment and is usually covered up by an authority or caregiver/caretakers since the adults fail to protect; report them or their behaviors. In the article, Children, adolescents, and the media it addressed the ongoing concerns and detrimental effects of social media messages and images on children. This article highlights how important it is to supervise your children when they are communicating with electronic sources since it can have a detrimental consequence on the child’s emotional and psychological state of mind and could lead to Cyber-Bullying. For instance, In the article, ‘Peer group pressure as a moderator of the relationship between attitude toward cyberbullying and cyberbullying behaviors on mobile instant messengers’., Shim, H., & Shin, E. (2016)., it addresses the attitudes that adolescents hold on Cyber-Bullying. The article highlights the