The Negative Impacts Of Cyberbullying And Its Effects On Children

1722 Words4 Pages

“Cyberbullying is a unique form of digital abuse that involves a range of tormenting, humiliating, threatening, embarrassing and harassing behaviors and has gained a lot of attention in recent years” (Cyberbullying). Websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were created to help people communicate with friends and families that may live all the way across the world, but instead they are being used to hurt other people. The misuse of social media websites such as those, more specifically cyberbullying, is a prevalent issue in this generation with teens in middle and high school. Cyberbullying, for example, is an issue that the online community is currently dealing with. Teenagers, for the most part, use the internet to torment and make …show more content…

Cyberbullying tends to have a negative impact on the development of the child. According to a research, “cyberbullying victims and offenders reported significantly lower self-esteem than youth who hadn 't experienced cyberbullying” (Patchin). Being rejected by a person, or a group of people, has an unfavorable influence on the child because at that point in time, an adolescent is only looking for approval from its peers. Decreased self-esteem eventually interferes with development, in a destructive way. Some teens cyberbully because they feel like it will help them fit in or become popular. They may be uncertain at first, but when they have friends that are encouraging them it boosts their confidence. Cyberbullying does impact the bully and the one being bullied, but it also negatively affects their friends and families. When a child is in depression, they tend to push people out causing everyone to worry about helping them get better. Everyones lives begin to revolve around one common issue, …show more content…

They have developed a program that helps schools deal with cyberbullying. This program could possibly be the one thing that gets rid of cyberbullying in the future, which is why it should be given a lot of attention and taken very seriously. They keep their programs up to date so they know how to reach teens on a personal level, hoping to make them realize how serious of an issue it really is (Vaughn). A new law was also passed in Pennsylvania that made cyberbullying a punishable offense. “Cyberbullying of a child is now a third-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum $2,500 fine and/or one year in prison” (Cohren). Making it a crime will help decrease it, even if it is only a

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