Teens as Victims of Cyberbullying

About a month into summer vacation, I was on the phone with another friend. Suddenly, notifications popped up on my phone, from a random person saying, “Eww, everyone in this picture is pretty except for you, kill yourself,” and other horrible things. When looking into solutions and consequences, I found nothing that could help me, and I felt alone. Teens and even adults are becoming bullies behind computer screens with nobody and no rules to stop them. However, when addressing cyberbullying it is important to understand what it is, how it affect the person being bullied, what laws are there pertaining to both bullying and cyberbullying in the U.S, why people believe cyberbullying should not have

Cyberbullying is an everyday situation for teenagers around the world. Many teenagers suffer from bullies that are treating them badly and differently than other people. Individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media because of the impact that it has on the victim. The cyberbully should be prosecuted because of how the victim reacts to the situation, how the bully harrasses them, and how it spreads around the internet.

With the internet and mobile phones being an everyday feature in most peoples lives this has opened the door to a new type of bulling known as cyber bullying. Children who have been bullied at school could at one time come home and get away from their tormentors but now with such technologies available there is the all too unfortunate reality of their problems coming home with them in the form of texts, emails and abuse through other websites.

Cyber Bullying is defined by the National Crime Prevention Council as - "when the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person" (National Crime Prevention Council).

Every day, millions of people roam the internet. There has been much discussion on whether or not people should be prosecuted for cyber bullying. I believe that they should. Although many think that prosecution affects the first amendment, cyber bullying promotes getting hurt, affects the targets life, and promotes depression.

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.

Cyberbullying has been a big problem for teens and adults around the world. Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. For most cyberbullying isn’t anything serious it’s just a person just joking around or just speaking their mind but its more than that its feelings being involved families being broken even hearts.

School is a place where you can learn, fraternize and feel safe. Well sometimes children and young adults do not feel that way at all, some kids have to deal with being physically harassed at school. Nowadays the bullying isn’t just occurring at school, it’s also occurring online in the privacy of their own home. The Internet is the main contributor because now kids go on social networks and blog sites, which, is one of their main forms of communication because they are apart of the computer age. Scott Meech’s article “Cyber-bullying Is Worse than Physical Bullying” and Amanda Lenhart’s article “Cyber-bullying Is Not Worse than Physical Bullying” both discuss why they believe one form of bullying is worse than the other. Although both

Part I focuses on the “recent emergence of cyber-bullying and its devastating effects on minors” (220), Part II discusses “why current laws fail to protect victims” (220), and Part III discusses “how to criminalize the act of cyberbullying” (220). I found this article in particular to be very useful because it poses a detailed examination of the types of laws in place regarding bullying and why they need to be updated. It also specifically talks about the failure of schools and courts to effectively punish cyberbullying as a crime because of First Amendment issues, “Schools face the challenge of balancing the rights of students, while judges face the challenge of balancing the First Amendment right to free speech” (237). Lastly, this article lists many case examples of students who have fallen martyrs to cyberbullying or experienced the serious short-term or long-term effects that

People who are involved in this or have started a conflict with someone over the internet are called cyber bullies. Cyber bullies harass teens and kids online by saying rude or nasty things about them. Three out of four cyber bullies do this to feel powerful and the other one fourth say that they do it for fun. The bullies start rumors about their victims and if their victim posts a bad or inappropriate picture then the bully will pounce on the chance to make their life hell. Sometimes the bully will get other people or students to join in on the harassment, just making things two times worse. The bullies do not care how bad their victim’s life is. This has caused suicide and some of the bullies will still say that they do not care or that they “deserved it” . In the United States, 42% of teens and kids have been cyberbullied and one in every four have had it happen more than once in their lives. “21% of victims have received threatening e-mails or messages online or over text”(Scholastic).

To deny the existence of bullying throughout the nation, especially within the brick walls of school, is to be ignorant. Bullying is a huge issue that is evident in may schools throughout America. Seventy percent of students throughout schools in America have said that they have witnessed bullying. A total of forty-nine percent of student in grades 4-12 have reported getting bullied at least once a month. Parents have to constantly worry about their child getting picked on while at school. One out of every four students, equalling to around twenty percent, are bullied every year. Around fifty-five million children throughout the United States are attending school this year, many whom are getting bullied.

When it comes to bullying, there are some invisible boundaries and limits that are set, however, on the internet there are no laws let alone limits and thus, cyber bullying is quite an eminent problem that should be discussed about more often. Cyberbullying is a form of bullying through the use of technology. In the past few years, there have been laws created against bullying, making it a lot harder for bullies to do what they want, in result the media came along and that’s when the bullies took advantage. It is unfortunate that kids are vulnerable even in a place where they should feel safe, which is at their home. With how easy and simple it is to

Did you know that over 43% of kids have admitted that they’ve been bullied online? Even more admitted that they have witnessed it. Cyber bullying is a big issue in America, and it needs to be stopped. There are many problems related to cyber bullying that can last a lifetime, if not taken care of. These affect schoolwork, friendships, relationships, and attitude. America needs to stop this, so we can provide a better future for our teens.

To conclude, no one should have to face prosecution for what they say online because bullying isn’t illegal in real life, people have the right to speak freely, and people should be allowed to decide who they interact with

Bullying is a bad thing but the worst of all the types of bullying is cyber bulling, it is a terrible weapon that can destroy someone's life and reputation. Cyber bullying is a part of bullying in which a person torments or harasses other people in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner, with technology. It has had a much greater effect on the world more than the traditional way of bullying.