Cyberbullying: The Tool That Is Shaping American Society

Bullying occurs every day due to social pressures, cultural insensitivity, and learned behaviors during formative years, and therefore is a pervasive issue that affects both the bully and the bullied, causing self-esteem issues, mental health problems, delay of social skills, and should be addressed and prevented by parents. Bully is a very widespread problem and affect many individuals, especially students. One out of every five students report being bullied (Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center, 2016). Victims must learn to stand up for themselves. Consequences need to be required when it comes to bullying.

In some instances, cyberbullies have used these and other mediums to post potentially embarrassing photos or videos of their victims online for everyone to see” (Differences…, 1). Bullying has become an increasing problem because of the use of technology as a means of bullying in addition to the traditional type that many people are used to. The effects of cyberbullying can be extremely devastating to teenagers, as stated in the following quote, “Cyberbullying can be so serious that it has resulted in teen suicide” (Teens and Technology 1). Teenagers who are bullied on the internet are several times more likely to commit suicide than those who are not cyberbullied. Cyberbullying is not the only dangerous effect of technology on

The days in which young people were able to get away from negative influences and bullying are over. According to stopbullying.gov, “Digital devices offer an ability to immediately and continuously communicate twenty-four hours a day, so it can be difficult for children experiencing cyberbullying to find relief.” Teen suicide rates have skyrocketed due to the residual effects of cyberbullying. Sydney L. Brunecz states, “Cyberbullying has become an epidemic in today's society. Cyberbullying has escalated so much that some victims commit suicide in order to escape their tormentors.”

Bullying is a phenomenon existing as long as humans exist. The fact that it didn’t have a name for years doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a widespread way of behavior, in cases where two different types of people were involved ; the strong and the weak ones. Although bullying is considered as a form of aggression, or in some cases as an infringement of the human rights, “bullying is commonly regarded as an aspect of aggression”. (Roland and Idsoe, 2001), there are significant differences between them , the most important of which that “bullying is different from peer conflict. It is conflict between individuals that do not share equal physical and / or psychological power.

This study proved that given the amount of time that adolescents are on computers unsupervised whether it be at home or in public libraries those who cyberbully are most often the ones that were prior victims to cyberbullying themselves. This study would benefit in research for “affects cyberbullying has on adolescents because it gives reasons to why cyberbullying bully in the first place. Although with was full of useful information it would have been more beneficial to monitor social media sites that the kids were using verses how long the kids were on the internet. In doing so, it would have supported their theory of cyberbullies being vicitam of bullying as

When questioned about mental and physical bullying, 89.3% of physical bullying victims were boys, while 67.1% of mental bullying victims were girls” (335). Whether it’s face to face or over social media, it shows that over half the girls are being bullied psychologically. This raises great concern for these victims because in some cases according to bullying criteria intervention is over looked. In another survey, Greenwald confirms, “36.9% reported they have been a victim of verbal bullying, 32.1% rumor spreading, 25.8% social exclusion, 13.2% physical bullying and 10.1% cyber bullying”

A victim of bullying writes ”They tell me to leave and that I am not wanted, Not there, not anywhere…. My eyes drowning in a sea of emotion Another piece of me chiseled away by their cruel remarks and perceptions … I give up”, which was found after the young girl had committed suicide written by Goad Jim, “15 Bullying Cases with Tragic Ends” Thought Catalog”

An article published by BBC News UK states that almost one out of five children have at some point experienced to be bullied online. These dangers are only som of many dangers youths may have to deal with in the world because of the technology. Despite of the dangers to brows the internet, the web can also be a great source for information and pleasure, but it is important to know the risks as well. Just because there are some dangerous things about the web.

Are you aware of the possible consequences of cyberbullying?

Moreover, bullying is not limited to a specific nation, rather is experienced in every single country around the world. In fact, “In the 2016 UNICEF U-Report/SRSG-VAC opinion poll on the experience of bullying 100,000 young people in 18 countries reported being bullied because of their physical appearance, gender or sexual orientation and their ethnicity or national origin.” In U.S alone, “the most common forms of bullying are: verbal insults, name calling and nicknames; hitting, direct aggression and theft; and threats, spreading rumours and social exclusion or isolation.” Unfortunately, teenagers and children, even below the age of 10, are the majority victims of bullying, and the most common ground for bullying are shockingly the educational institutions like in a school’s bathroom, locker rooms, or any place where administration cannot witness it. Bullying has no limits: it may mean calling someone inappropriate words regarding gender or sexuality, taking impolite pictures or videos of the inferior, or physically abusing by throwing mud or pushing at the

Bullies are free to torment their victims via text messages, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to name a few. Schools have an inherent responsibility to create an atmosphere that is safe for all students. If the schools do not provide a positive environment bullying runs rampant and this can have unfavorable effects to a student’s psyche as well as how the victim interacts in the classroom environment. When an individual is bullied they try to find ways to avoid the bullying situation. They may fake a sickness to stay home or even drop out of school altogether.

Bullying is a widespread problem in our schools and communities and has a negative impact on students’ right to learn in a safe and secure environment without fear. It is a process in which one person repeatedly uses his/her superior strength or influence to mistreat, attack or force another person to do something (Van der Werf, 2014). Bullying or peer victimization is now recognized as a complex and pervasive problem (Beran, 2009). It is an ongoing problem that is not restricted by age, race, gender or class. This behavior generally takes one of four forms, physical such as assault, verbal which involves threats or insults, social which entails exclusion or rumor spreading, and cyber which includes aggressive texts or social network posts

Imagine an unpopular student, getting bullied and picked on at school. Going home after a long day feels like a blessing for that child. However, upon turning on their phone, they realize it has been bombarded with cruel messages and images. The constant messages are having a harmful effect on the student’s well-being, and they are trapped in a never-ending loop of bullying. Some argue cyberbullying is not a ‘real’ problem, however, cyberbullying is a significant issue that needs to be prevented because it commonly affects youth, it leads to physical injuries, and it causes psychological harm.

Cybercide Meet Ryan Halligan, a sweet and gentle thirteen year old who was ridiculed and humiliated by peers online. His friends spread many embarrassing rumors about him and they spread quickly, and eventually led him to suicide. Things like this happens to millions of children around the world and these kids suffer from embarrassing pictures, mean texts, and horrifying social media posts. Cyberbullying is a major online issue, so Cyberbullying is much worse than face to face bullying. First, cyberbullying is anonymous so it is much more da`maging to the victim for several reasons.

They can use any methods which may cause terrible damage for the sufferers’ mind, just to diminish the social status of whom they are bullying. In general, the goal to be achieved is raising and spreading their own power and dishonoring the others. Lastly, the motivation of online bullying is to ease the boredom. It may not surprising that the minority of perpetrators see this cruelty as the source of entertainment and others are too cowed to protest.