Most of us have heard the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. With today’s technology, that saying may no longer hold true. Studies show that in the past five years, online bullying has quadrupled (M. Ross, 3). The technology has given bullies a whole another proposal for their actions; virtual name-calling can have harsh effects on the security of kids and teens in today’s society. An online bully is someone who sends messages via technology, hides behind that keyboard and uses words or pictures to embarrass and bully their target.
The online bully’s goal is to make their target feel weak; these online bullies can be referred to as a cyber bully. Cyber bullying is the exercise of using technology to embarrass, threaten, harass, or target another person; according to its definition it occurs among young people (New, 4). It is usually performed by a child’s peers and surprisingly occurs early as the second grade (Jacobs 1). Cyber bullying can even be unintentional, especially through the use of emails, IMs, and text messages because the tone of the sender may be hard to depict. However, recurring emails, online posts, and texts are hardly ever unintentional (124). As the number of youths increase that have the availability to technology, cyber bullying is likely to continue to rise and continue to take its toll on youth. Due to its excessive effect that it has on children today, Cyber bullying should be taken more seriously.
Cyber bullies bully for a reason, just as all bullies do. There are many reasons that the bully may perform this horrible crime; the bully “may feel bad about themselves and may think being a bully will make them feel better” (Jakubiak 8). The cyber bully also mig...
... middle of paper ...
...ttle signs should be watched out for. It may only take one bully to tear down a child, but all it takes is a supportive and action-taking family and friends to build it back up.
Works Cited
Jacobs, Judge Tom. Teen Cyberbullying Investigated: Where Do Your Rights End and Consequences Begin? Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, Inc., 2010. Print.
Jakubiak, David J. A Smart Kid’s Guide to Online Bullying. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2010. Print.
Margaret Ross. Kamaron. Kamaron Institute, n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. .
New, Michelle. KidsHealth. The Nemours Foundation, January 2009. Web. 01 Dec. 2014. .
Stop Cyberbullying. WiredKids, Inc., n.d. Web. Dec. 2014. .
The definition of bullying uses broad statements to define the actual meaning. Because of this, people may view the definition differently than others. Bullying can range from physical violence to verbal abuse to even cyberbullying. Most people do not realize how common cyberbullying actually is. Over half of teens and adolescents have been bullied online and almost the same number have engaged in the bullying (“Cyber Bullying Statistics”). Cyberbullying is becoming more and more prominent throughout this time period because of the technology continuing to expand around the world. Each year this statistic increasingly grows due to the technology
Bullying is nothing new but now times have changed because technology has made it possible for teenagers to bully one another without having to be face to face. This type of bullying is known as Cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is another method that is being used in today’s society to bullied one another and it takes place using technologic devices such as; computers, tablets, cell phone and using social media websites such as; facebook, twitter Instagram etc.. Although cyber bullying is not physical it has become a big problem in today’s society affecting many families psychologically and resulting in irreversible outcomes.
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.
Traditional bullying that used to occur commonly on school-grounds has now been over shadowed by harassment through the Internet and other technology related devices. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary “cyber bullying” is defined as ...
The playground bully is a classic figure in the life of children. Shoving, pushing, pinching, name-calling, and dirt-throwing are some of his favorite pastimes. In the modern world, however, bullying is moving to another arena, one much more sophisticated and secretive than the jungle gym. Bullying that takes place online, or cyberbullying, is a growing area of concern among the younger generations. Recent events have thrown cyberbullying, rather unceremoniously, into the spotlight.
Bullying has been an childhood problem for many and has been recognized as a serious issue. Campbell (2005) quotes Peterson (2001) stating that bullying is “the abusive treatment of a person by means of force or coercion” (qtd. in Campbell, 2005). Bullying is hurtful and can happen for no reason. It is a quick fix to make the bully feel satisfied and assert power (Campbell 2005). Cyber bullying is just one form of bullying and involves many different methods of harassing an individual. Use of the Internet via websites such as Facebook and Twitter along with both instant messaging on computers and text messaging on cell phones, allows a bully to target a victim with the use of anonymity. The anonymity of cyber bullying permits the use of technology to attack a victim without having to be in the same location as the victim and many times without the victim ever discovering whom their attacker is (Nuccitelli, 2012, p. 20).
McQuade, III, Samuel, James Colt, and Nancy Meyer. Cyber Bullying: Protecting Kids and Adults from Online Bullies. First Edition. Road West, Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2009. 47-49. Print.
Bullying includes two people, a harasser and a victim. The bully abuses the victim through words, actions, or other ways in order to gain supremacy and dominance. This may be done directly by hitting, physically or verbally assaulting face-to-face or behind a screen: gossip, rumors, etc. According to Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin’s Preventing and Responding to Cyber bullying: Expert Perspectives, cyber bullying is defined as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices,” and that it has become a growing issue. Cyber bullying is a universal social concern today. It is the use of technology most likely social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to harass, threaten, or humiliate another being. According to Justin Patchin’s Preventing and Responding to Cyber bullying: Expert Perspectives, “Estimates of the number of youth who experience cyber bullying range from 5 to 73 percent, depending on the age of the group and the definition of cyber bullying.” It is hard to believe that cyber bullying happens every second. Although bullying is a well-known problem, it can also be ignored or go unnoticed. Cyber bullying has been one of the fastest growing problems and it’s a shame that some people who witness it do not take action upon it. Though cyber bullying does not cause physical damage, research shows that the harmfulness can be much worse. It causes psychological, emotional, behavioral, and may eventually lead to physical damage. Targets of cyber bullying are more prone to committing suicide compared to those who have not been victimized by it. For many years, “technology has changed the landscape of children’s lives” (Williams and Guerra, 15). Thus a few r...
As we are living in the age of technology, we are seeing our youth being victimized by a new phenomenon of bullying, called cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is defined as the use of information and communication technologies such as email, cell phones and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate repeated and hostile behavior by an individual or group, which is intended to harm others. Cyberbullying can also employ media such as PDAs, blogs, and social networks (Beckstrom, 2008). This form of bullying is progressive because it can happen instantly due to the technology involved, whereas traditional bullying tends to take longer to evolve and happens
Internet usage in children and adolescents has been increasing in a steadily fashion in the past number of years and with the increase in internet usage, a new form of bullying has developed – Cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can be defined as “the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person,” (Merriam-Webster, 2012). This form of bullying can come through various mediums including but not limited to text messages, emails, videos, and social networking sites. There is an overwhelming amount of information that defines cyber bullying, identifies the demographics of bullies and victims of cyber bullying, and identifies the outcomes of cyber bullying on victims. More focus needs to be placed on who the perpetrators of this form of violence are and how this form of violence is linked to traditional bullying. This will allow researchers and practitioners to move forward with research and implementation preventative methods and intervention once the problem has already occurred.
In conclusion, cyber bullying is a problem that is growing exponentially with the expansion of today’s technology. In order to stop the hatred thrown onto children through the Internet, preventative strategies need to be put in place. Too many children are being worn down mentally and emotionally due to being bullying anonymously on social media, through texts, and over email messages. Ignoring this problem can not continue. There are so many promising preventative routes to take when approaching cyber bullying. More people need to be educated and aware of the prevention methods available to them, because the varieties of prevention methods are endless.
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, ...
Cyber bullying can get worst than bullying, It has more harmful effects. It can have long lasting impacts on one’s life. “Cyber bullying is different from bullying because people can use the disguise of anonymity to harass their victim” (Scully, etal). It can have life threatening impacts and it can be more dangerous than bullying in certain ways that in cyber bullying most of the times people do not know who is bullying or trying to hurt them, it can create more trouble because one does not know from where a bully is trying to blackmail or what they actually want? How dangerous they can be proved to their victim? Or what kinds of harm they can cause? “A traditional bully is often finished when a child reaches home but cyber attackers can follow their victim online, tormenting them 24/7 and in front of much larger crowd. This can cause children to feel there is no escape” (Saenz). Nowadays cel...
Mickie Wong-Lo and Lyndal M. Bullock, in their encouraging attempt to intervene in incidents of cyberbullying, have recommended many ways to deal with it. In their article entitled “Digital Aggression: Cyberworld Meets School Bullies”, they asserted that children do not acquaint their parents with their activities on the Internet and as a result parents do not know how to address similar situations (67). According to Kowalski, parents ought to follow “reporting techniques, which includes knowing when to ignore, block, or react, being mindful of the language being used and respond appropriately;” (qtd. in Wong-Lo and Bullock 68). In other words, the authors rightly emphasize that systematic supervision and knowledge can be valuable measures because parents will monitor children’s use of Internet and will be able to provide appropriate guidelines just in case a danger arises (Wong-Lo and Bullock 68). Moreover, as Keith and Martin argue, “[…] incorporating popular youth technology would be to teach youth how to use a social networking site to promote themselves in a positive manner that would appeal ...
Nowadays bullying has gone much farther than just physical violence. Most teens today have either been cyber bullied or have been witnesses to it. Cyber bullying is a form of bullying that is done over electronic messaging or over social media. This is very new to many people of the older generation, but is very relevant to the new generation. Cyber bullying is becoming an increasingly big problem in the U.S. every year. Being a kid who has grown up with technology and social media I have witnessed cyber bullying many times in my life. I have had many friends that have fell victim to cyber bullying and this is why I chose to talk about this topic. Since this topic of bullying is overlooked in our society as not being an issue I decided to choose