Social Media And Its Effects On Society Essay

The word 'bullying' has developed a very traditional definition amongst society: a face-to-face interaction involving either verbal abuse and/or physical abuse. With the technological advances that have occurred within the past 15 years, bullying has become anything but traditional. Children and teens have more access to the Internet and to social media platforms more than ever before, thus allowing them to avoid face-to-face interaction. Within the past 15 years, there has been a significant rise of cyberbullying in the youth demographic (ages 12-18) (Slonje, Smith, & Frisén, 2013). In order to understand what the difference between traditional bullying and cyberbullying is, one must familiarize themselves with the definition of cyberbullying.

1. Adams, Caralee. “CYBERBULLYING.” Instructor, Vol. 120 Issue 2, p2. MasterFILE Premier. Web. Fall2010. 15 Nov. 2010

(Moreau, Ryan. “Expert Thoughts on Cyberbullying.” It’s My Life blog. PBS Kids. 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 July 2015.)

Within the notion of cyberbullying, many tend to focus on the victims. Throughout the past ten years, there has been more research conducted regarding victims versus cyberbullies themselves (Slonje, Smith, & Frisén, 2013). This serves as a problem because in order to stop cyberbullying, one must understand why the cyberbully has decided to start cyberbullying, as well as understanding the process of which cyberbullies select their victims. These are two important aspects to research as the information obtained can help one identify the factors of why a person is cyberbullying, as well as understanding a cyberbully's motives. This research is also important as it will provide a better understanding on how to prevent cyberbullying.

We have yet to scratch the surface in the emerging field of Cyberpsychology, but one headache that seems to always find itself in the media is Cyberbullying.

Generations after generations teens have used the actions of bullying to hurt others they felt as a threat or to be in the “in crowd” of popularity. Traditional bullying was physical and thus confined to face-to-face contexts. However, with the development of widespread social interaction via social media websites, email, and text-messaging, teens have additional avenues of expression and, as a result, other means of bullying. Over time the bullying taking place using digital means has come to be known as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has brought the evilness out of teen’s actions, words, and thoughts whether they were the bully or the victim. Equally important, the ending results of these actions, words and thoughts have brought death,

Do you know what it is like to be called names, tortured about your interests, your hobbies, your preferences, or even your lifestyle? Have you ever experienced this kind of torment through social media, email, or even texting? It is called cyber bullying; “When someone repeatedly makes fun of another person online or repeatedly picks on another person through email, text messaging or when someone posts something online about another person that they don’t like” (Patchin). There are several different motives why someone may cyber bully. Three of the well-known reasons are jealousy, popularity, and home life. These motives will be discussed in this paper.

Research on bullying suggests that traditional bullying occurs between males and includes participation in physical acts, while females engage in more relational attacks. However, when it comes to cyberbullying, the gender that engages in this type of bullying more is less known. First and foremost, the article defines cyberbullying as “the willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell

Internet usage in children and adolescents has been increasing in a steadily fashion in the past number of years and with the increase in internet usage, a new form of bullying has developed – Cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can be defined as “the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person,” (Merriam-Webster, 2012). This form of bullying can come through various mediums including but not limited to text messages, emails, videos, and social networking sites. There is an overwhelming amount of information that defines cyber bullying, identifies the demographics of bullies and victims of cyber bullying, and identifies the outcomes of cyber bullying on victims. More focus needs to be placed on who the perpetrators

). Cyberbullying is a type of harassment that happens on and over technology. Cyberbullying is expressly defined as “any intentional, aggressive behaviors performed through electronic means (Bossler, Holt & Spellar, 2015). Cyberbullying is different from real-world or bullying in a physical confrontation in that the harassment is conducted over a technological devices such as the internet, phones (text messages), and digital media or in social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. When a person bullies someone online it is said to make it all the more tempting for the bully in that it “enhances the intimidation and makes tracing the activity more difficult. Some bullies also find it easier to be more vicious because there is no personal contact” (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, 2011). Some of the main characteristics of a cyberbully typology that Bossler, Holt and Spellar talked about were, Flaming: in which the online fighting begins and has a tendency to include offensive language. Denigration: the bully will begin to harm the victim’s “reputation, friendships or social positions” (Bossler, Holt & Spellar, 2015). Impersonation: making up fake online personas to “masquerade as that person” (Bossler, Holt & Spellar, 2015). Outing: the bully will tell anyone online about any personal details about the victim (such as their sexual orientation or who they are crushing on). Trickery: the bully will be a fake friend in order to gain valuable

I. Introduction – Cyberbullying is occurring all over the world, and it is slowly growing.

Over the past few decades, the use of technology has experienced a dramatic rise in use and complexity. As a result, electronic means of communication are now more readily available and accessible to all ages and social groups than ever before and social interactions that were once limited to the real world are now becoming an everyday part of the cyber landscape. One such interaction which has bloomed in recent years is that of cyber-bullying.

Ever since the beginning of time, there have been numerous problems in different societies for various reasons. Today, there is a new problem faced by our society called Cyberbullying. This problem was introduced to the world when the internet and social networks became part of most people’s daily lives. Although it is a new issue, Cyberbullying is very extensive and has already done a tremendous amount of damage. Cyberbullying is widespread because; first of all, most people around the world have access to the internet, secondly, the privacy level on the internet is very low; and last but not least, bullies feel much more comfortable bullying on the internet because they have the option to do it anonymously. Therefore, Cyberbullying is an increasing issue in today’s society that needs to be stopped before it causes more casualties than it already has.

One of the most widely studied aspects of cyberbullying is the different forms it takes. Hoff and Shariff (2007) note

For such a long time, physical bullying has been the largest problem schools and parents had to face with their children, but now another form of bullying has arisen; cyber bullying. In society today, teens are drawn cell phones, laptops, and other technological advancements. Social media is a way for many teens and adolescents to interact with one another and share countless happenings of their personal lives. Cyber bullying occurs when individuals use the internet to send or comment cruel and unnecessary messages to another. In its various forms cyber bullying includes, indirect and direct harassment, posting inappropriate pictures, impersonating another being, or just being plain cruel. Although anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying, improper use of the internet can further induce harassment, due to the adolescents desire to use modern day technologies. The harassers could be classmates, online “friends’’, or anonymous users. One barrier that is difficult to overcome is determining who is responsible for the attacks online, because many bullies hide behind fake usernames or profiles to protect their real identity, which is commonly known as “hiding behind a screen”. (Bonanno 2013). The motives for a cyber-bully are never clear, some might say