Dbq Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is defined as behavior online that is “repeated, hostile, and severe with the intent to embarrass, threaten, or harass”, and it has become a serious problem. With the new popularity of social media and technology, victims of bullying have been finding it impossible to escape the onslaught of rude and embarrassing comments. Because of this, Congress has been trying to pass a law that states that people should be held responsible for the comments they make. Individuals should be prosecuted if the cyberbullying endangers someone's life, or severely affects the victim. First, cyberbullying can lead to embarrassment and shame, which can be amplified by the wide audience. The Ophelia Project Fact Sheet states, “The Infinite Bystander Effect: In a traditional bullying situation, the number of bystanders is limited to whoever is present at the time of the incident. With cyberbullying, the aggression remains present online and can be viewed by anyone with access to the web.”(Source 3) Because anyone can see the

The Ophelia Project talks about it on the fact sheet, “Empathetic Disconnect: This describes the inability to sense the emotions and feelings associated with the receipt of a message. In traditional bullying, an aggressor immediately sees the hurt they have caused the target. The lack of immediate emotional feedback in cyberbullying allows an aggressor to continue the hurtful behaviors unchecked. Also, due to the ability to maintain anonymity on the Internet, an aggressor and target may never know each other or interact face-to-face.”(Source 3) If the bully can see the hurt they have caused, they often would stop before it escalates too far. However, over the internet, the bully cannot see the victim, or know what they are feeling, therefore going too far and pushing the target towards