Category: Cyber Bullying

Internet or online harassment is one of the kinds of cyber bullying. It is usually the use of the internet to harass, threaten, or maliciously embarrass the victim. It can engage behaviors such as, encouraging others to send the victim unsolicited and/or threatening emails or to overwhelm the victim with email messages, spreading rumors, sending negative messages directly to the victim, harassing the victim during a live chat or video call, leaving abusive messages online (social media site), sending pornography to the victim or other pictures that are offensive, making defamatory comments about the victim online, and many much more that related to harassing online victims. These problems usually happened to teenagers that don’t use their gadgets or social media wisely. Online harassment or cyber bullying can lead victims to suicidal thoughts or to hurt themselves by cutting. This problem could happen to any age group, but commonly it’s happened in adolescents and teens because they’ve grown up in the age of the internet. Not all online harassment is related to physics or violence, but they could be just using words or even pictures that could hurt victims feelings,

There are a bunch of types of online harassment that could happen everywhere and you need to watch for it so it doesn’t happen to us. Cyber stalking is the first type of online harassment, it is when someone uses the internet to systematically and repeatedly harass, threaten or intimidate someone. This can be done on all social media platforms such as email, social media, or chat rooms. The second one is online impersonation, which is when someone uses the name or personal of someone they don’t know online without their consent with the intent to intimidate, harm, and threaten the person who has become the victim of it. The third one is to catfish, it is when someone on the internet creates a fictitious identity for the purpose of starting a relationship with people they don’t know. This usually happened in the age of online dating.

The fourth one is doxxing, which is when someone’s personal information is published online with the intention to harass the victim. This basically could include anything from their address to a phone number or even information about their family. This commonly happens a lot in the gaming world and most of the victims were gamers or even people who they don’t know yet. The fifth one is swatting, it is when someone’s personal information is released, and this is commonly relevant to the law of that country. This situation is a very very dangerous situation because it’s already related to the law, and don’t ever play with this situation. The sixth one is trolling, it is when someone makes unsolicited comments in an online community or platform that are random or controversial, in order to provoke people’s emotions. People who did this are called “trolls”, they can cause a fight or upset people while hiding behind the safety of their own screen. And last not least is revenge porn, which is when someone distributes people’s private, sexually explicit images or videos without the person or victim’s consent. Nonconsensual pornography like this can first come from sexting, which is when people text with each other using nude or naked pictures or videos of themselves. This could be both extremely invasive and traumatic for the victim to socialize with new people, whether it’s online or even offline. Those seven ideas are types of online harassment that you need to know and don’t be the next victim of any kind of online or offline harassment.

Issues that usually happened related to online or internet harassment are often found against women. APC has just released findings that over 1,000 cases of technology-based violence from seven countries, and found that women aged 18 to 30 are most likely to experience online violence, and less than a half of the cases have been investigated. “In a world where we seamlessly navigate the online and the offline every day – often being in both spaces at the same time – it is crucial for us to address the violence that women face in both realms. Online violence is real violence,” says Bishakha Datta of the Mumbai-based non-profit Point of View. “We need to address online violence because it limits our right to free and full participation, our freedom of expression, and our right to safety and to privacy. Just because it’s in the virtual realm doesn’t make it any less real.”

Women and girls deserve to live in a world where they are free from physical violence; domestic abuse, sexual assault, and rape as a weapon of war, as well as violence that happen online. Addressing online violence will require collective efforts from individuals, corporations, and governments. “Just like the global, sustained effort to end violence against women broadly, achieving online safety for women takes multiple, concerted strategies by different actors,” says Jac sm Kee. “Governments need to include online violence against women as part of their plans to end violence against women as a whole and see this as a larger barrier for women and girls in exercising the full range of their human rights. Social media companies need to take proactive steps to ensure their space does not enable these acts.” We can’t separate online and offline violence. We all must demand a better internet where everyone; women, youth, trans people can make their voices heard free from violence.

Online harassment against women is happening every single day all around the world. Women have also the right in giving opinions and freedom to do things that they want to do, men don’t have the right to violate women to do something they want. It’s their choice to do anything they like and they also have rights in this world because we are all the same, we’re all part of the global citizen. Whoever lived here on planet earth are all classified as global citizens. So the sample case that I’m going to research more deeply is about online harassment/ cyber bullying against a 15 years old teenage girl. Her name is Amanda Todd, she’s the daughter of Carol Todd and Lyn Todd, she’s a 15 years old teen from Canada. This case happened in Canada, a month after she made an inspiring video about her story of getting cyber bullied she decided to end her life by suicide in October 2012.

After her case was spread, she got anxiety, major depression, and panic disorder. Because of those things happened to her, she tried to use drugs and drink all kinds of alcohol to reduce anxiety, and depression from her soul, but that doesn’t work for her, instead of getting better, her anxiety got worse every single day, and couldn’t go out of her. She got online harassed by a guy who doesn’t know her and threatening to give a picture of her boobs to him. A year passed after that, the guy came back with new detailed information about her, and make a Facebook account with her boobs as the profile picture. She cried all day long and lost all of her friends and respect people had for her, until then nobody likes her. Everyone was judging her and nobody was at her side at that moment.

A couple of days after her boobs pict was exposed to the public, she started cutting and hurting herself. After this case happened she changed and moved to a new school with a much better environment. Later than, a month she moved into a new school, she talked to an old guy from her school and ended up he liked her. But on the other side, the guy who liked her have a girlfriend. One day when his girlfriend was on a vacation he asked Amanda to come over, and suddenly they hooked up together. A week after she hooked up with him, his girlfriend with her 15 friends came over the Amanda and said “look around nobody likes you” in front of 50 people in her new school. Then, a guy yelled at her and punch her in front of all those 5o people. So she throws Amanda to the ground and punches Amanda several times, all kids were filming and Amanda was left all alone on the ground.

After that accident happened to her, her dad drove her home. When she arrived home, she drank bleach and it killed her inside and she was taught she’s going to die soon. An ambulance came and brought her to the hospital and flushed her. After she got home, all she saw was on Facebook “she deserved it, did you wash the mud out of your hair?” “I hope she’s dead”. Six months have gone by, people are posting pictures of bleach, Clorox, and ditches, and tagging her on that post. And there’s this comment that really hit her so bad “she should try a different bleach, I hope she dies this time and isn’t so stupid” “I hope she sees this and kills herself”. After all, that stuff happened to her, her anxiety got worse every single day and won’t go out of her body, what she learns from her past is that life’s never getting better every single day. Two months before her death she’s on anti-depressants and counseling. She overdosed and ended up in the hospital for two days.

Suicidal thoughts are when someone is thinking to end their life by hurting their self such as cutting, hanging themselves to a yarn, and other suicide activity. Suicidal thoughts often happened to people who are a victim of current issues such as; online or offline harassment that nowadays often happen in among teenagers. Usually, teenagers are the main aim to get bullied online or offline, but today that stuff rarely happens offline and it normally happens online (in social media sites). Nowadays that issues happen all around the world to all levels of ages in people. Suicidal thoughts are common and most people have experienced that when they are having an under growing stress or even experiencing depression. In most cases, these things can temporarily be treated but at the same time, in some cases, these things can have a risk for attempting or completing suicide that will end their life harmfully. There are some causes of people getting suicidal thoughts such as; depression, anxiety, eating disorders such as anorexia, and substance abuse. But people with a family history of mental illness are more likely to get or have suicidal thoughts.

So basically from this case or problem that happened to Amanda Todd is a very criminal online harassment of teenage girls. She died in October 2012, a month after she made an inspiring story of her life. The reason why she decided to end her life that fast is because she doesn’t have the motivation to live and she thinks she’s not worth living and thinks that nobody cares about her this past month before she died. Based on the cases that happened around the world especially to girls and women, the solution that I’m going to conduct to help out solve this problem is that, to create an international online police force that will prevent and prosecute crimes such as cyberbullying, online harassment, or hacking. In every country, we also need a strict law on this area so that, people will notice and reduce the activity of cyber bullying or hacking.

From that cases and problems about online harassment, I could conclude that these issues aren’t good because they could get people to suicidal thoughts and they’ll end upending their lives because of getting harassed by people they don’t know or strangers. These issues are more often happen in teenagers who played social media platforms not wisely and don’t know the effect of not using them wisely. Online harassment normally happens to teenagers 15-18 years old. Other than that the victim of online cyberbullying is most likely a woman or girl. So by knowing the danger of not using social media wisely you need to be alert that cyberbullying can happen anywhere and to everyone. These issues could lead the victim to get anxiety and depressions easily and not able to socialize well with new people or new environment, and they’ll be more uncomfortable when they’re hanging out with a bunch of friends. Starting by now you need to think before you do something that maybe hurt people’s feelings and try to position yourself as the victim of any type of cyberbullying.

The Shift from Face-to-Face Communication to Digital Interaction

In today’s society, we rely on interacting with people via phone, past generations didn’t experience this because phones were too expensive, or were a luxury to have. The norm is to text or email, and with people today the internet is the way to express emotion to others. What people miss from writing is people’s ability to freely write what they are thinking, not being rushed to send out a message on time to someone so you don’t come off as lazy or not wanting to talk to someone. Communicating face to face is a key skill that all people need to be able to master, with social media you can’t build the skill of talking to others with the such flow that others will comprehend. It is key for people to lean away from only using the internet to communicate with others, even though valid points come to light that the internet has brought forth major changes to the world with how we talk to others across the country or world. This addiction causes many issues including depression and anxiety. Furthermore, As a society, it would take all working together to communicate using face-to-face talk or writing to each other to help stop the effects of social media usage to lead to rage or violence for adolescents. Communicating with others by not using phones or the internet also boosts confidence in adults. In this essay, I want to argue the effects coming from this addiction, and go into why adolescents are infatuated with this disease.

For my first topic relating to the Internet, I start off with this which states “Some assume a relationship-lost perspective, suggesting that the Internet causes people to cut off from social interactions by communicating via a socially impoverished medium.” (Chan 276) With the communication of writing to others, it helps strengthen verbal contact, While texting doesn’t do that, society has the ability to change, but it takes all of us to help accomplish this goal, and to end social media addiction. Social media addiction is a disease for adolescents and young adults. As argued by Chan the Internet is like a black hole,

The Detrimental Effects of Social Media Addiction

Texting does help communicate with others who could be across the world, it’s important to limit the use of social media to keep yourself happy. Social media also can be a form to help yourself to cheer up, but not a cure. Furthermore, Social media has been shown to prove it causes depression. “Increasingly, people with diverse health conditions turn to social media to share their illness experiences or seek advice from others with similar health concerns. This unstructured medium may represent a platform on which individuals with severe mental illness naturally provide and receive peer support”.(Naslund, Grande, Aschbrenner, Elwyn) as discussed in this quote, with internet addiction, social media addiction needs to be controlled before the issue causes havoc between families and other adolescents. The use of therapy for addiction is an option if need be, but limiting usage would improve happiness in adolescents, I say this because in the quote it is argued that those who are considered not stable lean to social media for help.

The Importance of Direct Conversations Over Digital Communication

How is face-to-face talk better than texting on social media? From one article I found this quote “mobiles phone use continues to soar as people are becoming increasingly reliant on their devices. However, it seems that human cognition and social norms cannot keep up with this profound proliferation in the use of this technology. Humans have held face-to-face conversations for thousands of years, and a complex set of implicit social rules have evolved to guide these interactions. Face-to-face conversations are such an accepted, integral part of each culture to the point that, in general, there is nothing particularly remarkable or concerned about being exposed to people interacting in this way. However, it seems that the same cannot be said of mobile phone conversations. As noted by Monk et al”. (2004b), (Brendan Norman, Daniel Bennett. Are mobile phone conversations always so annoying? The ‘need-to-listen’ effect re-visited. Introduction page.) this quote explains exactly what needs to be said about social media usage and talking on the phone, with mobile devices the face to face talk is unachievable, and actually talking to someone directly. The key social skill isn’t put to work with texting or calling, which should change, talking face to face has been a key component of humans, but as technology grows over the years the skill of being able to hold a conversation dwindles in teens, and adults. To go further into this, in a work environment would humans be inclined to speak during a meeting, or would one person rather speak over a group message? The simple answer is yes, yet no. younger adults are known to be social media experts, so being in a meeting surrounded by other adults wouldn’t let their skills be put to work, yet if a person is older then they would be more inclined to speak face to face.

The Power of Writing: A Deeper Connection

For the counter-argument, I ask Why should we write instead of text? Writing helps us bring out emotions we cannot express with typing, with texting misinterpreting a comment can easily occur, because you are not taking the time to think about what you want to say, this quote goes directly into this “Why write? Because doing so engages us, changes us, and makes us think. What better reason is there than that? “Why write? Because we must as a way of fulfillment of self and calling and because we should for the sake of the world in which we live and for which we are responsible.” (Hard, Curtis page 1604) Writing challenges are our brain to think about what could be meaningful to the person they are communicating with. Using meaningful words can brighten people’s day, or bring a smile. If we chose to write about three to four times a month, and during this time limit social media usage to four hours a day I believe the percentage of teens with depression will go down drastically, because without social media you have to do new things, by getting out of your comfort zone, and talk to people directly. With the limitation of social media, it would also cause teens and other people to explore the surroundings that mother nature offers them.

With the limitation of texting and not looking at your phone 24/7 coming into play, teens can learn to do new things, these new skills can be learning face-to-face communication. Many teens stare at their phones to have conversations with others to hold a conversation. but with others that could not do with their phones or the internet. It is important to know that all of this can not happen in one day, but it can take years to accomplish, speaking of this issue with social media addiction is important for future generations to know social media isn’t the only way to communicate with people, nor is it the way to be happy with yourself. Because social media spend your free time talking to others and possibly learning new things from others, it is not something to be taken advantage of in any way, what I mean is that social media can be manipulative for teens, and further lead to peer pressure.

To help this problem I believe the younger generations have the capability to live off the internet for communication for a month, this idea would be great for people to use social skills when talking face to face with people instead of being glued to their phones. The idea doesn’t sound ideal, but for people to have better social cues, and to help with their mental state, it’s important to take time off social media to better themselves and be happy. Why is important to limit the use of social media? Because using too much social media, and having it as the only form of communication causes issues with how one interacts with someone else, for example presenting, social interaction is needed to be able to talk to others, while on a phone texting you are staring down, in a way that comes off as rude.

A solution to help combat internet addiction I believe is having well-known figures of adolescents campaigning to be more social, then being glued to the phone, this would be a great way to motivate teens and adolescents to change their habits of staring into their phones all day, and to help be happier with themselves. I say this because the internet is a privilege to be able to use, as humans do not all have access to the internet, and few rather isolate themselves away from technology, which in a way is understandable. This solution of using the platform of well-known celebrities to advocate that the internet for the wrong purposes is crucial to help prevent bullying, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, problems at school, or the possibility of suicide.

Cyberbullying: The Dark Side of the Digital World

For the next argument, What is Cyberbullying defined as by educators? It is defined as ”willful and repeated harm inflicted through computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices” (Hinduja & Patchin, 2011,1) also that Shariff and Gouin (2005 explain that “cyberbullying consists of covert psychological bullying, conveyed through electronic mediums such as cell phones, web-logos, and websites and online chat rooms”(3) Horowitz, Bollinger, Merle, Dorothy. Cyberbullying In Social Media Within Educational Institutions, The quote from the book Cyberbullying in Social media within educational institutions is a great example of the epidemic with addiction to social media causing the spread of bullying, depression, and loneliness. To help with spreading the movement of this addiction with social media, it will take talking about the subject on news networks, though with depression being a touchy subject to some, or not wanting to be mentioned in conversations, It’s important to bring these up. Most importantly it is important to educate the world on the topic of the Internet being a portal of issues.

Cyberbullying causes many different things other than depression, in school, the effects cause grades to sink, and less time in school, and may seem sad. In the book “Cyberbullying in social media within educational institutions” a superintendent was quoted as saying this “students who experience cyberbullying may avoid discussing what they are doing online. These emotional responses have caused educators, psychologists, and researchers to study their impact on students in school in the school setting” (Horowitz, Bollinger, Merle, Dorothy. Cyberbullying In Social Media Within Educational Institutions) Cyberbullying is a problem that not all teens or adolescents go through, but many do. Adults need to look into the beginning stages of a teen going through cyberbullying, some of the clues are hard to catch, but the clues that a teen is experiencing cyberbullying are grade dropping, more time away from others, fatigue or tiredness, spending more time on social media than usual and lastly being aggressive to others.

The counter-argument is this “Social media sites allow teens to accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected to family and friends, sharing photographs, and exchanging ideas. Social media participation can also offer adolescents deeper benefits that extend into their self, community, and the world, including community engagement” Horowitz, Bollinger, Merle, Dorothy. Cyberbullying In Social Media Within Educational Institutions, Social media has its pros and cons, many of which some will agree or disagree with, but there’s a fine line with social media usage which can cause many issues for a teen in the future. Which may include even anxiety with making friends in school or loneliness throughout their life.

“Cyberbullying in social media is a critical and expanding problem in educational institutions. It ranges from primary schools through college, and from off-campus to on campus.” Horowitz, Bollinger, Merle, Dorothy. Cyberbullying In Social Media Within Educational Institutions. Next, following up with cyber harassment this quote came up “approximately 36 percent of the respondents have been victims of social media harassment at some point in their lives, whereas the ratio of female victims is markedly higher than that of male users (61% vs. 39%). Most of the harassment occurs on social networking sites and instant messaging platforms where people share their personal information and pictures publicly. Online harassment often causes distress and depression in subjects’ personal, academic and professional lives. However, the majority of the victims who are subjected to online harassment do not label it as such and consequently never report it.”(Erum Hafeez. Cyber Harassment and Its Implications on Youth in Pakistan.) as per stated in this piece harassment is more likely on social media sites or sites of interest to communicate. The quote is a good example of how children react to harassment, this quote should be key reason schools and institutions do a better job of handling harassment before it spreads from school.

Another issue with social media and the negatives are self-esteem and peer pressure, as cited in this quote “CB has unique characteristics, such as the anonymity of the cyber-perpetrator, distant and rapid communication, and accessibility to a wide-ranging audience” (Heiman 28) it is important to limit social media use because of the serious consequences it has for children, teens and adults who may have difficulty understanding cyberbullying, one of the consequences from cyber-bullying is suicide. With teens or adolescents, it is important to catch the behavioral effects that come from cyber-bullying, These effects include distancing from family or friends, eating less, sleeping schedule is not normal, or spending more time alone.

Also keying into depression again, while searching for issues against bullying on the internet, this brought to my attention “Talking matters for learning. Although it’s possible to think without talking—and to talk without much thinking— each can strengthen the other. Talking also provides windows into what students are learning” (Clay, Elizabeth 12) this is yet another reason communicating by talking and face to face is important. Too much social media usage can lead to depression for children and teens. And sporadic behavior Also, it’s important parents keep tabs on their children, also limiting social media usage to a child’s happiness being ripped from addiction to the internet is worth noting here

Furthermore, communicating with others face to face can help others bring a smile to their face, due to the fact that emotions can be misinterpreted as something different than intended. To add to this topic with cyberbullying, violence is a big problem with social media. As argued here “cyber-victimization may initiate in childhood a cycle of violence and socio-emotional problems. It was found that among adolescents, even when controlling for traditional forms of victimization, cyber-victimization experiences were associated with increased social anxiety, loneliness, peer rejection, depressive moods, low self-esteem, a low sense of well-being, and low levels of social support” (Brighi et al., 2012; Modecki et al., 2013; Patchin & Hinduja, 2010; Şahin, 2012, Wright & Li, 2013) (Heiman 30). I do believe after time this can change, but it will take time and years for humans to recognize the issue of social media addiction, and how it creates large issues in the past and now.

Then again, many children and teens can handle peer pressure, bullying, and language used on social media. Due to past experience with social media, or just being used to the language, foul language, slang, and other experiences, which is no surprise, I believe this group of individuals have possibly experienced some sort of peer pressure, or bullying, but are too afraid to admit it, or are afraid of backlash from peers for not taking the bullying or peer pressure as a joke. Furthermore, while reading about cyberbullying more in an article I found this quote intriguing “Loneliness is a condition in which the individual feels depressed and disconnected from society (Killeen, 1998). Studies on loneliness among children and adolescents (Cassidy & Asher, 1992) reported that at least 10% of participants reported loneliness due to social problems at school. It was also found that the child who is perceived by other children as isolated is at risk of becoming a victim and target of violence” (Heiman 30) This piece from the research I’ve done also points to issues at school where the root of many bullying incidents occur the most for children and teens, it’s important for adults to listen to children and teens because, if a problem is solved before it jumps to social media it possibly saves a child from growing depression later down the road.

The Path Forward: Balancing Digital and Real-Life Interactions

We can change how we communicate with people because growth is what humans can do. Going out and giving a stranger a compliment can change their day, and it can brighten someone’s day, also as humans, we cannot determine how someone feels or in what state they are in as we pass by them or stand next to them, so it’s important we start changing now to help our future generations from suffering from depression, cyberbullying, anxiety. Change is possible, for everyone, because technology has grown into our lives, and made enhancements to how we communicate. Humans have to work together to solve the issues they have now. Social media should never be the escape for teens to express emotion, due to the fact can use so many strangers can use the information anyone gives against them as blackmail. Lastly, I believe writing can grow to become something teens use more than they do now, it may not come tomorrow or two years, but the future generations will see the benefactors of communicating to their peers by writing or talking face to face.

The Evolution of Bullying: Enter Cyberbullying

Bullying has been around since the beginning of time. Even though times have changed, bullying is still around and has taken to a new form. That form has now evolved into the cyber world. Cyberbullying is different than the traditional form of bullying. It has major causes and effects on children and adults. Cyberbullying happens very frequently and is rising as the years pass and technology advances. Bullying is never ok, but due to the many ways people can use the internet, cyberbullying has now increased this problem dramatically. “Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online.” Also, nearly 50% say that they have participated in cyberbullying.

The Silent Epidemic: Why Kids Don’t Speak Up

“70% of students report seeing frequent bullying online. 90% of teens who have seen social media bullying say they have ignored it. 84% have seen others tell cyberbullies to stop.” The problem with bullying is that sometimes children will join in or ignore a situation that they see going on to try and make sure they don’t get bullied as well. This is why most cyberbullies are able to get away with their actions. That being said, 90% of kids have seen Something going on and did nothing about it, which shows that a lot of children are scared that they might get some repercussions for doing the right thing. This event is not a message we want to send to our youth. Nor should we allow them to stand idly by as it happens to one of their peers.

Parents’ Role in Addressing Cyberbullying

There are ways that Parents and or Guardians can monitor and teach children about bullying to help bring an end to it. “Only 1 in 10 victims will tell a parent or trusted adult of their abuse.” Those numbers alone show how much of an effect cyberbullying has on the youth. Victims of cyberbullying should be heard, and those numbers could be 100%, and that can be easily accomplished with some simple steps. A parent should know the websites in which their children are using. “About 75% of children have visited a website that bashes another student. About 58% of the kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than 4 out of 10 say it has happened more than once.” Parents can either get their passwords, ask one of their friends, or follow them on their social media to make sure they aren’t the victims of bullying or the bully.

Parents or guardians must act hastily because you might not get the whole truth of the situation. Talk to your children and understand what is happening in their lives; just knowing their home life is insufficient; know what happened at school throughout the day or the online life when they got home. Encouraging children to report when they or someone else is being bullied can help stop the bullying from continuing. “Bullying victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider committing suicide.” Bullying is the main cause of suicides and mass shootings of our youth. Teaching the youth what to do when they see or are the victims of bullying can save lives. Our youth are our future, and encouraging them to do the right thing will help them grow and cut down on the percentage of children being cyberbullied.

Lasting Effects of Cyberbullying and the Road Ahead

Cyberbullying attacks children through many different angles of life that were never accessible until the evolution of technology and the introduction to the cyber world. The cyber-world consists of any electronic technology that is available to the bully. This includes but is not limited to cell phones, computers, tablets, gaming systems, and or any other device to allow young children access to the web in which they can communicate with others. The bullies attack through social media, text messages, chat rooms, and websites. When children are being bullied online almost all the time, these children are also being bullied in person as well. This is why this is such an epidemic due to the access bullies have to the individual.

“Cyberbullying can happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and reach a kid even when he or she is alone. It can happen any time of the day or night. Cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a very wide audience. It can be difficult and sometimes impossible to trace the source. Deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures is extremely difficult after they have been posted or sent.” Cyberbullying doesn’t just end in the school systems as bullying used to in the past. Now children can be affected whenever the bully wants to get in contact with them. This could be on vacations, in the privacy of their own home, and in many more areas that were once seen as safe zones.

Almost as if the bullies are always around. Life as a bully is much easier nowadays; it can be much harder to track who is the cause of the pain. The anonymous posting makes it easy for the victim to get hurt while the bully can hide in the shadows of the cyber world. Technology is not to blame for cyberbullying. Bullying has been around forever, and as society advances, so do bullies. The only difference is they just found a new way to torment and disturb others without having to show face. Text messaging helps us stay in contact with loved ones; social media can be used for positive activities and networking. But there are some who just see these different social platforms and only think of ways to lash out at others for their own personal gains.

Bullying and cyberbullying have the same effects on the victims. Children that have been cyberbullied are more likely to “use alcohol and drugs, skip school, be unwilling to attend school, receive poor grades, have low self-esteem, and even more health problems” (U.S. Department). This doesn’t end in grade school; bullying affects people throughout their entire lives and leaves mental scars that can require therapy. Having children not be scared of going to school will lead to them getting better grades. Thus, helping them secure their future as they look forward to going to college or any institute that helps them reach and maintain life goals they may have.

Cyberbullying can lead to drug and alcohol abuse, which also leads to horrible living circumstances for the victims and or their children to be raised in. This cannot only affect them but those around them as well. “Girls are about twice as likely as boys to be victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying” (Do Something). This can be detrimental to their self-esteem throughout the rest of their lives. Good upbringings lead to more confidence which generally leads to success in any path they choose.

Cyberbullying affects adults, even those who you would think that kind of stuff wouldn’t happen to. Such as offensive linemen for the National Football League, who are some of the biggest, strongest, and toughest people in the world. The effects of cyberbullying have gone so far as to have reached them too. These are the people you’d least expect to be affected by cyberbullying. “Over the past few days, reports were released involving Miami Dolphins football player Richie Incognito, accused of obscenely harassing, bullying, and threatening teammate and fellow offensive lineman Jonathan Martin in the locker room, via text and voicemail, and elsewhere. Martin apparently could not take it anymore and took a personal leave of absence on Monday, October 28th, from a football team trying to get into the playoffs.”

If NFL football players can’t handle cyberbullying, how can a child that is too young to stand up for themselves be able to handle it? The answer is that they can’t and shouldn’t have to. No one does. The solution is to end it at its source and not let it spread. The words that can be said through social media online can be just as hurtful as in person. “Hey, wassup, you half nigger piece of shit. I saw you on Twitter; you have been training for ten weeks. I want to shit in your fucking mouth.

I’m going to slap your fucking mouth. I’m going to slap your real mother across the face laughter. Fuck you. You’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.” This is the voicemail that Richie Incognito left on Jonathan Martins’s cell phone. This is a real-world example of how cyberbullying is impossible to get away from. This also shows the hurtful things that can be said through these media and can be taken in as very disrespectful and life-threatening. The bully never sees the pain that the victim goes through and therefore has no remorse or doesn’t know when a line is crossed if the hurtful words could have a long-term effect on the victim.

Taking a real-world experience and internalizing it has changed my perspective on the actions of cyberbullying completely. I was always a man that said ‘sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.’ This saying makes you think of them as just words; once said, they disappear just like the air. But some words can linger; for some, they hold their feelings in for others, and they never even notice how the words affect them until it is too late. Life is Something that is seen as priceless, yet everyday people make others suffer. This might be to bring up their own spirits, or just because they find it amusing or have had it happen to them, so they want that same ability to almost seem like they have power over their victim.

Either way, life is Something we should value, and we shouldn’t make life a dreadful gift to have been given, nor should we find comfort or happiness in other people’s demise, especially if we are the ones who are causing them to feel terrible. I think the only true situation to this is education, educating children on how to report actions of cyberbullying and how to handle being in that sort of situation. We can’t change the situation until we learn how to prevent such actions from happening and discuss what cyberbullying can lead to and how it affects people short term and long term. No one should have to go through life being bullied, and never be afraid to want and use technology with the thought that someone is on the other side of the net waiting to attack them.

Bibliography

1. Hinduja, Sameer. ‘Implications for Society from the Miami Dolphins BullyingCase.’ Cyberbullying Research Center Implications for Society from the Miami Dolphins Bullying Case Comments. N.p., 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
2. ’11 Facts About Cyber Bullying.’ Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
3. ‘What Is Cyberbullying.’ Cyberbullying. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. – Washington, D.C. 20201, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

The Changing Dynamics of School Environment

In the last few years, the school has changed a lot regarding kids. Kids used to go to school with good self-esteem and good behavior. Nowadays, students are going to school scared, and a lot of them skip classes because of the bullying that is recently happening. Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others. There are three different types of bullying, which are: verbal, social, and physical bullying. It has brought a lot of controversy mainly due to tragic events. Another issue that is happening in schools regarding bullying is that students are using their cell phones to record fights between students to spread the violence that some of the bullies put them through. It got to the point that police officers had to get involved. They have to go to schools and confiscate student’s cellphones to delete the videos and pictures that they have uploaded to the Internet.

The Grave Impact of Bullying

It is hard to accept that kids are rude and mean to their classmates. Bullying could be equal to committing murder because it pushes people even to commit Suicide: “Suicide remains among the leading causes of death of children under 14. In most cases, young people die from hanging; since 2002, at least 15 schoolchildren ages 11 to 14 have committed Suicide in Massachusetts” (Valencia). As days pass, schools are paying more attention and are making more support programs. Manners start at home. Kids need to be taught not to bully and how to handle a situation if they are being bullied. Parents need to be more proactive; it’s not only up to the school.

Carlos’s Tale: An Insider View of Bullying

Kids have come up with different kinds of bullying, such as verbal bullying, which include name-calling, sexual comments, taunting, and threatening to cause harm. For instance, I interviewed Carlos Cruz, a friend of mine, about bullying. I asked Carlos if he had ever been a bully or been a victim of bullying. He answered, “When I was in my first year in high school, the senior guys used to bully me by threatening me.” I asked him, “How did they use to threaten you?” “They used to say they were going to beat me up when I got out of school if I didn’t give them my lunch money.” “Can you tell me everything about your freshman year getting bullying by seniors?” Carlos answered, “I remember that I was getting bullying because I was new in high school.

Also, I guess it was because I was short and skinny, and I couldn’t defend myself from them. They used to call me names like Palillo or Enano, but they never touched me. Almost all the time, there were a lot of people around me watching what those guys used to do to me, but nobody did anything about it. Finally, I became a sophomore, and those seniors graduated. After all of that, the ones that were getting bullied were the new freshmen by the new seniors. Just as everyone stood and watched me get bullied, I stood and watched the freshmen get bullied.”

At the end of the interview, I realized that Carlos was part of the bullying the seniors were committing without him knowing it. The reason why he was part of the bullying was because Carlos never did anything to prevent the freshmen from getting bullied. Kids will continue to get bullied if other kids who can do something about it don’t get informed on how to deal with the situation.

Social Acceptance and Hidden Truths

Over time people have started to hide things to be accepted in society and not be rejected. In the book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, one of the characters, Patrick, is a homosexual. Patrick had this special bond with a football player named Brad. Brad is much known throughout the school, especially since he is a quarterback. The only thing is that he is a hidden homosexual. His father would not forgive him if he ever found out.

When his father did find out about Brad and Patrick, Brad’s father left him a black and blue on his eye. Brad abused drugs and alcohol as an excuse to do things sexually with Patrick. Even when he stops abusing drugs and alcohol, he still wants to keep his relationship with Patrick a secret. Brad doesn’t want to get bullied, so he keeps Patrick a secret. Brad is also dating a cheerleader named Nancy, using her as a cover to hide that Brad is gay. Eventually, Brad and Patrick break up and get into a fight. The fight initially started because Brad called Patrick a ‘Faggot.’

‘That was the night he threw rocks at Patrick’s window and told Patrick nobody could know, and Patrick understood. They only see each other at night on golf courses and at parties like Bob’s, where the people are quiet and understand these things. I asked Patrick if he felt sad that he had to keep it a secret, and Patrick just said that he wasn’t sad because at least now, Brad doesn’t have to get drunk or stoned to make love’. This is a clear example of how people hide their sexual preferences or tastes because they do not want to be rejected, humiliated, or harassed by the other people around them, who do not accept and do not respect that a person could have a different sexual orientation.

The second type is social bullying, which involves hurting someone’s relationships or reputation. This can be shown by making someone feel left out, spreading rumors, embarrassing someone, and telling other children not to be friends with someone. A new way of bullying is cyberbullying, which is being verbally abused, recorded being abused, and taunted through the Internet. Before, kids used to be picked on the playground, but only those who were there were witnesses. Now, people record other people being bullied and continue the bullying through the Internet.

An example of social bullying is the case of Amanda Todd. She started to be bullied in seventh grade. It all started with her using a webcam with a stranger who asked her to flash in front of the camera. She was just trying to make friends and meet new people. A year later, the stranger started to blackmail by using Amanda’s picture when she flashed her chest. He wanted her to make a private show for him; she refused, and that’s when Amanda’s nightmare began. Terrifyingly, the stranger knew everything about her: her address, school, friends, relatives, and the names of her family members. Soon, her naked photo had been forwarded ‘to everyone.’ Amanda tried to leave everything behind by changing schools, friends, and cities. It was a hard moment for her because her past didn’t stop following her. Todd tried to restart her life several times, but the 32-year-old man did not stop all the humiliation in her new life every time. Amanda got to the point that she tried to kill herself, and so she did.

The third and last bullying type is physical bullying, which occurs when a person hits another person. For instance, spitting, tripping, pushing, taking, or breaking someone’s things, and making mean or rude hand gestures. Most parents are not aware when their children are being bullied or don’t know how to deal with that situation. Bullying depends on what grade the kids are in. Parents react differently when kids get bullied. Some parents tell kids to fight the bully back or tell a teacher. Kids get even more bullied when they tell a teacher. “Most kids know what bullying is. It’s being mean and hurtful toward someone else, often when that person has trouble defending him or herself”.

Instead of parents encouraging their kids to fight back, they should find ways to parent a kid who is being bullied or who bullies. There are different ways that a parent can get involved: “Make clear family rules about what bullying is and that any form of bullying is not acceptable. Explain what the consequences will be if anyone bullies, and make sure that you follow through on the consequences every time the rule is broken. Rules and consequences should not be too lax or too harsh”. By doing that, kids are going to be scared of committing any type of bullying. This can also help children how to prevent other kids from being bullied. In a case where a kid learns about the subject, if he or she has a friend who bullies could teach him right from wrong.

There is no separation of kids who bully and who are being bullied. Bullies can bully other bullies. One way bully starts is when some have experienced getting bullied or treated unfairly by others or family members. No kid is saved from being bullied if they find a reason to or if the kid is different from everyone else. That’s sad, but it’s no excuse. Everyone can choose to act in new and better ways. It’s never too late.
Another way for parents to prevent bullying is “Help children and teens learn to empathize with others by asking them to think about how someone else might feel about being bullied. It also may help to encourage them to do kind things for others, including those they don’t know well” (“Bullying Statistics”). This helps kids understand how other kids think and how they feel. When parents teach empathy at home, it makes teachers’ jobs at school much easier. Nowadays teachers have to teach kids at school what parents don’t teach at home, such as being polite or respecting others.

Bullying can become a circle that, if it does not break on time, can bring unfortunate consequences. If parents were more proactive at home and wouldn’t leave everything to the school, less bullying would take place. Also, if parents take more care in monitoring their kid’s technology usage, cyberbullying would decrease. The programs that schools are developing would never be enough if the parents were not doing anything to support the anti-bullying program. Actions need to take place in order to prevent what happened to Amanda Todd.

References:

1. Chbosky, S. (1999). The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Executive Summary

Cyberbullying is referred as an act of harassment using electronic means. The victims are usually targeted by the means of social media and other such online tools. This may vary from disturbing rumours, threats to sexual remarks about a person. It also includes exposing personal information about the victim and hate speeches. The victim’s low self-esteem becomes an advantage for these cyberbullies. According to statistics 1 in 5 Australians are subjected to bullying (National centre for educational Statistics, 2016). Cyberbullying is unique and is very different when compared to traditional bullying. Due to the fact that there is no physical distance maintained, it becomes an advantage for the offenders and the victims feel helpless and hopeless (Hinduja and Patchin, 2015). The sense of ‘anonymity’ gives the victims the supremacy to exert power on the victims (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004).By approaching the problem from a criminological perspective, this policy brief aims to provide a solution to cyberbullying using the prevalent Social learning theory.

Proposed Policy Action

The policy action aims to

• Provide strict action against the offenders. The policies devised by the government should focus on helping the victims overcome cyber bullying.
• Social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter should have better privacy settings and should tackle the problem of anonymous users.
• Reconciliation centres should be provided for the victims and their parents to face the issue and provide comfort and support to the victims.

Context/Scope of Problem

Cyberbullying is a well-known problem in today’s society. It is the modern form of bullying with the involvement of communication and technology. Thanks to technological advances and the ever-changing media age, cyber tyrants are becoming more and more popular and can remain virtually anonymous on the internet (Patchin & Hinduja, 2006).In fact, anonymity is a characteristic feature of cyberbullying (Kowalski & Limber, 2007). Cyberbullying can also create temporary accounts (e-mail addresses, social networks, etc.)Profiles) or use victim aliases (Erdur-Baker, 2010). As a result, cyberbullying offenders practice the Power and online rule by maintaining the identity of the unknown offender (Ybarra& Mitchell, 2004 in Patchin & Hinduja, 2006). The anonymity of the cyberbully has associated with it the physical distance offered by the internet making behaviour easier in all bookings. The anonymity of the authors can free them from normative and social norms. (Patchin and Hinduja, 2006: 155). Since cyber attackers do not see their victims, they also have less empathy for the victims (David-Ferdon & Hertz, 2007).

According to Patchin and Hinduja (2006) there are many multitudes to cyberbullying apart from just online aggression. It is very unique and complex because it occurs beyond physical and personal space. Over time this can lead to lack of motivation and sense of hopelessness and worst-case scenario suicidal attempts. Furthermore, children are in most cases afraid to tell their parents about the bullying making it difficult for parents to help their children (Perren et Al., 2012).

Policy Action

Current Policy

There are no federally governing laws, particularly for cyberbullying. One may be arrested on the ground of harassment or other such deviant behaviors but there is no specific law. Most of the states in Australia have imposed rules on schools to be more vigilant on the grounds of cyber bullying but are not specific on how it should be done. These action policies aim to educate the students on the perils of cyberbullying but do not tech them the mechanism to overcome it. Moreover, they cannot effectively deal with the problem once it begins as there are no measures in place to deal with or deter perpetrators of these actions.

Theoretical framework

This policy brief is based on Aker’s Social learning theory. Learning theories comes into existence while explaining the behaviour of a deviant with respect to the knowledge acquired by him and the experiences he/she has gained ( Bower & Hilgard, 1981). The theory of social learning, a perspective that provides a general explanation of crime, is the only one that is sociologically derived as a learning theory of crime and delinquency, which explains why people get involved (or not) to engage in criminal, delinquent or dissenting behaviors (Akers, 1985). The theory of social learning basically supports those who are in contact with different peers become deviant themselves once they have developed definitions or settings favorable for the violation of the law. In addition, other aspects, such as offender characteristics victims and the subsequent positive or negative consequences. Behaviour can tell if people are learning divergent acts (Akers, 1998, 2009). In the development on theory of social learning, Ronald Akers has tried to clarify how individuals develop antisocial behaviour: definitions and study of the mechanisms and processes through which criminal learning transpires (Lilly et al., 2011). Akers (1998) argued that the same learning process in a context of the social structure, the interaction and the situation create a behaviour that is deviant. The theory of social learning suggests that people who visit other people accept and approve the crime more than they associate with those who reject the crime. Akers (1973) explains that it is in the social environment in which the individuals learn delinquent and criminal behaviour.

Differential reinforcement refers to the balance of actual or expected rewards and punishments due to a person’s behaviour (Akers, 1998, 2001). Awards serve to reinforce certain behaviour, while penalties weaken that behaviour. According to the theory of social learning, an imbalance in differential reinforcement increases the probability of behaviour by operating through four key modes that include positive gain, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment (Akers & Jennings, 2009). A person’s behaviour can be increased or decreased in several ways: Presentation or removal of positive or negative stimuli (Akers & Sellers, 2013). For example, the behaviour can be increased by the presentation of a positive stimulus (eg, a thrill or irritation or the suppression of a negative stimulus such as when financial stress is mitigated by the theft of money) (eg negative reinforcement). Conversely, the behaviour may be accompanied by the introduction of a negative stimulus such as criminal sanction (eg positive sentence) or cancellation of a positive sanction like the loss of driving license for driving under influence (eg negative punishment). Once behaviour is learned, it stimulates an expected consequence (Akers, 1985).

Current policy problems

The policy made on behalf of cyberbullying only covers the issue but does not focus on it. The main issue for the policymakers are

• All the policies responses should be made in the best interests of the bullied victims. The policy recommendation should cover privacy, liberty, freedom of speech and also security (Brown, Jackson & Cassidy 2006).
• The internet service providers cannot be forcibly made remove the offensive content.
• Acts such as Enhancing online safety for children (2016) only provide guidelines for schools and parents on identifying cyber bulling but do not provide a solution.
• Schemes introduced by the government such as the tier scheme, etc., allow to curb the control over cyberbullying but then again to do not have total control over the problem.

Policy recommendation

• School should address the problem and provide more use policies for helping their students as well as parents in overcoming cyber bulling. Majority of the target for cyber bullies are school going teenagers especially girls. Schools should provide drills on what has to be done when dealing with a bully and whom to contact and should be always assured that they are not alone.
• Policies should be made which govern the anonymity in social media websites.

Anonymity on the internet provides a great sense of control for the bullies as they can exert passive aggression and not be worried about the consequences.

• Research should continue on evaluating the patterns of cyberbullies and the use of the internet.

By identifying the patterns research engines and algorithms can be generated to nab the bully

• Internet service providers should have a tap on the online material which is published and delete the offensive ones.
• Strict policy actions should be made against cyberbullying so that offenders do not commit the crime and consistency on the effectiveness of these policies should be maintained.

Cyberbullying is in many ways an extension of traditional bullying that has always tormented its victims in many ways. The analysis of cyberbullying using Social learning theory aims to provide better policy recommendations for cyberbullying. It is important to note that not all polices addressed can be held fruitful but can make the issue more understandable.

References:

1. Hinduja, S. and Patchin, J. (2015). ‘Bullying beyond the schoolyard’. 2nd ed
2. Ybarra, M. and Mitchell, K. (2004). Youth engaging in online harassment: associations with caregiver–child relationships, Internet use, and personal characteristics. Journal of Adolescence, 27(3), pp.319-336.
3. Hinduja, S. and Patchin, J. (2006). Cyberbullying: An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Related to Offending and Victimization. Deviant Behavior, 29(2), pp.129-156.
4. Kowalski, R. and Limber, S. (2007). Electronic Bullying Among Middle School Students. Yearbook of Pediatrics, 2009, pp.37-40.
5. Erdur-Baker, Ö. (2010). Cyberbullying and its correlation to traditional bullying, gender and frequent and risky usage of internet-mediated communication tools. New Media & Society, 12(1), pp.109-125.
6. David-Ferdon, C. and Hertz, M. (2007). Electronic Media, Violence, and Adolescents: An Emerging Public Health Problem. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41(6), pp.S1-S5.
7. Perren, S. and Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, E. (2012). Cyberbullying and traditional bullying in adolescence: Differential roles of moral disengagement, moral emotions, and moral values. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9(2), pp.195-209.
8. Bower, G. and Hilgard, E. (1986). Theories of learning. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India.
9. Akers, R. (1985). Deviant behavior. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub. Co.
10. Cassidy, W., Brown, K. and Jackson, M. (2006). ‘Under the radar’: Educators and cyberbullying in schools. School Psychology International, 33(5), pp.520-532.

Cell Phones: A Cheating Catalyst

A student with a cell phone is an unenthusiastic student, one with a short ability to mentally focus on something that cares more about spending time with and talking with people than education. Cell phones can be a great useful thing/valuable supply in our everyday lives, but they should be restricted from being used in a set of learning conditions, and education is the first priority. Students take advantage of their phones in negative ways, such as cheating on tests and bullying others, and it just creates an object or action that interferes with their mental focus in class, affecting their grades. Cheating in school is becoming more common, where students are using their phones to take pictures of exams, store information on their phones, and text many other dishonest ways.

Grade 12 Exam: Cell Phone Scandal

On February 18, 2014, “More than 200 students were expelled after being caught cheating in the Grade 12 board exam in the past three days. Nearly a dozen parents who helped them use unfair means were also arrested”, an official said on Tuesday. This real-life event shows us how extreme the results can get over a cellphone. Not only did the students get expelled, but twelve of their parents were also arrested.

Classroom Woes: Cell Phones Distract

Teachers are trying to figure out a way to end cheating, but instead, they need to terminate the source, cell phones. Many students in the school today have cell phones, and more than half of them have used a cell phone to cheat on a test. “According to a study from the Josephson Institute of Ethics.

Among current high school students, 75 percent admit to cheating on tests, homework, and other assignments. Fifty percent have cheated on exams during the past year, and 34 percent have cheated on more than one test.” It is simply extraordinary what a number of understudies cheat. It may give them the imprints they need, yet what’s the moment that you are feeling the blame day in and day out? Understudies are given phones by their folks, and unquestionably, the reason isn’t so they can utilize it to cheat.

“Cheating is like a drug. The more you do it and get away with it, the more you want to do it. It’s tempting to cheat,” said Kids Health. Trust it or not, a few understudies really believe that cheating is completely right. However, once somebody begins to cheat and feels good doing so, it can, without much of a stretch, turn into a negative behavior pattern. Cheating isn’t a natural tendency you need to bear on into school/college. In the event that you are found cheating, you will be expelled. Over a long time, when you wind up in school or college, you have to understand that the staff there doesn’t tolerate these weird and ridiculous acts of showing or proving. In the event that somebody is found cheating in college or school, it will result in expulsion, making it very unlikely to succeed in getting into another college/school, possibly destroying your future. Cheating can turn into an unfortunate natural tendency.

However, by expelling cell phones, understudies won’t be able to cheat as they use cell phones to do so. Cheating is unsafe and can possibly destroy one’s future, and by expelling cell phones, we are saving their future. Distractions in classes are, surprisingly and shockingly, one more negative opinion about phones that can, in an opposite way, influence an understudy’s grade.

Understudies should come to school for training; however, when they are permitted to have cellphones with them, it makes an undesirable object or action that interferes with mental focus as they are attracted to play games, surf the web, and mostly message close friends or possibly family. On the off chance that understudies are being changed to flow on a different path, changed to point to, or focus on, something else on their telephones in the class, they basically aren’t learning. Distractions in class are like distractions in real life.

Students & Phones: A Tethered Bond

That’s why texting and driving kills so many people. Most teachers need understudies to complete high marks in their classes, yet it’s not having common sense, way too full of problems when they oppose themselves by permitting cell phones in school/classrooms. At the point when teachers are giving the understudies speeches or guidance, which are very important exercises, it is anything but very hard to focus with a cell phone, ideally close by. It’s hard to complete high processes of figuring out the worth, amount, or quality of something with phones.

Cell Phones are a consistent object or action that interferes with mental focus, and if schools restricted mobile phones, each understudy would get higher grades than before when they had a cellphone. Mobile phones are understudies’ closest companions as they invest most of the entirety of their energy in their telephones rather than focus on class. “They found that users aged 13 – 18 check their smartphones almost 150 times a day.

Students also spend a lot of their time in school checking social media websites where they chat with friends and play games.” (Spencer) Education is the first need, especially when in school. On the off chance that the usual understudy is getting 150 text messages per day, that hints they are messaging, in any event, an amount of that in school. When understudies are messaging in school or visiting via web-based networking media places and locations, it makes it hard for them to concentrate in class, especially when they are playing with distractions. It causes different understudies to lie around in a lazy way, the individual on the telephone to watch him/her also changing to flow on a different path, changed to point to, or focus on, something else different schoolmates.

Understudies wish to accomplish high grades; however, with a cell phone, many are attracted to checking it at regular periods of time, distracting them from the class. “Health and human services researchers at Kent State University, in Ohio, surveyed about 500 undergraduate majors across a range of majors. One of their findings was that students with more cell phones had lower grade averages.” (Berger) Compared to other things, every understudy has a mobile phone, and they are all constantly on it.

On the off chance that understudies have brought down grade averages since they have had cell phones, it hints they are on it in school in the middle of classes, allowing distractions to hurt them. In this manner, allowing cell phones brought downgrades, which isn’t productive for anybody. Getting rid of phones from school will help understudies’ marks by enabling them to focus, bringing about decent grade averages. Distractions aren’t the main con about mobile phones. Cyberbullying is an important overall issue added by cell phones, too.

Cyberbullying: The Cell Phone Menace

Cyberbullying has turned into a common, widespread juvenile issue around the world. Billions of individuals are changing onto social sites and are messaging every month, enabling understudies to get in touch with one another from any place. At the point when understudies have cellphones in school, they can send anything they need to anybody they want with a click of one button. Phones are extraordinary devices; however, when put in the wrong hands, they can bring an understudy to tears. “According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the U.S. Health Department, roughly 85 percent of teens are bullied in school, and 25 percent of those teens are repeatedly bullied using cell phones. Fifty percent are too shy to talk about it.”

Amanda Todd: Cell Phone’s Tragic Tale

Bullying is an intense issue, and by permitting cellphones in schools, teachers are additionally ‘permitting’ bullying to happen. On the off chance that cell phones were not permitted in school, it would help more than 50 percent of bullied teenagers to be secure from cyberbullies. Cell phones are strong to the point that they can be utilized to bully somebody to the degree that the individual can’t take it any longer. “On October 12, 2012, a very sad and devastating incident where a Grade 10 student named Amanda Todd committed suicide. It started off when a stranger met her online, convincing her to strip. Later on, Amanda switched schools and found out he had created a Facebook account with a profile picture of her bare breasts.

She then tried to kill herself by drinking bleach. Students at her school would bully her, and she couldn’t take it anymore, resulting in her death.” Amanda had a positive and cheerful life until the point when she met somebody on the web and began accepting dangers from understudies on her cell phone at school. At last, she ended her life. Cell phones were utilized to bully Amanda and interfere with her during middle school. In the event that cell phones were not permitted at school, it might possibly have spared her life.

Unfortunately, numerous individuals around the globe wind up changing schools and inadvertently finishing associations with companions because of mobile phones tormenting and bullying. Ashley was, amazingly, one more young lady getting a charge out of school when, accidentally, one of her companions began to take photos of her utilizing her cell phones.

The pictures were then pieces of a phony profile on a social media website with her private data. Ashley later got some answers concerning the profile. The young lady had full control of Ashley’s ‘profile,’ and Ashley couldn’t make a move. Ashley was later compelled to switch schools. Mobile phones can be intense devices and, for Ashley’s situation, extremely unsafe ones. In the event that cell phones were restricted at schools, the young lady would never have taken an image of Ashley. Cell Phones must not be a part of the learning condition as they convey damage to the school and the understudies.

References

1. Thompson, L. (2014, February 18). “Cheating Epidemic: A Dive into Modern Day Examination Malpractices.” Education Today Journal.
2. KidWise Institute. (2022). “The Temptation of Cheating: Youth & Morality in a Digital Age.”
3. Spencer, A. L. (2023). “Teenage Tech Addiction: A Survey on Smartphone Usage.” Journal of Youth Studies.
4. Berger, M. J. (2021). “Distraction & Grades: How Cell Phones Impact Academic Performance.” Studies in Education & Technology.
5. Bureau of Justice & National Health Institute. (2020). “Cyberbullying Statistics: A Comprehensive Report on Teenage Bullying in the US.”

Abstract

Cyberbullying has been linked to various physical and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, suicide, drug abuse, and other substantial consequences. Quality detailing of cyberbullying prevalence is significant in the development of evidence-based policy and aversion strategies. The purpose of this informative essay is to detail the quality and reported incidences of cyberbullying in the United States, particularly focusing on high school and college students. Searches of peer-reviewed articles and journals on the topic have been conducted. An in-depth analysis of previous cases, statistical information, cases before the court, and news articles was conducted to comprehend the problem entirely and to find precautionary methods that could be undertaken. This article highlights a background situation on cyberbullying, cyberbullying prevalence in the U.S., cyberbullying effects on the victims, current legal policies and endeavors, and the preventative steps concerning cyberbullying.

Introduction

Cyberbullying is perceived as a severe health hazard in the United States and can be seen as an advanced form of peer-based animosity. Advancements in technology have altogether expanded teenagers’ utilization of the internet, online communication channels, and social media platforms, for example, Twitter and Facebook. Due to the uprise in cyberbullying instances, legislators have created laws and criminal sanctions for offenders. Cyberbullying can have a negative effect on its victims and while the act is starting to be heavily regulated, the best solution is prevention.

As stated by Marcum (2017), cyberbullying is characterized as ‘persistent and deliberate damage perpetrated using personal computers, mobile phones, or other electronic gadgets.’ Descriptions and the types of cyberbullying vary; however, some popular forms include badgering, stalking, flaming, impersonation, outing, phishing, and exclusion. Using digital technology, the culprit can send or post embarrassing or compromising statements or pictures of the person in question (the target person), to another person, or to an open discussion such as a public forum where numerous online participants visit. Cyberbullies utilize various sorts of electronic mediums to oppress their victims. These mediums may incorporate text messages, websites, email, blogs, social media platforms, public forums, and chat rooms (Notar, Padgett & Roden, 2013).

Unlike real-life harassment or bullying, cyberbullying exploits the obscurity of digital platforms, and also the likelihood of immediately spreading rumors, gossip, photographs, or other personal data, whether real or false, with the purpose of embarrassing, harming, or slandering a potential target. This happens at an alarmingly faster rate among kids and adolescents and, usually, is done by their peers. Common forms or types of cyberbullying that target high school and college students in the United States consist of spreading rumors over the internet, commenting mean or insensitive remarks on social media accounts, being blackmailed online, as well as being embarrassed through a mobile phone text (Notar, 2013). Ridiculing other individuals online, calling somebody fat, or ugly, or mocking their physical looks using online platforms are examples of cyberbullying activities.

As indicated by Reed (2019), 92% of U.S. kids and youth report going on the web every day, and 71% utilize at least one social media platform, which intensifies their introduction to cyberbullying. As indicated by Wright (2019) around 30% of students learning in public schools across the United States revealed being cyberbullied in 2018. In the United States, where an ever-increasing number of kids access digital ways of communication at a tender age, cyberbullying has become a typical subject. In April 2019, more than 33% of middle and high school learners in the United States expressed that they have at least once been victims of cyberbullying (Reed, 2019). In many cases of web-based harassment, the offenders are in a similar age group as their victim and, most times, a schoolmate or neighbor. As a result, some cyberbullying cases may not be reported.

Effects on Cyberbullying Victims

There are very many negative effects of cyberbullying. The results of cyberbullying can include a drop in academic performance, dropping out of school, physical violence, and sometimes suicide. Suicide is a negative effect frequently experienced in adult victims (Novak, & El-Burki, 2016). As per Wright (2019), cyberbullying is associated with severe consequences, such as low self-esteem, family problems, violence, academic problems, and criminal behavior.

Nevertheless, the most exceedingly horrible outcomes are suicide and violence. While cyberbullying has similar negative effects when compared to real-life bullying, it is conducted mostly without any physical contact or knowledge of the offender’s identity (Cavell-Clarke, 2018). These instances go well past the extent of real-life cyberbullying since unlike real-life bullying, cyberbullying can occur anywhere like school, at home, and any other place so long as technology is available (Cavell-Clarke, 2018). Various studies have suggested that even though it might happen less often than traditional bullying, up to 75% of students in the U.S. have encountered cyberbullying (Barlett, 2019). For that reason, there is a need for further research to acquire a conceptualized view of the number of students across the U.S. and worldwide who have encountered cyberbullying.

Due to their tricky nature and the constant harm, such harassment may dispense, cyberbullying is listed among the most crucial online security topics for both online youngsters and their folks. Cyberbullying is, without a doubt, one of the most examined subjects with respect to social media threats, as indicated by guardians in the United States. In 2018, 30 percent of guardians in the United States reported that their kid was a victim of cyberbullying. Most guardians globally know that social media, mobile phones, and web-based chat rooms are platforms for cyberbullying youngsters (Wright, 2019).

Laws

There have been several profoundly publicized suicide cases in which children and youth affected by social media threats, online blackmail, or hurtful rumors spread about them over the internet chose to commit suicide. These cases have led to the enactment of laws in the United States, which purpose is to discourage culprits and to protect victims of such acts. As of November 2018, at least 48 states in the U.S. had passed state cyberbullying laws, and 45 states have incorporated criminal sanctions for cyberbullying (Wright, 2019). Many state laws likewise centered around sexting, that is, the act of sending, receiving, or forwarding images or recordings with explicit sexual content. Even though the sender or receiver wished for this content to be private, the advancement of digital technology can lead these photos or recordings to spread to a broader public, particularly when, for instance, revengeful ex-accomplices spread these pictures on the web. This online behavior is known as revenge porn. As of October 2019, 26 states in the United States had sexting laws, and nine unequivocally incorporated the word sexting. A sum of 42 states has revenge porn laws (Tunick, 2019).

Michelle Carter case

This is one of the recent cyberbullying cases that involved a young teenage girl known as Michelle Carter The case of a former Boston College student charged in a Massachusetts court after she was linked to her boyfriend’s death bears conspicuous similarities to one of the most fascinating criminal legal proceedings over last few years. The said case is that of Michelle Carter’s texting suicide case. According to the prosecutors, the 21-year-old girl was accused of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide. The case relied on extensive text message evidence. In February 2019, Michelle was found guilty of Roy’s (her boyfriend’s) death and sentenced to involuntary manslaughter (Tunick, 2019).

Prevention

There have been varied sorts of programs carried out in the United States to combat cyberbullying apart from the laws and policies laid out by both the federal and state governments. Preventive measures have been extended to incorporate educative talks, software programs, and student cyberbullying campaigns to understand the destructive outcomes of cyberbullying. Counteractive programs are currently being created and assessed to address cyberbullying and cyber security problems among children and youths (Wright, 2019). Websites, various research, and other online forums may be the places guardians, and educators are receiving data about how to best safeguard their kids. Nevertheless, these online assets are frequently sponsored by associations that are marketing their products and are infrequently proof-based. Therefore, parents, educators, and school directors ought to be wary when exploring data at these websites and should concentrate on the resources and methods that are produced by the federal organizations and advocacy organizations that utilize research to come up with cyberbullying preventive measures and recommendations.

Interview

As a part of my research, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Almonacy, a senior that currently attends Southern New Hampshire University. Michael inquired that he had been a member of social media accounts since he was 12 years old. He stated, “When I was in middle school, it was the norm for kids of my age to be actively involved on Facebook and Twitter. I remember I had to lie on the Facebook user agreement about my age and had to create a fake email as well.” (Almonacy 2019). Michael shared firsthand accounts he had experienced at a young age. Certain instances included his peers creating fake pages of his classmates for the main purpose of making fun of the individual. He recalled one page that was made that involved a special needs classmate of his, whom he was particularly close with. “ Devon was like a manager to our middle school basketball team as even though he couldn’t play due to his disability, he would still help out with the team”, Michael stated. “There was a fake Facebook page going around posting unflattering pictures of Devon and was blatantly making fun of his disability.”(Almonacy, 2019). Michael claims he and his teammates notified their coach, and with the help of school administrators, got the page removed and were able to identify the person who created it. Michael reassured me that these real-life instances do occur and with the explosion of social media over the years, matters are only getting worse.

Conclusion

Cyberbullying is a current problem within today’s society and has especially been enhanced due to the technological enhancements of the last 20 years. This epidemic can affect people of all ages but is specifically prominent among today’s youth. Due to many heavily publicized cyberbullying cases that have led to suicide, states have started to recognize the issue and have implemented laws and incorporated sanctions for these cases. Though, special cases such as the Michelle Carter case has assured legislators that there are different levels to cyberbullying. There is no set-in-stone solution to cyberbullying, which means the best solution is prevention and educating online users, especially adolescents, about cyberbullying and the different forms it comes in. A way to increase awareness could be implementing a program much like the D.A.R.E program that many teens have been through. The program would start at an early age as kids today have access to technology earlier than ever. Programs like this could help combat the epidemic of cyberbullying and allow kids to understand the repercussions of their actions while online.

References

1. Barlett, C. P. (2019). Predicting cyberbullying: Research, theory, and intervention.
2. Cavell-Clarke, S. (2018). Cyberbullying.
3. In Novak, A., & In El-Burki, I. J. (2016). Defining identity and the changing scope of culture in the digital age.
4. Marcum, C. (2017). Cyberbullying.
5. Notar, C. E., Padgett, S., & Roden, J. (2013). Cyberbullying: Resources for Intervention and Prevention.Universal Journal of Educational Research, 1(3), 133-145.
6. Reed, T. V. (2019). Digitized lives: Culture, power, and social change in the internet era.
7. Staff, T. N. Y. T. E. (2018). Cyberbullying: A Deadly Trend. New York, NY: Rosen Publishing Group.
8. Tunick, M. (2019). Texting, suicide, and the law: The case against punishing Michelle Carter.
9. Wright, M. F. (January 01, 2019). Cyberbullying.
10. Almonacy, M. (2019, November 5). Personal interview.

The Pervasiveness of Cyberbullying

Have you ever been bullied or picked on before by another person? If so how did this bullying affected your mood, also if someone was to be bullied in some type of way in front of you would you step up and stop it. how is cyberbullying affecting society? Some people think cyber bullying just affects the people but however cyber bullying is affecting society because bullying people can be extremely hurtful to a victim and can also lead to stress/depression because of the social media we have today which people can make a bad reputation on somebody just by a tap of a button on a screen which some people might expose others by sending nudes pictures to other people or to the public that would spread fast and would make others look at somebody different.

Emotion starts to affect a person’s thoughts of things and leads to the final and worse thing is death, a suicide which a lot of most people choose to get other things. The minimum of bullying is not really effective like cyber bullying is really not affecting society cause of the social for most because some people can be the ones that start to be bullied when they are teased back they would feel mad or sad. Additionally, you’re in school and you like to talk about other people and somebody step up and talk about you even worse that really don’t affect the society if you the one that bullied but doesn’t like the consequence afterward. First, why do certain people decide to bully other students or people. I believe that the reason why is because the bully is either been bullied before or they lonely and needs to get attention so they choose to pick on other people to make them feel good, because feeling unimportant and left out can contribute to bullying. Everyone needs some attention, those who don’t have enough will soon turn into bullies at some part of the time. Even if they do have a couple of friends they may still crave the attention they feel they deserve but are not getting the correct attention. It is common for a bully to have had a problem at home.

The Psychology of a Bully

If a bully has a problem at home this could be physical or verbal abuse that will affect someone’s mind. That could turn a normal person into an aggressive and emotional being with a fragile mind. You have to understand that if this is the case then the bully is a victim too. And also probably have low self-esteem, if someone feels they are not smart enough and feel nervous if they are reading a passage in a story out loud to the class the and they begin to laugh and not pay attention to the reader could be rude to certain but soon they will react by bullying someone else.

Whatever the reason is, the easiest way for them to achieve that is by putting somebody else down. However, they will find out sooner or later that it is a losing strategy because someone will either fight back physically or mentally. Unfortunately, they will probably go back to finding a weaker person to pick on.

Second, bullies can be jealous of another person which be the reason they start to bully others. This goes with the previous reason of the bullying having low self-esteem. If a bully is jealous of a particular person, they will take their frustration out on that person. The main reason for jealousy is often popularity. The victim that is a target to be bully could be more popular than that certain who choose to be bullied so he/she can get on their nerves.

Unfortunately, some bullies don’t fit any of the above criteria. Because their main focus for bullying boils down to having a big ego. Cause their arrogance has made them believe that they are the best thing since sliced bread. Until someone challenges them on this, and they will continue to have the same frame of mindset of bullying other people, for example, a teenage student Mikaya Howard s from Creighton university started cutting herself because kids at her school had been teasing her about the cold sores she gets when stressed.

The Vicious Cycle of Bullying and Jealousy

“She had herpes” they would say thinking that meant some sexual disease. Which led to other teasings, when she would defend herself, they would her, and Mikayla walked the school halls fearful. Mikayla’s started counseling for depression, she wanted to end her own life. “When bullying is intense over a long period of time and more serious it has obviously a greater impact on the kids and each kid is impacted differently” Fr. Simonds says.

“Some kids strike out at other people, some people strike out at themselves, some kids get very depressed and sad. stopbullying.gov.com parents may not be aware of the apps that their children use regularly. There are many ways that bullying can be hidden in apps and sites, such as texts, videos, and web calls that disappear or do not appear on the device’s call or text message logs.

The Impact of Cyberbullying on Mental Health

This type of depression, causes other people or students to get hurt in many ways, and the reason why it causes other people is very different from the other. Some may probably compare their behavior but most committed suicide and others did not. Website- chinadaily.com so, what is cyberbully? Generally, any form of bullying that takes place through digital devices and the internet where people can view, commit and share can be called cyber bullying. cyber bullying may occur through any social media involving online interactions. Because of the most commons, things like hate, less knowledge, or the person (bullier) must do not have much, during the time or even their past tense. Therefore the only choice they would choose is by bullying others, so they can feel better. Reasons, why bullying is happening now of days, is because of the increase in technology (social media) which can most likely end someone’s career.

Bullying, whether the target is aware or not, causes a lot of stress, and stress-related health complications. The impact could be physical and/or psychologically debilitating, including but not limited to hypertension heart strokes, depression, etc. However means that bullying causes death or is more close to death which is stress, which also kills humans nowadays. But most teenagers get a target for bullying than other ages because they are more emotional and start to develop depression very quickly, which will give them thoughts of suicide and however would hurt their families and friends. Suicide is one of the biggest causes of death in adolescents worldwide. Between 5% and 20% of children are victims of bullying.

Additionally, the majority of children and young people under 25 who are victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to self-harm and enact suicidal behavior, according to a new study.  The research also suggests that it is not just the victims of cyberbullying that are more vulnerable to suicidal behaviors, but the perpetrators themselves are at higher risks of experiencing suicidal thoughts and behavior as well.

Cyberbullying is using electronic communication to bully another person for example, by sending intimidating, threatening, or unpleasant messages over the internet. Starting to negatively impact someone else’s life is just one way they can destroy a person by consulting picking and mistreating that scholar at school or that next-door neighbor. In addition to my previous statement, a bully’s main goal is to harm a targeted person’s reputation or relationship. Bullying can happen anywhere when an individual is feeling or being harm in any way which he/she would not like to be treated.

Therefore, even if you’re just texting on the phone, talking about a girl in your class that you don’t like and you make a mistake and say “she looks a …”. In a group chat and then a word get around school and others start to laugh and make fun of the girl because she might have a big nose and may look like a clown.

This can cause you to be a bully if you like the attention and add on and make that certain person feel bad just cause you to don’t that someone. However she might have not done you anything and you disliked a person because they talk too much, which is kind of a crazy reason to dislike a person cause they do have the right of speech so people can really say what they want if they’re not talking to you.

Cyber bullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones computers and tablets. Which occur through texting and using apps like social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participle in, or share content. Cyber bullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about a person. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyber bullying crosses the line of bullying into unlawful or criminal behavior.

Although all states have laws on making sure schools respond to bullying, many states do include cyber bullying under these laws or specify the role schools should play the role on responding to bullying that takes place doing or outside of school.

Even though cyber bullying does exists still and it is going on now. During the past years now from 2016- 2018 cyber bullying has slowly increased due to the key research, as a 2007 pew research study found 32 percent of teens have been victims of some cyber bullying. Just a decade later a 2016 study by cyberbullying research center found those numbers were almost unchanged just under the 34 percent of teens who reported they were victims of cyberbullying.

Legal and Institutional Responses to Cyberbullying

Meanwhile, parents remained among the highest to express confidence that their children were cyberbullied at least sometimes, a number that only grew from 2016 to 2018. Across Europe and the Americas, it also appears more parents are either becoming aware of their children’s negative experiences with cyberbullying, or their children are increasingly experiencing such attacks online. Therefore this type of action from bullying can cause a child to commit suicide. For example, in this article, it talks about how this boy came out at his school and the fun of him, so he killed himself. Jamel a fourth at Joe Shoemaker Elementary School in Denver, hanged himself in his bedroom, Ms. Pierce says her son committed suicide after a year in which he and his older sister were bullied frequently at school. Over the summer he had told his mother he was gay. Now she is angry at the school, which she believe the school should have done more to stop the taunts and insult. however, i agree on fact that the mother is angry with the school because i also do feel like the school could have did better on working on checking on their scholar and seeing if she or he have been or is being bullied. It would of made a big difference on stopping half of the bullying on proceeding. Because if the bullying was avoid during school than it would have major decrease on dead of suicide from the teenagers being bullied at school.

Although, bullying is still exists and is advance now of days, because we been having school shooting and the social media bullying is cause these shooting. For example from personal opinion. “Bullying and cyberbullying are two major problems that young teens and adults have. These two things are not the same, but they do in fact intersect one another. Lots of people are committing suicide every year just because of this problem. It starts online then it can lead to the neighborhood or even at your own house. An important key to knowing if you are being bullied is to talk to someone about it, don’t keep it to yourself. Cyber bullying happens in many of the common places online. This includes places like Twitter or Facebook, but it is also common in chats, instants messaging, and emails, and on messages boards. Thinking before you post anything personal about yourself online is really important. The same thing goes for if you are being bullied on the school campus. Talk to someone about it. Or stay near an instructor or someone where safe”.

When people are being bullied online or on campus, it hurts them and they can go into the stage of stress or depression. They might feel lost and they don’t know what to do about it. That’s when they can not trust anyone, and they become lonely. The worst part of it is when people find them dead. It’s a tragedy! Many people and family members have lots of unanswered questions. Of course, everyone wants to know who is involved, so they call the police immediately to investigate.

Meanwhile, bullying and cyberbullying are everywhere no matter what age or grade. Such as elementary schools, high schools, and even college. Bullies think it would be a lot better if all the people they harass would not be here. But the people who were bullied, and committed suicide, I know for fact if they still here, they would also have a better if the ones who started the bullying would face several punishments.

Therefore, if most teachers and parents would be more aware when it comes to being bullied. No matter if it is online or on school grounds. If teachers or faculty members see someone getting bullied they should take the bullies to the principal’s office for a talk on the harm they are causing to other scholars, so they can realize what they are really doing to people. The same goes for the parents if you know that child is being bullied at school they should speak up and take care of their business. Helping their children not continuing on being bullied.

This also goes for those who use computers, cellphones, or any other devices. If someone is posting negative things about you, the best thing to do about it is by talking to someone else about it like a friend or delete that social network. That way, you will never see it again and can just move on with your life. One of the reasons why people like to bully others online is just that they are jealous of those people.

This is exactly why bullying and cyberbullying need to have a better law. Lots of innocent people are killing themselves and killing others just because of this. It’s very important that everyone follows the rules when they make an account on any social media. There is not enough punishment taking place.

The Urgent Need for Stronger Laws and Awareness

The increase in bullying is affecting society because suicides rates have gone up and so as thoughts of suicide according to this graph, which I found on this website.

So, therefore, this graph describes the reason why some victims that have been bullied committed their death of suicide because of the four problems above on the graph.

In conclusion, I believe that these quotes best summarizes my research project. “People’s behaviors are messages, not a diagnosis because I can no longer discern the world’s version of insanity.” -Shannon L. Alder

Public shaming has gotten out of control in today’s world. It is mainly happening to anyone from middle school to college students. Online Shaming is a type of Internet vigilantism where targets are openly mortified for activities done secretly or without needing proposed open communicate utilizing innovation like social and new media. Advocates of disgracing consider it to be a type of online cooperation that permits hacktivists and digital nonconformists to right shameful acts. Pundits consider it to be an instrument that urges online hordes to annihilate the notoriety and professions of individuals or associations who made apparent insults.

Web based disgracing regularly includes the production of private data on the Internet (called doxing), which can as often as possible lead to detest messages and demise dangers being utilized to scare that individual. The morals of open embarrassment has been a wellspring of discussion over privacy and morals. many individuals resort to open disgracing severely and disappointment, the longing to get out terrible conduct, and the need to feel approved for their feelings. We feel legitimized in sharing that photograph or video, qualified for get out the impolite, uncouth, or improper conduct.

Many specialists were worried about the manner in which individuals’ online exercises can undermine truth, instigate doubt, endanger people’s prosperity with regards to physical and enthusiastic wellbeing, empower trolls to debilitate popular government and network, execute security, and open up bigger social divisions as computerized partitions enlarge and that’s just the beginning.

From owning a business or building your vocation, the truth of the matter is in case you’re a casualty of digital disgrace it can harm your money related future drastically. Individuals don’t set aside the effort to disentangle Internet reality from Internet fiction, they will basically proceed onward to the following specialist, attorney or piano instructor or whatever your calling is. The enthusiastic effect of advanced disgracing can be overpowering. You feel totally vulnerable and dread what bomb will drop next on the web.

There are some ways you can prevent cyber-bullying or online shaming and they will be in the following paragraph. Did you realize that 84 percent of individuals trust online surveys as much as an individual proposal? Address negative surveys speedily and expertly. Take them disconnected if conceivable , put forth a valiant effort to make it right. Assemble your social position: The inquire. 7 out of 10 purchasers will leave an audit if a business asks them to. 73 percent of buyers accept that audits more than 3 months old are never again applicable.

Remain present. 54 percent of shoppers will visit your site in the wake of pursuing positive surveys. Your site ought to be refreshed as often as possible, yet it’s your blog that is an expansion of your business card today. It lets your potential customer/buyer realize you’re keen on your field. A blog ought to be inside your site. Set your Google alarms and Google yourself and business routinely. Know about what is being said about you on the web so you’re set up to address it.

In conclusion, this online shaming situation has gotten out of hand. There are teens even young adults getting physically and mentally because others saying rude and very harsh things to one another. We are tearing each other down one by one and no one is doing anything to stop it.

Social networking has had a predominant impact on society in the 21st century, enabling residents to engage with each other in radically new and one of a kind ways. According to Brown (2011), we can fall in love online, create friendships, attend parties in other countries – all without leaving the alleviation (and anonymity) of our armchair. And while the Generation Ys and Xs in our society are main the adoption of the emerging social networking websites, it has been mentioned that the older generations are now catching up, with the strongest recent growth in utilization amongst the fifty five and 65 age crew. So, what does this apparent ‘revolution’ suggest for society? How is social networking altering the way people relate to every other, and can we say that it has led to an enhancement in relationships? This essay will argue that in the region social and political awareness, social networking has had a strongly high-quality effect. In different areas of society however, there is cause for some concern.

The thought of a ‘social network’ is not new. A social community in fact refers to any structure made up of people (or organizations) tied to one every other even though some kind of interdependency, such as friendship, frequent interest, monetary alternate and so on (Oxford Dictionary of Sociology 2011). What is radically new however, is web-based social networking, which has allowed these networked structures to strengthen in lots more great and elaborated ways. Beginning with specialized on-line communities in the 1990s such as GeoCities and Tripod.com, online social networking became a mass phenomenon in the 2000s with the development of individual user profile functions, and improved potential to share activities, and pastimes inside person networks. Nowadays, the main social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter enjoy huge success, with Facebook – arguably the most successful of these – boasting greater than 750 million customers worldwide.

The attraction of social networking seems to vary. Some surveys factor to more pragmatic social reasons such as “staying in touch with friends, organizing social activities, or flirting with someone”. Other research, however, allude to deeper psychological wishes such as the need for an experience of belonging, or the need to undertaking one’s identification (Ridings & Gefen 2004). Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, is positive that the chief attraction comes from social networking’s capability to empower human beings by way of giving them a ‘voice’. He is also positive that this potential has meant that his technological creation has been overwhelmingly a force for good.

In order to understand the results that the new media have had on social relationships, it is quintessential to damage the time period ‘relationship’ into three elements: relationship with the broader community, relationships with ‘friends’, and relationship with self.

In phrases of the relationship with the broader (sometimes global) community, there is a good deal evidence to recommend that the social media user has a higher focus of social issues. As a result of this higher get right of entry to to information, many social media users have a reinforced relationship with the broader community, with a extra instantaneous ability to turn out to be worried in collective action. This activist dimension of the web has been in particular evident in a wide variety of famous struggles against repressive governments in recent times. In Iran, for example, social networking grew to be crucial in the insurrection of the citizenry against the country’s presidential elections held in 2009, and broadly believed to be rigged. In response to the government’s monopoly over conventional media (newspapers, television and radio), many Iranians became to social-networking equipment each to flow into choice sources of news, and to organise a dramatic collection of street demonstrations in opposition to the authorities. A similar dynamic was once considered in the Egyptian revolution, where Facebook is mentioned to have performed a foremost role in organising the demonstrations that were eventually to convey down President Mubarak. According to Wael Ghonim, a key activist in the Egyptian uprising “This revolution commenced in June 2010 when hundreds of hundreds of Egyptians began participating content. We would post a video on Facebook that would be shared by using 60,000 human beings on their walls inside a few hours. I’ve continually said that if you prefer to liberate a society just give them the Internet’ (cited in Huffington Post 2011). Clay Shirky, a principal commentator on social media is most positive about the possible of the new networking applied sciences to bring about widespread social change. Shirky suggests that the distinguishing feature of web 2.0 technologies is that they have moved beyond the 20th century paradigm of passive media consumption to one of active participation. This shift from consumption to action, Shirky argues, has the plausible to free up human creativity, and to be a spur for most important collective change: “Our social equipment are not an enchancment to contemporary society”, he says; “they are a venture to it”.

While social networking has grow to be justly well-known in the world of politics and social struggle, its extra common and widespread use is in the greater neighborhood domain of private relationships. In this area we can additionally see many superb developments. On a basic level, social networking sites have established to be a very efficient way of establishing and retaining relationships with buddies and relatives. On this score, a current survey of US university college students observed that the most attractive feature of Facebook was its ability to help customers song down old faculty buddies (Pempek et al. 2009). Another undoubted appeal is the position that social networking can play in facilitating romantic relationships, although proof suggests that the extent of this use can also be overrated (Pempek et al. 2009). Perhaps the most powerful use in this structure of relationship constructing is the development of networks round shared interests and circumstances. Social networking has grow to be a dynamic way for the younger to construct an additionally guide close online communities round the thinking of self-relationships around cultural hobbies and artifacts; it help, for example, among victims of sure medical conditions.

There are then again a quantity of traumatic elements about this interpersonal dimension of social media. Some studies have shown that the first-rate of relationships with buddies can deteriorate where social media has replaced face-to-face verbal exchange. There are the guidelines too that despite the greater interconnectedness it creates, social-networking web sites like Facebook and MySpace can in reality go away some people feeling greater lonely and isolated (Cacioppo & Patrick 2009). As Cacioppo and Patrick (2009) explain: “For people who are already feeling lonely, Facebook popularity updates are simply a reminder of how much better everyone else is at making pals and having fun”. Networked, we are together, but so lessened are our expectations of every other that we can feel utterly alone. And there is the threat that we come to see others as objects to be accessed – and solely for the parts we discover useful, comforting, or amusing.

An area of specific subject in social relationships is cyberbullying. While bullying conduct amongst peers has usually been a phase of society, it seems that social networking creates possibilities for this to take place in mainly excessive and ways. This is attributed to certain traits inherent in on-line technologies, consisting of the potential to remain nameless while engaged in social networking activity, and additionally the networking capacity of social media, which approves bullies to gang up on victims in a a lot more efficient and relentless manner than in face-to-face conditions. This networking additionally capability that acts of bullying can be witnessed by numerous spectators, developing further humiliation for victims. The doubtlessly devastating effects of this use of social networking have been considered in a wide variety of excessive profile cases, inclusive of that of Ryan Halligan, a 13 year old college boy in the US, who was driven to suicide after receiving repeated immediate messages from faculty classmates accusing him of being gay. An effect of the case was once modifications in the laws, with the introduction of anti-bullying rules throughout several US state. Although instances like the Halligan one are extreme, a recent US survey found that as many as 40% of university students said experiencing some shape of cyberbullying.

A remaining place to think about is the impact that social networking has on relationships with the ‘self’. One of the fascinating elements of social media web sites such as Facebook, is that they give users a chance to form and assemble their social identity. Some commentators have viewed this as a fantastic development. Thus, it is recommended that social media offers human being’s tons extra manage over their self-appearance than in face-to-face communication, allowing them to assignment a nice photograph of themselves to the world.

Conclusion

Overall social networking’s impact on social members of the family seems to be a blended one. While one can factor to many benefits it has brought, especially in the place of political engagement and activism, there are some areas in our private relationships where the influence has not been a superb one. Perhaps the area of most difficulty is the phenomenon of cyberbullying which points to a worrying deterioration in social relationships. One simple task though, is that social media is now embedded in the social fabric, and its influence and utilization is only likely to grow. The assignment for society will be to hold tempo with this change, and to attempt to make sure that this new kind of ‘voice’ bestowed on citizens is overwhelmingly an putting forward and mutually respectful one. As social networking becomes more and more a section of our lives, it will be fascinating to see how this undertaking is met.