Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The impact of cyberbullying among teenagers
Cyberbullying cause suicides essay
Cyber-bullying and it its impact on mental health
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The impact of cyberbullying among teenagers
In the beginning, there were computerized bulletin boards. In 1997, AOL created instant messaging, a real-time way to chat online. The next big sensation was Friendster. Friendster, created in 2002, was one the first social networking sites. However, the site was slow and not very efficient, leading to a drop in the amount of users. Before long, MySpace replaced Friendster, launching in 2003 (Szumski). This led to the development of many other social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With the creation of these sites, communication was transformed. Statistics have shown that 73% of U.S. adult use social networking (Lunden). However, do the people who use these sites know how they affect our society? Social networking …show more content…
Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person. Before social networking, those who were being bullied at school could go home and escape the bullying. Now, the bullies just have to log in to their profile and can continue to bully their victim. Even worse, more people can see it and join in on the teasing and taunting (Szumski). In addition to causing stress, this form of bullying can increase the chances of alcohol and drugs use, skipping school, low self-esteem, and lower grades at school. It can also increase the risk for several health problems (“What is Cyberbullying.”). These health problems include depression, anxiety, loss of sleep, and suicidal inclinations and/or thoughts (“Cyber-Bullying and its Effect on Our Youth”). A recent research done by members of the Cyber Bullying Research Center stated that those who are being cyberbullied are almost twice as likely to have committed or attempted suicide compared to those who are not cyberbullied. As unfortunate as it is, several cyberbullying cases end in suicide. In 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier committed suicide as a result of cyberbullying. In another case, friends of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi revealed that Clementi was gay on Twitter. In the end, Clementi decided he could not take the public humiliation and also committed suicide (Szumski). Although these problems are the same for all types of bullying, victims are a lot less likely to report cyberbullying than in-person bullying. One study reports that more than half of young victims do not tell their parents/guardians about the cyberbullying (“Cyber Bullying Statistics.”). According to one study, 33% of teenagers have been cyberbullied. In 2011, one million children were bullied through Facebook (“Cyberbullying
Social media is so popular that according to a recent article published by forbes.com, “72% of American adults are currently using social media sites; that figure has gone up 800% in just 8 years”(Olenski). Social networking was originally created to simply reconnect people with old high school pals, but in recent years it has evolved into a completely different operation. When social media first originated it was also intended for adult usage, which has in recent years expanded into the usage of all ages. Social media can create a negative affect on lives because it has been proven to be a dangerous addiction, for it takes away interpersonal relationships that are essential in life, and it has been proven to prevent people from being productive in life.
Besides cyberbullying, there are many other negative outcomes for American youth in the use of social media websites like Facebook. For example, many teens are using shorthand and abbreviations when writing or communicating online. Additionally, teens lose themselves in social media, ignore their surroundings and even become addicted to social media. Consequences of this include a rise in obesity, devaluation in family, lack of exercise and decrease in focus on school and homework. Adolescents that use social media more often than others are more prone to “narcissistic tendencies,” “anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders” (Protalinski, 2011). American youth that share more online also display manic, aggressive and antisocial behaviors.
...ile Steven Pinker believes that social networking is improving society and Sherry Turkle finds it to be harmful to individuals, the real answer lies in-between the two positions. “It is a well-known fact that the web is a valuable asset for research and learning,” stated Sue Scheff in her article “Social Networking Sites Can Limit Interpersonal Skills and Physical Activity,” “…[but] it can also be a very dangerous place” (1). While the Internet is beneficial in gaining knowledge and connecting with others, it will always come with downsides as well because it can become addictive and an easy source for predators and bullies to prey on those who are vulnerable. Ultimately, “it is in our collective interest to ensure that the Internet lives up to its potential as a revolutionary connective medium” (Pariser 11) while being aware of the risks and practicing self-control.
This research is unique because it will give light to the individuals who are against social networking that will not take to consideration that it has any positive outcomes at all and to those who believe that social networking has no downfalls and are too blinded by the social networking to even notice the affects it has on their own lives.
Since the late 1990s, the proliferation of social networking sites has grown to permeate the lives of not only Americans but also people worldwide. Beginning in 1997, the use of social networking sites has grown to the point where “Facebook reported one billion monthly users worldwide on October 4, 2012” (Procon.org). Established less than ten years ago in 2004, Facebook is currently the world's most popular social networking on the planet, counting one out of seven people worldwide interacting with its site. Academic literature has exhaustively researched the use of social networking in recent years but one question has yet to be resolved: Do social networking sites cause more harm than good? This discourse takes the position that, despite the many harmful effects observed by the use (or misuse) of social networking sites, on balance they been of overall benefit to both individuals and societies across the globe. While this brief discussion cannot hope to unequivocally determine the question of good versus harm, it will present an argument to support the conclusion that social networking sites have both useful commercial, with personal applications, and should be considered a boon rather than a bane to our 21st century world.
Some believe that social networking sites should be controlled by the government as it would protect our fellow children and maybe another generation. It has been reported in the news for some time that some children have been bullied on these sites which caused them to commit suicide. Was the invention of social networking sites good or bad? Not all children use social networking sites to create havoc or destroy other people’s lives and many agree they have a positive effect.
Social media began in 1969 and started affecting teenagers’ lives in 1971 when the first email was sent. Out of almost 3 billion users of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, millions of them are teenagers (Facebook 1). Teenagers spend too much time on social network putting their lives on different types of risks like cyber bullying, risk their education, illegal activities, loneliness, and drama. As time passes, more and more teenagers are being attracted to the new social networks. Thanks to all this all new social pages, younger people are able to start using the internet just like teenagers and adults use it and they are putting themselves in more danger than teenagers since they sometimes use false information to access these pages and are more likely to be convinced of doing something wrong or be affected by others. The Government is not doing anything to stop the over use of social network among teens and younger people.
There has been controversy as to whether parents should limit the use of social media by teenagers. Teenagers feel that there is no need to limit the use of their social media networking, but on the other hand, parents should feel the need to limit their use and also keep track of their teen’s social networking. Social media allows students to be connected with their peers, teens who post positive status are more likely to be involved in extracurricular activities, and for many teens putting up “selfies” is a self confidence boost; however, too much social media can affect students GPA in school, cyber bullying can affect social health. Social media networks can give out personal information. Social media sites such as Facebook are one of the most popular social media sites that has 700,000-750,000 members joining each day.
Social media can have detrimental effects on the formation of an adolescent’s identity such as social isolation meaning that the individual will spend excessive amounts of time attached to any electronics that will provide him with social media access. Social networking has been debated to have beneficial or detrimental effects, as overuse and abuse of the Internet can be harmful to someone, such as an adolescent. According to the National Crime Prevention Council, over one million teenage girls are victimized psychologically as well as physically, through social media.
One of these disadvantages is whether there is invasion of privacy while people are on social networking sites. With having personal information online, some wonder if their information is really safe despite social networking sites having various safety tools. Another disadvantage of social networking is that it could lead to someone missing at on a job or a dream school. It is often said that employers now check the Facebook page of prospective employees. The same potentially could be said about universities when they are deciding which students to accept or reject. One post could basically ruin one’s future. There seem to be many more disadvantages, such as does cyberbullying and the spread of false
In this day and age, many individuals simply cannot go without some sort of socialization. Specifically speaking, most participate in online social networking sites. The most popular and used one is commonly known as Facebook. Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. By 2007, Facebook had over 21 million users, adding up to 1.6 billion page views every single day. The typical user spends over twenty minutes per day on Facebook and two thirds of the users log in every day at least once. It is not questionable as to why many people have a Facebook account. Facebook is generally efficient, easy for socialization, and not difficult to manage. Most organizations are affiliated with Facebook, as “almost 22,000 organizations had Facebook directories,” as of November 2006. A year after that in 2007, Facebook was named the seventh most popular website (Ellison 1). However, with anything well known, many oppose to using Facebook and hold criticism against the popular network. There are many flaws in the website and the relationships it starts online. Facebook is risking dangerous activities, ignoring privacy laws, and demeaning healthy socialization.
The negative effects of social networking sites overweigh the positive. These sites has resulted in an impact of potential hazards to the community. The students are victims of social networks more often than others. This is because the consequences when they learn or find their course material online, they get attracted to these sites to kill their boredom in their studies and also distract them from their duties. Other negative effects of social networking sites include the following:
The common definition of social media would be “the relationships that exist between network of people” (Walter & Riviera, 2004). For the past years, the ever changing Internet and World Wide Web have caused the virtual and electronic world to evolve in such ways that mankind never expected. With this new and improved method of transferring information through social networks and media people of almost all ages can now be able to exchange ideas, personal information, and feelings with great ease and without the hassle of telephones and massive payments. Schill (2011), an expert in the field, studied the current situation and concluded that these social network websites are promoting a negative feedback on the population and causing people to waste their time and procrastinate. It has also promoted cyber bullying and terrorism. For example, every day of the week, adults and children, regardless of their ages, spend numerous hours hypnotized by the virtual world chatting with friends and family through different mediums such as Facebook, Twitter and many more. There have been multiple studies made in order to clarify the relationship between social media and students.
However, there are also some negative effects of social networking sites. Spending too much time on social networking sites affects people’s work and study, and people will become more and more isolated from their friends in real life. Moreover, it is difficult to protect users’ privacy on social networking sites, so it may result in the risk of revealing personal details. All in all, the popularity of social networking sites depends on the copycat effect among people, convenience in themselves, and their good functions. When social networking sites are becoming an important part of people’s lives, people should learn to make the most of these sites instead of wasting time.
Social media has nothing but negative effects on people’s minds. Social networking can become very addicting and people can get wrapped up in the drama and excitement of the cyber world. It would only improve our society today if social media never existed to our knowledge. Our society today feels so connected with social media that it interferes with our lives making every task even harder with the temptations.