Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying

Bullying has been quite a long time in the world dating back to the colonists that first came to America. Bullying is a form of abuse which involves emotional, verbal, and physical abuse. It usually comprises of repeated acts over a periods of time with a powerful person or group abusing people that are less powerful. Cyberbullying started around the early 90's when the internet started to spread like wildfire. The internet created a major span into the bullying ways that people couldn't dream of when it first started. No longer is bullying strapped to schoolyards or outside the classrooms, it is now inside a person's home, and the mobile devices of children. It can happen now 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Cyberbullying starts off with people sending hateful, harassing, or threatening messages to other people. With the technology that is in the world today people can even spread rumors, even send pictures or videos of people in embarrassing ways to even further hurt the intended target. There are a few suicides linked to cyberbullying that has sparked more attention to how much a problem this has become. Using the internet to bully someone can be down anonymous and most of the time people have no idea where it coming from and if something bad happens from it there is no trace back to the person that committed the crime. No one knows why people bully other people. Some are motivated by anger, revenge, and some just do it for fun because they are bored. With cyberbullying a bully can pick on people with much less risk of being caught. The Internet makes bullying more convenient and since the victims reaction remains unseen people who wouldnt normally bully dont take it as seriously. "Cyberbullying has turned the usual image of "the bully" on its head; it's no longer only the "tough kids" who may act aggressively it can just as easily be the shy, quiet types, hidden behind their computers."(www.bewebaware.ca).

Cyberbullying

"According to the National Crime Prevention Council, 43 percent of teens have reported that they have been victims of cyberbullying in the last year" (www.mass.gov). People that are often bullied can experience problems that can interfere with their social and emotional development skills and also hurt their school performance. Even with that in mind some people just can't take the abuse and they end up committing suicide rather than continue to be bullied. While some may believe bullying is bullying, A study by Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. and Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. of the Cyberbullying Research Center discovered that's not the case. According to their study, "Cyberbullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experienced cyberbullying." There was a myth going around that said bullying is "character-forming" and "a part of life". That was the way of life for everyone going through school to either put up with it or do something about it. That myth is rubbish and is no longer acceptable as cyberbullying has brought bullying into the spotlight and shown how bad it is to people. The law has now gotten involved and starting to crackdown on bullying. Bullying will always persist in the our culture. There are tons of ways that bullying has or will happen and no one can stop it, but people can prevent it. Schools take all types of bullying seriously. As soon as the cyberbullying starts go to school officials for help. Cyberbullying is often an extension or escalation of bullying that is already happening at school. Parents can help spread the word about being responsible about using the internet. People may not be able to stop the invasion but at least people can be aware of what to do in case something does happen.

Cyberbullying References Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2010. Cyberbullying, Date retrieved 10/2/10

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=cagoterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Community+Safety &L2=Cyber+Crime+%26+Internet+Safety&L3=Keeping+Young+People++Safe&sid=C ago&b=terminalcontent&f=community_cyberbullying&csid=Cago Media Awareness Network, 2010. Cyberbullying, Date Retrieved 10/2/10. http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/cyberbullying.html WiredKids, Inc., ND. What is cyberbullying, exactly?, Date Retrieved 10/2/10. http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/index2.html