Bullying Enters the Cyber World
Thesis: Cyberbullying is a 21st century form of harassment that is resulting in psychological, emotional, and physical stress, which is why the issue of cyberbullying desperately needs effective laws and consequences to decrease the amount of victims that suffer from the act each year. This is especially true when considering the effects of cyberbullying and statistics, outcomes of cyberbullying cases, and lack of awareness that exists to help victims.
Introduction:
Bullying has been a critical issue for many decades
Many anthropologists believe bullying was in fact evident right from the birth of our species and was inherited from our primal ancestors
Monkeys and chimpanzees engaged in bullying-like behaviors
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This is especially true when considering the effects of cyberbullying and statistics, outcomes of cyberbullying cases, and the lack of awareness that exists to help …show more content…
Seventy percent of 55 million is over 38 million students
53% of children admit to having said something mean or hurtful to another person online
Children who are cyberbullied have a harder time getting away from the behavior
There is no escape for victims; usually bullied in school and online
Cyberbullying Cases:
Tyler Clementi-Clementi 's roommate during his freshman year at Rutgers University, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam in September 2010 to stream footage of Clementi kissing another man. On September 22, 2010, Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge
Jamey- 14 year old who committed suicide on Sept. 18, just days after posting on Facebook that "no one listened" to his cries for help.
Lack of Awareness (Laws):
There is no Federal anti-bullying law. Although 49 states have anti-bullying legislations, bullying is not illegal
New Jersey has two laws for cyberbullying, the New Jersey’s Cyber Harassment Law, which involves punishment for any offensive behavior in an electronic format, and the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, which defines bullying and related behaviors, requires training for school faculty in bullying and suicide prevention, and lists procedures for reporting
Cyberbullying has become a widespread problem. The more people have been using the internet, the more the number of cyberbullying incidents increase. According to document A, 25.1% of girls and 16.6% of boys reported being bullied in their lifetime. In addition to this, document A also
Bullying has occurred for many years and via the internet is a new form of bullying, giving higher chances for bullying to occur more often due to technology.
In her article “How the Internet Has Changed Bullying”, Maria Konnikova explained how bullying has reached technology, and in the workplaces of many adults. The Internet has made it harder to escape from bullying, and easier for bullies to escape from confronting their victims. Furthermore, the author stresses that cyberbullying not only targets high schoolers, but it’s affecting the lives of college students as well (Konnikova 1). Cyberbullying takes place in the Internet world where is easier for a bully to gossip and humiliate multiple of victims in a faster pace. The studies have shown that cyberbullying is making a greater impact in the victims’ and the bullies’ lives more than the traditional bullying and many people are not aware of it; therefore the schools, witnesses, and employers should work together to fight against cyberbullying and provide help to the victims and bullies.
The act of bullying has been present in children’s life throughout time. It has been seen in movies, books, and even real life situations. In recent years there has been in increase in the use of technology and the Internet. As a result a new type of bullying has been introduced to today’s generation of teenagers. This new type of bullying is known as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has a negative impact on the lives of the teenagers that experience it.
Forty-nine states have some sort of law against bullying. Only eighteen of them include online bullying, and twelve include off school behavior. Montana is the only state with no statewide law that specifically discriminates against bullying. The first anti-bullying state was Georgia, in 1999, and in 2011, New Jersey enforced the toughest bullying law of that time. “…the State will grade each school based on bullying standards, policies, and incidents.”
Currently, there is no federal law that directly addresses bullying alone. Although, if the bullying overlaps with some form of harassment then it can open up a case. Some examples would be making violent or death threats, physically harassment, proof of text messages or comments on social media, and committing hate crimes. Federally funded schools are obliged to address the issue of bullying, although 1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and will only intervene 4% of the time (stompoutbullying.org). Bullying in general should become a crime because of the affect it has on society and the victims. It is not taken as seriously as it should be taken in our society today.
Generations after generations teens have used the actions of bullying to hurt others they felt as a threat or to be in the “in crowd” of popularity. Traditional bullying was physical and thus confined to face-to-face contexts. However, with the development of widespread social interaction via social media websites, email, and text-messaging, teens have additional avenues of expression and, as a result, other means of bullying. Over time the bullying taking place using digital means has come to be known as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has brought the evilness out of teen’s actions, words, and thoughts whether they were the bully or the victim. Equally important, the ending results of these actions, words and thoughts have brought death, limited yet undefined punishable consequences if pursued, and slowly progressing methods to control cyberbullying as a whole.
Cyber bullying can be more terrifying than standard bullying, because the target typically does not know who is after them. Cyber bullies believe that because they are posting anonymously or not using their names, they can get away with anything. The case is that Internet activity is traceable. It is important to know that cyber bullying can be charged as crimes. In some cases, cyber bullies will be charged as sexual predators and have to be on the registry. Furthermore, items posted on the Internet can affect the person’s ability to get into university or employment.
All around the United States, the prevalence of cyberbullying ranges from 10-40% of people who get bullied through electronics. Furthermore, this is a problem caused by kids, teens, and adults who target one another online by repeating harmful threats and harassments. This conflict negatively impacts the victims’ life which is why anyone who cyberbullies should pay the consequences and be prosecuted.
Educators attempt to provide safe, nurturing environments where students can thrive. Any disturbance to this climate can have negative affects on students’ educational performances. Bullying is one such disruption. Unfortunately, physical and verbal abuse are nothing new in the school setting, however, the rise of technology in our country has created a new setting for bullies to target their victims. Cyberbulling, or the use of any number of technological means to harm or harass another, has become an increasingly prevalent occurrence, specifically among school-aged children (Campfield, 2006).
Children are bullied for thousands of reasons, none of them are valid (Hile [pg. 26]). There aren’t any causes that puts a child at risk of being a bully or being bullied by others. It can happen anywhere in any city, town, or suburb. It also can depend on the environment, such as upon groups of gays, ...
Cyberbullying should be a criminal offense because whether it’s bullying or cyberbullying, it still damages a person emotionally and physically. Admittedly, many will argue that it is crossing the line to force perpetrators behind bars when it is not even bullying, but some foul words thrown in social sites. However, there is no difference between cyberbullying and offline bullying when it is still an issue that constantly eats away at its victims, abusing them with hurtful words and messages. “The United States Department of Health and Human Services calculated the percentages of bullied victims, where 37% of teens have been physically bullied, while 52% of teens have been cyberbullied” (Cyber/Bullying Statistics). Studies shown indicate that there have been more cases of cyberbullying than offline bullying, whereas people believe that “cyberbullying is not real bullying” and “it is to speak out in what...
Imagine being personally targeted and bullied by another individual constantly. Maybe never seriously injured but verbally abused in person and possibly online. The issue of cyberbullying can be quite pivotal in this new generation. Cyberbullying is a controversial matter that the world must address because of how it can occur anywhere at any time, causes harm to targeted people, and affects all associated parties.
Stutzky suggests that cyber bullying is the use of modern communication technologies to embarrass, humiliate, threaten, or intimidate an individual in the attempt to gain power and control over them. Bullying has been around since the beginning of time. These days however, bullying isn’t just happening on the playground, it’s happening on the internet and mobile phones, making it possible to bully a child 24 hours a day. Cyber bullying follows children around the clock and into the safety of their own bedrooms. A recent survey by MindOh!, an educational company that follows youth trends, reported that nearly 80% of the 5,500 teens that were surveyed said that they had been exposed to cyber bullying. Cyber bullying affects the mental health of so many young adolescents around the world, and the issue is steadily increasing as more and more ways to bully are created.In extreme incidents, cyber bullying has led teenagers to suicide. Most victims, however, suffer shame, embarrassment, anger, depression and withdrawal. While technology continues to evolve, new means of communication enable today’s bullies to become more effective in terrorizing and tormenting their victims. The aim was to increase awareness and decrease the prevalence of cyber bullying- Year 9 at Meridan State College being the stakeholders (people involved).
With technology progressing, students are moving past face to face hectoring, and are verbally bullying other through social media. Cyberbullying can sometimes become more harmful than verbal, physical, and emotional bullying due to victims, not feeling like they have an escape route because they are threatened repeatedly through text messages, e-mails, social media, etc. The worst part about cyberbullying is that the things posted can be anonymous; therefore, there is no blame for who posts what. A victim can suspect that someone is to blame for the actions done, but there is no proof to solve a possible ongoing issue. Cyberbullying and bullying are actually considered a crime when someone: physically assaults another person, gender or racism is talked about, violent or deadly threats are made, sexually texting, inappropriate photos, stalking,