The Real Life Consequences Of Online Harassment

Bullying is one of the leading causes in teen suicide today. People bullied in the past or present have been studied and it has shown that they have a lower quality of life. Though they have a lower quality of life, the have better physical and mental health. (“Seaman” 1). Studies have shown that most bullying happens in middle school and high school. There is bullying in elementary school but it is minimal and less serious (“Bullying Statistics” 1). Most kids refuse to speak up while being bullied in fear that the bully will just taunt them more (“Cyber-Safety Act” 2). Bullying has become a very serious issue regarding our society today.

Bullying, by definition “is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance” (Stop Bullying). Bullying has quickly become a serious problem in schools, and it negatively impacts both the bully and the victim. Students who have been bullied even once in their lifetime have a higher risk of attempting suicide, and in general have lower self-esteem, causing them to have difficulty maintaining relationships. Bullies themselves also begin to harass their peers because they have been abused or uncared for by their own family. While it may seem bullying is just a normal part of the high school experience, victims of bullying can face many psychological problems. Bullying is not something that should be disregarded, but instead should be properly addressed so that children who are bullied can find the help they desperately need.

Students are often bullied because of their intellect, gender, sexual orientation and race. The victimization occurs on various social media and is then manifested physically. Students are afraid to inform school authorities for fear of retaliation and to uphold the “no snitching” rule. Maintaining power through anonymity is fuel for the perpetrator and continued fear for the victims. The initial thoughts of hate are birthed and continues to manifest via social media, peers and various individuals.

The issue were are looking at now is bullying. 1The definition of bullying is unwanted aggression from one person to another and it is repeated causes problems. An example of these problems would be self-harm. There are many ways of bullying. There is the type of bullying where one kid or a group of kids physically harass another person to a point where it cause problems. There is also cyber bullying. This is where anyone can get on the internet or any social media and say thing to other people. They don’t say these things to their face. 4The Harford County Examiner reported more than 1 in 3 students have threats given to them online. 4They also

“Nationwide, one out of four students from the ages twelve to eighteen have been bullied. That is twenty five percent to the teenage/young adult population and these numbers are continuously to rise every day” (Wassdorp, Bradshaw, and Leaf 116, 149-156). Bullying is the action of repeated harmful acts or harassing another in various forms. Many situations fall under one or even multiple of these categories: physical, verbal, indirect, and cyber. What this does is strips the victim down from their identity and leaves them to pity themselves for being the way they are. Bullying is an issue in this nation because it tears apart the teenage/young adult population, and it is causing an increase in risk of suicide among these groups. Bullying is

Most studies on bullying focus on the negative aspects, pointing to the extreme cases such as when the victim commits suicide. However, there is another side of the story (lead-in statements). Bullying can be beneficial, more so for the victim than the perpetrator (thesis). The perpetrator is playing into a predictable pattern of using power to seek social status and psychological control, or perhaps as a result of mental illness as Wente points out. Focusing too much on the reasons why bullies do what they do, researchers, parents, teachers, and children have forgotten to focus on the most important issue: how to turn bullying into a positive (stance). Bullying is not going away; it is something that adults do to each other and it seems to be built into social patterns and modes of communication universally. "The anti-bullying crusade has been around for years. Yet, kids still torment kids as much as ever even more than ever, now that they can do it around the clock in cyberspace," (Wente). Human nature is mean. By viewing bullying from the perspective of self-empowerment, it becomes possible to mitigate the many problems that bullying causes without resorting to useless interventions such as legislation, policies that are overly tough on bullies, or on assumptions about the victims. Bullying can be an opportunity for growth and maturity, for positive psychosocial development, and for self-esteem building (essay map).

The most important issue of bully always got away from the situations and did not gotten any noticed at all is because there will always bystanders choosing not to report or tell the authorities in charge (HuffingtonPost, 2014). The reason bystanders does not intervene is because they think that someone else instead of him or her will step in to stop the bullying (HuffingtonPost, 2014). Within the school compound, students believe that only adults are able to take full responsibility to intervene the bullying from happening as they feel that they do not have the power to do so (HuffingtonPost, 2014). However, almost all bullying cases occurs when adults are not present at that situations so the assailants are free to do whatever they want.

Recent studies show that the rate of adolescents committing suicide is rising, making this the third largest cause of death in the U.S. (Abbodanza). In high school, the percentage of adolescents that are depressed can range from 10 to 15% (Kulp). For students that are depressed it can have an ample effect on them when they are being bullied causing them to steer towards suicide (Holladay). Although some may argue that it is not the responsibility of schools to limit social interaction of students, schools should take actions to decrease the anxiety and depression caused by cyber bullying on social media, such as restricting students' Internet access to schoolwork related sites and providing counseling and support for victims. Being bullied has show that it interferes with scholastic development of school skills and general feelings (“Depression High Among...”).

As more and more children go to school, the rates of bullying go up as time goes by. there are many times at which students suffer all the bullying that occurs within their lives. As more schools become aware of the magnitude of the bullying occurring right under their noses, there are rules created to aid the victim. There are various types of bullying and these are created to do one thing, instill superiority among the “stronger” and place a feeling of inferiority. Bullies are the ones who are detrimental to a child’s development.

(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

Cyber Bullying can cause severe and serious damage, it can lead to depression, anxiety and even as far as suicide as it was mentioned. The worst part is that this phenomena cannot be stopped or even controlled all the way beacuse it all mainly happens online. Internet is a vast world that can easily lure vulnerable people such as teens into a black hole that it is sometimes to detach oneself from. « Over half

These days bullying isn’t just taking place at school on the playground, or in the hallways, it is taking place online. Today, and in recent years kids and young teens will only face more and more bullying as things evolve with social media, things like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are only going to become increasingly popular and new platforms will be made as well. Bullying affects people so much that it can

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

One of the grimmest, ongoing issues present within all latter-day educational institutions and public facilities is the problem and complications of a recently reinvigorated phenomenon: bullying. Bullying can be defined—and entails—as any of the broad gamut of aggressive, intimidating, and/or negative behaviours that are expressed on behalf of an individual or group towards one or more other people who consequently experience forms of mistreatment and associated sentiments of pain (this behaviour is generally associated with young adults and children). Albeit many younger students have neglected the genuine importance of this issue as a result of many unrealistic, specious clichés and stereotypes present within the media coupled with feelings of nonchalance and lethargy, the problem of bullying has only been aggravated through the inception of the Internet and the concomitant repercussion of cyberbullying: “2 in 5 parents report their child has been involved in a cyberbullying

Many people have had situations with bullies and some even being the bully themselves. With the use of social media and cellphones bullying has become worse. Not only do children deal with bullies at school but now deal with them at their own home. The behavior is repeated or can be repeated over time. With technology becoming more advanced, Cyber bullying has become the new way of bullying.It has become more easier to bully those without letting the victim know it's them. With bullying increasing it has become an increasingly worrisome health concern, as bullying has a long effect on physical and mental distress that can lead to suicide thoughts or actions. Lawmakers need to make laws to help those who are victims of bullying.