Visualize a world in which an individual may remain unidentified, communicate with nearly anyone, and have access to just about any bit of information acknowledged by man. Danger’s always present at any time that someone has the opportunity to conceal their identity. Being in contact with family or friends is just one click away, life stories can be shared at a moment’s notice. Information’s at everyone’s fingertips, which can simply be described as, a blessing and a curse. The Internet has paved the way for anonymous interactions, effortless communication, and storage for important information, which has dramatically transformed today’s society.
Hiding behind an anonymous mask for many internet users may be an empowering experience for them. "On-line or even off-line when people’s identity is hidden they become sort of different people. When our identity is not intact our idea of the consequences are sort of nonexistent" (Anonymity Breeds Bad Behavior on Web). They often tend to develop vulgar language and post vile, chauvinistic, and often threatening comments. Users like this become more daring in knowing that they can say whatever their heart desires and get off scot-free. By enabling users to remain anonymous and post online, cyber bullying has become more prevalent in our culture. Cyber bullying is when a person is harassed by one or multiple people online, while the attackers remain anonymous. Relative to cyber bullying, internet users who may have a fixation with an individual may resort to cyber stalking. Cyber stalking is the act of one who attempts to send their chosen victim into submission. They are able to efficiently attain their goals through their free ability to be anonymous, provided by the web. There are additi...
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...ne with internet access can apply easier without unnecessarily visiting for just an application. The information on the internet can be tremendously helpful, yet users must still be careful with what they believe.
The internet is arguably one of the greatest inventions in the history of the world. It helps people learn new things that they may never learn without it. It radically altered how humans communicate with one another; it allows people to share experiences with friends that don’t live in their region. Nonetheless, with every good thing, there must always be a bad side. The internet allows for users to hide behind fake identities and be dishonorable to others. Anonymity has entered today’s society and likely will never leave it. Regardless of what light the internet is viewed in, good or bad, it’s here to stay and continue to change the current culture.
Cyberbullying is a very controversial matter. People are starting to say that cyberbullies should be prosecuted for their actions. First of all, there are more important crimes to focus on like murder and theft than just prosecuting a kid who said something “offensive” to another kid. Also, the First Amendment protects cyberbullies to have freedom of speech and say stuff to other kids. To add on, just because someone “excludes” another kid form not joining a group, does not mean that they should be criminally prosecuted. If people are being cyberbullied, they should not use social media much.
The dangers of the internet continue to spread and cause massive effects on the way people interact and socialize. Carr explains, “Most of use view personalization and privacy
If a stranger would approach someone on the street, would one casually offer personal information to him? Would one allow him to follow and record one’s activities? Although it may be obvious in the concrete world that one would not allow it, the behavior of the general population on the Internet is strikingly different. While surfing websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google, many people provide personal details to enhance their online profile? These websites retain vast amounts of personal information from their users. Although this practice benefits the user as well, unrestricted profiling can become an alarming catastrophe. Unless the threat to internet users privacy are shown to exceed the benefits, we should not regulate the internet, rather we should educate the public how to be more responsible about their identities.
The author specifies what cyberbullying is and the many reasons why people do it to one another. The reporter describes that the primary causes of cyberbullying are gender or sexual orientation.
It has become a sad and upsetting fact that in today’s society the truth is that the right to one’s privacy in the I.T (information technological) world has become, simply a joke. In an electronic media article “No place to hide”, written by James Norman, two interesting and debatable questions were raised: ‘Are we witnessing the erosion of the demarcation of public and private spaces brought on by the networked economy and new technology?’ Also, ‘What roles do government, industry and citizens have in regard to censorship and privacy?’ These statements ultimately end with the fact that it is impossible for Net users to expect privacy online, because online privacy doesn’t exist. However, one must ask, ‘What will be done about the problem?’ while keeping in mind that yes, the thin line between public and private spaces has been severed as a result of new technology. It is vital that everyone as users of the internet, be it government, Internet Service Providers (ISP’s), or individuals, need take the issue of internet privacy very seriously, while basing all actions towards the issue with the moral statement of, ‘Rights aren’t free, they’re earned’.
I fully agree with the author’s arguments of depression comes from cyberbullies, and want to focus on the question of depression. Besides being just online and intangible, cyberbullies rise from the real world, as the Internet is the duplicate of reality.
Carnegie Mellon University provides an insight into the motivations of people going anonymous on the Internet in a 2013 study entitled “Why Do People Seek Anonymity on the Internet? Informing Policy and Design”. Kang, Brown and Kiesler state that Internet users seek anonymity to manage the line between their online and offline selves in order to preserve others’ perception of them. One instance is seeking help or doing other activities that might make them seem socially undesirable or needy, such as when using online dating sites or support groups, hence they would prefer to go anonymous (4). The study also found that people pursued anonymity in online activities that being identified might expose to them to personal threat such as exposure of personal information to hackers,online flaming or harassment (5).
Although there should never be a reason, or in that matter an excuse for cyberbullying, it seems to be that there are certain factors which victims commonly share. Statistics show that one’s sexual orientation and past life events, and online distribution of stolen nude photographs are often the causes of cyberbullying. Approximately 17% of Canada’s youth (ages from 15 to 29) have been the victims of cyberbullying. (Assam) Out of those victims, one-third claimed to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and about 31% have previously experienced physical and/or sexual assault before the age of 15. (Assam) Hence, it is not so surprising when outing was found to be one of the most frequent forms of cyberbullying. Additionally, in the recent years, the striking increase in numbers of reported cases of illegally distributed nude photographs all over Canada has positively correlated to reported cyberbullying. (McKenna) The reported cases have been a larger issue in more
According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, 15% high school students from grade ninth to twelfth were the victims of cyberbullying in 2013. This statistic shows that violence in the Internet is increasing and becoming a serious problem in recent years. One of the reasons for this is that people tend to participate more in online discussions, YouTube, and social networking sites, and they fill comment sections with violent and practical jokes which can be described as “trolling.” Many people say that these comments are very necessary for the online environment, and they also have the right to express what they think in the internet due to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. However, trolling comments may actually
The 90's internet boom gave rise to new ways of writing in through access to cyberspace. What used to be printed or handwritten on physical surfaces such as paper, cardboard, or bulletin boards has changed to 0's and 1's, bits and bytes of digitized information that can be displayed thru the projections of computer screens. Moreover, the internet has made the process of publishing one's works, writing letters, or chatting with one another much easier and convenient for everyone around the globe. The internet became a universal tool, giving much freedom and flexibility to the users; it gave them opportunity to deliver their thoughts with little or no restrictions. Since it's impossible to regulate all cyber-activities, internet users are often unrestricted by the normal laws or authorities that would set boundaries around the various online transactions. More importantly, the fact that a net user can take on different identities in cyberspace brings about several ethical and social issues. These anonymous and unrestrictive characteristics of cyberspace often permite abusive users to easily involve themselves in serious cybercrimes such as cyberstalking, cyber-rape, and cyber-harassment through chatting services, emails, cyber communities, and other online communication.
Technology has given individuals the opportunity to change the game of bullying. Cyber-bullying is one of the most common forms of bullying as of today. The Internet has no boundaries so the public has access to endless and countless number of things. Cyber-bully is the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (as a student) often done anonymously according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. While traditionally bullying and cyber-bullying are very comparable in forms of technique that also have many differences. Cyber-bullying gives the bully the benefit of hiding their identity behind a screen. This makes it easier to tear people down because they do not have to come in contact with anyone. It’s the easiest form of bullying. These can happen in text messages, chat rooms, email, websites, excluding people from certain online activities, digital photos, and social media. Cyber bullies have unlimited supplies of ways to hurt someone. It is difficult to conduct a study on cyber-bullying because the majority of people will not confess or admit to it. Instead, in the article “Cyber-bullying among adolescents: Measures in search of a construct.” Researchers sit and listen through the grapevine on what is going on inside of schools. They found out that cyber-bullying is more dealt with within adolescents than traditional interaction bullying. (Mehari, K. R., Farrell, A. D., & Le, A. H.) Cyber-bullying can cause more
The World Wide Web and Internet are great places to study, work, or even play. But there is an ugly side of cyberspace. Cyberspace reflects the real world and some people tend to forget that. Cyberstalking and harassment are problems that a large number of people (especially women) are realizing. (Jenson, 1996, p.1)
In the last few years, traditional bullying and cyber bullying have become two communal problems of our society owing to the major advances in technology and communicative devices. In spite of the fact that they can not be eradicated completely, the lack of action and initiatives will exacerbate the situation even more. Therefore, recent researches have passionately suggested that education, which is considered of crucial importance, and constructive cooperation between social factors, as for instance family, school personnel and professional organizations, can effectively contribute to the prevention of this complicated issue.
The Internet along with other technologies has opened channels of communication. Not only has the Internet played a great role in forming international public opinions regarding the United States throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Western Europe, but it has also helped to democratize the rest of the world by allowing them to voice their own opinions. However, sometimes the incited cyber public opinions would lead to some extremely negative behaviors and cause serious problems like cyber bullying, real life crimes, and even a long time social unrest.
Cyberbullying is a type of bullying that takes place with the use of any electronic technology. Cyberbullying is a major problem affecting young people today. There are different types of cyberbullying. This topic comes as an interest to many people these days because bullying is very common and it can ruin a person’s life. These days, cyberbullying is considered a new form of bullying. It can happen over the internet by computer, mobile phone or any other electronic devices. Cyberbullying could involve any form of unpleasant words or pictures being displayed on the internet for others to see. It could also involve the spreading of lies about the victim on the internet. Many people are stepping up efforts to prevent bullying in the first place. Approximately half of U.S. students are impacted by traditional bullying each school day (Ross). Bullying peaks in middle school, then reduces in high school. Other types of bullying may involve the passing of notes behind someone’s back, rumors being whispered about someone, or being threatened in the internet. The most common types of cyberbullying include passing of humiliating photos, cell phone pranks, cyber stalking, impersonation, online slam books, and text wars. Bullies appear scary but truthfully they are the unhappy ones. Majority of bullies have been bullied by parents, siblings, or other young people. This may trigger them to bully and pick on other kids.