Negatives Of Cyberbullying

Bullying has moved beyond the classrooms and is now an issue that intrudes into the homes of the victims. According to a video compilation of multiple statistics, in 2011 the average teenager spent an hour and 50 minutes on social networks – 79 percent of the total amount of time the average teenager spends on the internet – and 31 percent had shared information and other content that they would not want school officials or their families to see (MySecureCyberspace). As this generation of children and young adults continues to become more involved with social media, their risk of being affected by cyberbullying increases dramatically. Unlike the more physical form of bullying the older generation is accustomed to, cyberbullying does not bear

In many cases, cyberbullying poses an even greater threat in comparison to the “normal,” more physical form of face-to-face bullying as it usually results in the both cyberbullying and bullying. Since cyberbullying is commonly conducted by acquaintances of the victim and even ex-friends seeking revenge, real-life bullying is usually taking place as well. With screennames and distance to hide behind, perpetrators often feel that their actions will not be punished or discovered, leading many – even those who would not normally be a face-to-face bully – to participate in the harassment of another. In 2011, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) reported that approximately 2.2 million students who had been subjected to cyberbullying. Being one of the few studies to focus on cyberbullying overtime, the NCVS revealed that in just two years, the percentage of students who had been cyberbullied rose 2.8 percent. If this data were to represent the whole population of teenagers from the age of 12 to 18, it would mean an increase of approximately 700,000 students (Cyberbullying Research Center). Regrettably, these statistics show no sign of decreasing. Instead, the numbers continue to increase every year as more teenagers and young adults become active on social

Even so, cyberbullying did not pose much of a threat to me or the students I talked to. Often, discussions were held as part of the English curriculum about important cases – such as cyberbullying – that had spanned national news. These discussions were a great way for the students to see how bullying and other harmful actions are a detriment to another person. The most effective in deterring said behavior was the school’s “open door policy” that required all adults to uphold. Most students had at least one trusted adult they felt comfortable disclosing their concerns with, and most of the school officials made an effort to talk to each student one-on-one. If there was a problem, the situation was usually dealt with promptly and