Social Media and Cyberbullying Essay

Cyberbullying didn’t really seem like a big deal at first until technology really advanced all across the world. The 1990’s is when the technology ship really set sail. As of 2004, 45% of americans owned their very own cell phone. As of now, 77% of Americans now own cell phones. Now, nearly seven-in-ten americans now use social media and that is where the bullying starts. In 2005, only 5% of

In addition to raising general awareness of bullying at school, something must also be done to address the rising trend of bullying in the digital world. In the past, bullying primarily occurred in person. There were no other avenues for this victimization to take place. However, with the rise of digital

In 2014, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) did a study on bullying and the found that 19.4% of all the students interviewed had been bullied at school. This may not seem very surprising, bullying has been going on for decades. Generations of men and women have come to fear the people who walk the halls, stealing lunch money from those weaker than them. However, it is interesting to note that 14.8% of that 19.4% had reported being cyber bullied. Unlike the standard physical bullying, cyberbullying is a slightly more recent development, but it has evolved to become much more deadly. It gives bullies a better tool for creating more widespread pain. The awareness for cyber bullying needs to increase and ultimately, cyberbullying needs to be abolished completely due to its destructive capabilities.

“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

In the United States, 23% of teens, in a study, reported being targeted by cyberbullying (Pappas). Once someone is singled out by a bully, different peers will know that the person is a target, and they will join in the bullying against that particular child. The number of adolescents being directly affected by cyberbullying has grown everyday. As more adolescents get involved with technology, unfortunately more of them have felt the need to get involved with other peers in a negative manner. Without finding a root cause to stop it, children and teens can be affected by serious and sometimes fatal mental health illnesses. According to a study, more than 15% of children said that they were either being cyber bullied or they were the target of some aspect of cyberbullying. (Ockerman, Kramer, and Bruno). As a result, whether children are bullying or being bullied, the numbers are increasing. This has the possibility to dig America in another hole that it does not need to be in, with adolescents being horribly affected every day. Cyberbullying worsens the mental health of children ages 12-18 in the United States. Online abuse worsens the mental health of adolescents by increasing

Approximately 20% of the students in the sample report from the cyberbullying research center experience cyberbullying in their lifetime. When asked about specific types of cyberbullying in the previous 30 days, mean or hurtful comments (13.7%) and rumors spread (12.9%) online continue to be among the most commonly-cited. Seventeen percent of the sample reported being cyberbullied in one or more of the nine types reported, two or more times over the course of the previous 30 days (Cyberbullying Research Center, 2012).

Bullying is the buzzword of education in the early 21st century. It 's new, it 's hot, it 's everywhere from CNN to church homilies. Cyberbullying is considered an especially sexy topic, and is blasted across just about every television channel, social networking site, message board, and education manual. It is so overstated that its mention has become like the white noise of a refrigerator humming in the background of our existence. With as much saturation as it has in the media, it is easy to give cyberbullying an eye-rolling dismissal. However, that would be a mistake. Although cyberbullying might suffer from being numbingly overstated, it is not overrated, and should be taken very seriously.

Bullying has always affected teens and children in some form or another, but in modern times, with the advent of the internet and social networking, we have the first generations of young people facing a much more insidious assailment: cyberbullying. It is one much stronger than what traditional bullying once was, and poses problems of greater magnitude. For victims, this fairly new entity of social aggression has them facing substantially greater intimidation and emotional harm. Several issues even arise in protecting these victims.

This study investigates some of the different behaviors that are portrayed by cyberbullies, and whether or not cyberbullying is another main type of bullying. Cyberbullying is defined as aggression that occurs through modern technological devices, and specifically mobile phones or the internet (Slonje, R. & Smith P.K. 2008). “Bullying” is often defined as being an aggressive, intentional act or behavior that is carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself” (Whitney & Smith, 1993; Olweus, 1999). Cyberbullying is simply another form of traditional bullying, just with the satisfaction of anonymity and convenience. However, cyberbullying has recently surfaced within the past decade, as technology became modernized.

Over the span of ten years 15,000 middle and high school students have been surveyed on cyberbullying. Out of that 15,000 students 3750 of them have been victims of cyberbullying in their life, 1350 were in the last 30 days of being surveyed. Also 2400 admitted to cyberbullying another person, and 900 of them were in the last 30 days. These numbers are incredible too high considering cyberbullying victims are twice as likely to commit suicide as traditional bullied victims according to a study conducted by Sameer Hinduja co-author and founder of the Cyberbullying Research Center. Another study conducted by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation showed that children age’s eight to 18 access to technology has increased drastically since 1999. “Today, 93% of children ages 8 to 18 have computers at home, 66% have cell phones, and 76% own another multimedia device, such as an iPod” (Holladay, Jennifer). This proves that victims of

Cyberbullying is becoming more of an issue than traditional bullying because of social media. Social media gives kids the opportunity to bully others and not get caught because they are hiding behind a screen. "Bullying among teens in the United States had become an increased problem since the invention of the Internet only several decades ago. Teens use their access to the internet to target other teens that might have emotional struggles already. Bullies use social networking sites, such as Facebook, to send off bad messages about their peers for everyone acquainted with the bully to see. The harsh comments eventually end up in person at school, making it an environment the victim can not learn in." (Lindsey, para. 1) Most people do no report that they are getting bullied so

Cyber bullying is any form of bullying that takes place over the internet, whether via texts, twitter or other forms of social media. Approximately 52% of children have reported being cyber bullied at one point, or another*. While this number may not seem catastrophic, this statistic is based only on the instances of cyber bullying that have been reported. The reality is that there are many more children who have been cyber bullied, and did not tell anyone that it was happening to them. Another likelihood is that some victims have simply overlooked the bullying projected towards them via the internet. Given the amount of time that children spend texting, on Facebook, or on other social media websites, the likelihood of children experiencing cyber bullying, reported or not, is high.

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.

In a survey done in 2016, Cyberbullying.org asked 5,700 students how many of them have been cyber bullied in their lifetime, 34 percent said that they had been bullied at some point in their lifetime. That is over 1900 kids who have been bullied at some point. 1900 kids have felt out of place for so many different reasons. Technology has advanced tremendously within the last 10 years. With the growth of technology along comes the growth of cyber bullying. As new social media platforms are being made, people are finding ways to others that they go to school with. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are feeding grounds for these bullies to verbally attack others. Together we need to find a way to limit the amount of bullying that goes on throughout the world, every bit of effort we put in might be able to help save someone’s life.

In 2010, the Cyberbullying Research Center stated that 20 percent of students said they had been cyberbullied. The same amount of students admitted they had cyberbullied. Other researches have had the amount of victims at 40 percent. In 2016, 34 percent. While it’s true that some cyberbullying happens just at home, some of it can happen at school if schools are not careful. WIthout having social media in schools, schools can have a more stress free environment that schools with social networking allowances do