The Negative Nature Of Social Networking And The Internet

Is cyberbullying an old problem with a new disguise? Bullying in the real world has been around for a seemingly endless amount of time. Due to the rise of technology in society today, bullying in the cyber world, also known as cyberbullying, has erupted. Cyberbullying can be defined as using technology, such as the Internet, social media, and text messages, to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person (Hirsch). According to 11 Facts About Cyberbullying, nearly eighty-three percent of teens believe bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person. This shows that cyberbullies use online networks to camouflage themselves from reality. Cyberbullying is emotionally abusive to the victim’s mental health because the scars imprinted from the cruel remarks sent through text messages and posted throughout social media are bound to forever impact one's life.

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.

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

Social media is the ultimate platform for bullies. Using social media, perpetrators can bully their victims to the point of anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, suicidal ideations and in some cases to the committal of the suicidal act. Cyberbullying is defined as the deliberate repetition of hostility toward a group or persons with the intent to induce psychological, emotional, or physical harm through the use of digital communication (Niels, Menno, et. Al, 2013). A study conducted in 2014, stated that nearly 75% of school age youth have been the victim of cyberbullying (Giumetti, Kowalski, et al., 2014).

“I wanted to say bye… for, like, ever” (Abigail Pesta). Those were the last words Rebecca Sedwick texted to her two middle school friends before jumping to her death. This is one of many cases where bullying has been a common cause of death especially for young adolescents. A statistic from bullyingstastics.org states that 1 in 3 adolescents have experienced cyber threats online. Based on the research, now with advanced technology and social media sites, cyberbullying is a growing concern today. There is no federal anti-bullying law, but every state has their own laws. With each cyberbullying case being unique, defining this recent phenomenon can be challenging. This paper will look to address the issues behind cyberbullying, ways it can be stopped, and a universal definition that can be applied to these hateful acts.

Bullying is of various types: first is the verbal bullying, that includes teasing, threatening, inappropriate commenting based on a person’s appearance or sexual orientation. Second is physical bullying which includes hurting or attacking someone or someone’s possessions. The third type of bullying is Social bullying which includes damaging someone’s reputation. Cyber bullying is a form of social bullying that occurs on social media, online forums and through texting or gaming. It includes the use of digital devices such as cell phones, computers etc. According to the statistics from the 2015 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 16% of high school students had experienced cyber bullying in the past 12 months. My goal in this paper is to discuss the causes and effects of cyber bullying, and to create a digital awareness among parents and teachers to prevent the cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is an online harassment of children by others. The works of Patchin, Shariff, and Willard, all prominent researchers in the study of cyberbullying. They found issues related to cyberbullying that can be understood. Most cyberbullying instances happen at home and is often brought to the school campus. School systems are left unsure of how to response to the bullying while balancing legal and ethnic responsibilities. Students across the nation are being bullied online and are bringing to school the residual effects of these personal attacks The issues include traditional bullying, teen social media use and cyberbullying. The issue of cyberbullying cannot truly be addressed unless it is approached reactively. It has become increasingly evident that the Internet has brought to our campuses another threat to student safety. It has come to the point where school districts have zero tolerance policies against bullying to case of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying by federal and state statue definition includes “bullying or harassment by use of an electronic communication device.”

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,

Online users are bullied on social media sites. In “The Dangers of Cyberbullying“, author Christopher B. Davison describes cyberbullying as an agressive, intentional act distributed by an individual or group, using contact in an electronic medium continously and relentlessly against someone else who can’t stand up for their rights (Davison 595). Technology affects bullying in a lot of different forms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or any other form of online communication. Kovalski and Limber discovered that instant messaging (66.6%) is used most frequently for cyberbullying (598). With the increasing use of the internet cyberbullying is likely to be a growing problem. Lenhart found that 68% of students use the Internet during schoolhours for bullying actions(596). Additionally adolescents use the internet 17 hours on average, with some spending up to

As one of the most important innovations of the 21st Century, social media is where the most harassment and abuse can be found. A study conducted by The Cyberbullying Research Center shows that out of 15,000 teenagers across 80 secondary schools, 24% have been cyberbullied. That may not seem like much, but it is a staggering 3,600 teenagers, and that is only what the survey covered - it does not account for the whole teenage population. Another big problem with cyber bullying is not that it is happening, it is that many kids do not think that the adults that may be able to help or do not really care much. In an article by Jessica Priest, an award winning journalist for The Victoria Advocate, a high school student that had been cyber bullied recently due to her role in a school play was interviewed. What she had to say was rather disheartening; "It 's just really hurtful, and I don 't understand why people have to be so mean … I just don 't think the teachers really care. It 's social media, and they just don 't

There is a lot of bullying that goes on in this world, a majority of it being cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a constant problem with young kids on social media. Cyberbullying is a risk for anyone, “Cyberbullying is deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most common online risk for all teens and is a peer-to-peer risk” (AAP). Nonetheless, bullying is always going to happen and cyberbullying allows it to happen

Cyberbullying cannot remain denied as an issue in schools, at home, and in neighborhood communities because research displays that bullying causes an increase in suicide and incident rates. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts and over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, with almost 7 percent already attempting it (“Bullying and Suicide,” 1). According to Bullying Statistics, over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have engaged in cyber bullying (Cyberbullying Statistics, 1). As an observation of these statistics, this means that almost every child will be a friend or bystander of a bullied victim, a bully, or a victim of bullying themselves if the issue does not raise awareness to be prevented. There are no benefits by harassing a student because of the way they look, smell, or nationality. no punishment to perpetrators, and fear of bullies by bystanders are the reason why cyberbullying should be prohibited in the United States of America.

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).

Bullying has always been a prevalent issue among society, especially within adolescence. However, cyberbullying in specific, is becoming more intense and harmful as the use technology increases. Unfortunately, bullies target those who are different among society, such as individuals who are different in race, religion, language, and sexual orientation. Bullying is no longer stemmed from school and left there, kids are bringing these unnecessary things home with them through the use of social media. These behaviors from bullies are preventing the victims to exceed their full potential in school, extra-circular activities, and being who they are in general. Now that most individuals use social media, they are able to see who is being

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