The Responsibility that Comes with Modern Information and Communication Technolgy

The beginning of the digital age began in 2002 opening its door to a new way of life and adding new problem to society. It not only affects one as an individual by wasting their valuable time lock on a digital monitor, but it has also disconnected society. Consequently, children and even adults have taken their own life from the pressures of this new habit that empower them. Being connected to the internet throughout a digital device, like a cell phone or a computer has lure individuals to a screen, rather than empathizing with other. Creating a lack of empathy and moral behavers. Bullying has evolved to cyberbullying and is the newest form of children showing power over another this is mostly done online through social media, texting and/or

Social media itself is a huge danger to society. It causes many suicides within the world because of the cyberbullying and spreading of rumors. “Recent studies have shown that one out of four teens have been the victims of cyberbullying and one out of six have admitted to having cyberbullied someone” (Trautner 1). The internet and social media is supposed to be used to communicate with friends and for searching information, “Kids use technology different than their parents do. Sometimes it is hard for adults to understand that this can even be a possibility” (Trautner 1). It is not supposed to be used to bully someone, especially not to the point where the victim would think about suicide. “One of the statistics that has been highlighted within this news coverage is the threefold increase in the suicide rate for girls ages 10 to 14. The rates for girls in this age group increased from 0.5 to 1.5 per 100,000 during this time period. The increases for boys in this age group were not as high, climbing from 1.9 per 100,000 during 1999 to 2.6 per 100,000 in 2014” (Olsen

Rebecca Sedwick, a 12-year-old girl, committed suicide after being repeatedly cyberbullied by 15 girls for many months. Once again, cyberbullying through social media has led to the suicide of a child. (“Phillips, Suzanne”) Social media allows hundreds of ways to communicate with others with electronic devices. Sometimes communicating with strangers, and sometimes unanimous. This idea of constant messages, notifications, and texts can be very dangerous when it comes to cyberbullying because the victim feels like they have no way out, or nowhere to hide. Social media for kids and teens ultimately has only negative effects because it leads to cyberbullying, a decrease in education, and suicide.

Just like the creature in Frankenstein, Social media has damaged and killed many people in its path. Social media has become a feeding ground for cyberbullying which has now become the leading cause of depression, substance abuse, and pre-adolescence suicide in the United States today. Cyber bullying is any aggressive act repeatedly causing harm to another through websites, blogs, emails, texting, social networks, photographs, video games, etc. Cyber bullying isn’t just peer to peer bullying, Americas youth is being bullied by the companies who sponsor these apps themselves. These companies are contributing to the mental health issues such as depression caused by forced body images and low self-esteem. Both parties are doing this by using Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and many other apps where most of teens today

Initially, social media is commonly used as a weapon to attack others on their opinions or simply because they despite other people. For instance, cyber bullying has caused huge problems ever since social networks have started becoming popular. “Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online. 1 in 4 has had it happen more than once,” (“11 Facts about Cyber Bullying” www.dosomething.org). This is more targeted at teenagers and children because they are unaware of the harmful things they might say over the internet. To illustrate, cyber bullying can become a very serious issue when a minor commits suicide. “Bully-related suicide can be connected to any type of bullying, including . . . cyberbullying, and sexting, or circulating suggestive . . . about a person” (“Cyber Bullying & Social Bullying” http://www.bullyingstatistics.org). It’s the parent’s duty to filter the internet. Based on this information, social media is not necessarily safe, anyone can become a victim

The common technological tool, social media has introduced many more dangers to the world. Some of the dangers included internet scamming, online predators and cyberbullying. In Magliano study, he gathered information about the amount of people who have experience cyberbullying on social media, 38% of people experienced cyberbullying on Facebook, 45% on Twitter and !3% on Instagram. Many people especially teen who are active on social media and are cyberbullied fall into depression. Some even take their own lives

Societal norms in the United States in terms of adolescents utilizing the Internet once as an additional source of communication has become the primary mode of communication. Today, “92% of teens proclaim they go online daily to check popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter among others” (Lenhart 1). The alteration from physical communication to online communication has exposed a dangerous interaction for social relationships known as cyberbullying. In order to understand cyberbullying, it is critical to understand traditional bullying. Traditional bullying thrives off on aggressive behavior that is repetitive and involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Cyberbullying is a form of violence predominantly seen in teens that has the potential to lead to long-term harm. It involves the use of technology such as cell phones and the Internet with the primary objective of

As of 2016, suicide has replaced homicide as the second-leading cause of death among U.S. teenagers because of social media bullying. Social media has taken a significant toll on our society, one that affects millions of students around the globe. Every day, online platforms are gaining in popularity. So much that study now shows that the average person spends more time each day on their phone and computer than they do sleeping! While social media offers some benefits in regards to education and relationships, the risks of cyberbullying, social anxiety and identity theft far outweigh these advantages.

Bullying has increased drastically because of technology. The power of the media has influenced the lives of many Americans negatively. With a touch of a finger away, Social Media’s such as Snapchat and Instagram have allowed people to not use them in a positive way. Cyberbullying is a resulting factor. People use those media platforms to bring people’s self-esteem down. People who use these trendy network platforms allows people to help spread gossip and rumors anonymously. People who get bully among these social media platforms have a greater risk of committing suicide and self-harm. Technology has made it much easier for people to bully using electronic devices.

With the widespread presence of teen suicides, parents can 't help but wonder and worry, but they never find out where the child’s depression came of. A review of data collected between 2004 and 2010 via survey studies indicated that “lifetime cyberbullying victimization rates ranged from 20.8% to 40.6% and offending rates ranged from 11.5% to 20.1%” (PubMed Central) There are several specific ways that social media can increase the risk for the suicidal behavior. Cyber bullying and cyber harassment are serious and prevalent problems, as “approximately 2000 middle school children that indicated that victims of cyberbullying were almost two times as likely to attempt suicide than those who were not” (PubMed Central). Although cyberbullying cannot be identified as the only factor for suicide between teenagers, it increases the risk by intensifying feelings of isolation, instability, and hopelessness. According to the recent study, “approximately 43% of the students report experiencing cyberbullying during their lifetime, and 15% of students admitted to cyberbullying others during their lifetime” (Patchin, 2015). There are even more statistics showing how cyber bullies affect teenagers’ emotion and push them to self-destruction. Nowadays, social media has created virtual

(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

Cyberbullying is a growing problem among the teen population. The abuse that is taking place online has a much more far reaching effect than physical bullying, since it is available to a much larger audience. It has the ability to cause serious psychological effects on teens that could lead to depression and possible suicide. The reason for this, is because a teen’s self-esteem and self-worth relies so heavily on the approval and acceptance of their friends and peers. The best way to work towards eliminating this problem is to petition the state government to enact a bill making cyberbullying against the law. In this digital

Despite the positives, there are many negatives associated with social media. Using social media can make a person more vulnerable to predators and cyber bullying. In this age, “Cyber bulling is quite common, can occur to any young person online, and can cause profound psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and tragically suicide” (“American Academy of Pediatrics”). Cyber bullying impacts society in a negative way because it is harming young teenagers’ minds. Bullies, torment, threat, harass, and even embarrass their victims by using different forms of social media. Using social media can also decrease privacy for an individual. People often give out their personal information not knowing who can see it. To average internet users, “A false sense of security may leave social networking site users vulnerable to security attacks such as hacking, leaking sensitive information, and sending viruses” (“ProCon”). Furthermore, Social media can also lead to brain disorders and can cause people to have a hard time interacting with people face to face. “Social networking entices people to spend more time online and less time talking to a person face to face.” (“ProCon”)

The internet and social media has opened so many doors for our generation. Thousands of resources are at our fingertips that 30 years ago would seem impossible. However, as the old saying goes ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ Scrolling through Instagram you will most likely find images of people with ‘perfect’ bodies in swimsuits. It is very easy to compare your body to these images and not feel confident about yourself. Now put yourself in a young teenager’s perspective, looking at all these images. Their main question might be “Why don’t I look like that?” This raises an issue for teenagers to be more likely to not be comfortable in their skin, have lower self-esteem, and body shame themselves. Another issue with social media is the anxiety that can come from it. Today it is apparent that most teenagers using social media platforms tend to be worrying about the color scheme of their profile, number of likes and how fast they show up, their following ratio, regulating the number of posts on their, number of followers, number of retweets and many more anxieties. In a weird way, it can be easier to make fun of someone or bully someone behind a screen and not right to their face. This raises another version of bullying known as cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is the most common online risk for teenagers and adolescence (O’Keeffe 801). Researchers have found signs of depression from the use of social media (802). From repeated and extended use of social media

There are so many teenagers and young adults that go on the internet and bully others to make themselves feel better. According to Nancy E. Willard, a lawyer and the founder of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, “Teenagers think that because they can do it, that makes it right” (Schulten). Social media is a huge factor in cyberbullying. So many teenagers can see, post, or read posts from others harassing people, trying to make bullying look ‘popular’ and ‘funny.’ For example, Katherine Schulten, an author of a New York Times article, “students are encouraged by Facebook and Twitter to put every thought and moment online, and as they sacrifice their own privacy to the altar of connectedness, they worry less about the privacy of others” (Schulten).