Essay On Cyber Victimization

1012 Words3 Pages

A major concern of social network sites that has recently emerged is the issue of cyber bullying. “Cyber-bullying is deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most common online risk for all teens and is a peer-to-peer risk.” (16) Abundant data has been collected that exhibits the negative features of social networking sites and cyber bullying or victimization among young people. Originally, bullying occurred during face-to-face interaction in a school yard. However, with the advancement of technology, new forms of bullying have occurred via the use of texting on cell phones, posting of comments, or videos that have been created on websites or blogs. (16)
Multiple studies report on the increase of cyber bullying. Thirty-two percent of children between the ages of 10-17 years state they have been bullied via text messages. (16) It has been reported that the incident of online harassment has doubled in the year 2005 in comparison to the year 2000. (17) The National Children's Home study stated that 25% of children have reported being bullied on the internet at least once before reaching high school age. (17)
The concern of cyber exploitation or cyber harassment (advances, bullying, and stalking) must be considered very seriously. Many victims report detrimental feelings as the result of cyber victimization. Victims of cyber exploitation, whether it be bullying, stalking or unsolicited sexual advances, report feelings of unhappiness, being flawed, humiliation, depression and guilt, as well as self-harm and retreating from family and friends. (17) Adolescents described an extraordinary amount of cyber bullying occurring from both those the tee...

... middle of paper ...

... is also an increase of peer pressure. (24) The researchers note that people are more likely to change their mind on “liking” an item or expression based on the reaction of others. In regards to teenagers, many begin to form their self-esteem based on the opinion of others. Many youth report negative feelings when the responses they receive on social network sites are not ideal or expected. (24)
Conclusion

We cannot deny that social media has taken over conventional media in the world today. We can easily see that they have impacts on our society. Social media is changing the way we interact, share and communicate, however it's not necessarily improving these aspects of our society. True to be told, social media can have the exact opposite effect. Whether it's minimizing face to face interaction, breaching our society's privacy and internet bullying social media

Open Document