The Pros And Cons Of Cyberbullying

1671 Words4 Pages

In this day and age the society is shifting its focus from a more traditional approach of social interaction to a technology driven collective. Many youths are actively engaged through the use of cell phones, tablets, PC’s and of course the internet. There are many positives that come with these advances in technology but the negatives cannot be overlooked, and for youths the growing issue of cyberbullying comes to mind. Cyberbullying is a fairly new form of bullying when compared to traditional bullying. Cyberbullying can be defined as being a form of harassment through the use of “e-mail, instant messaging, in a chat room, on a website, or through digital messages or images sent to a cell phone” (Kowalski and Limber 1). Cyberbullying is different than traditional bullying and is associated with more serious psychological consequences.
A report shows that 72% of internet users were cyberbullied at least once in a one year period (Juvonen and Gross 502). One article cites as of June 2006 that 713 million individuals who age 15 and older used the Internet with 153 million users being American (“Microsoft”). However a more recent study conducted by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010 shows that “ 93% of children ages 8 to 18 have computers at home, 66% have cell phones, and 76% own another multimedia device” (Holladay 5). All this data points to more users being connected to the internet is taking away from traditional forms of bullying; from playground teasing to in school harassment. Now, youths can take and post pictures and videos in minutes and not just the surrounding audience would know about the bullying but the whole world can view what is going on.
One of the most highly regarded aspects of being a cyberb...

... middle of paper ...

...ness which assist with the thoughts to commit suicide.
Many people regard cyberbullying as being an extension of traditional bullying. Still many find cyberbullying to be more distressing than traditional bullying due to the range of audiences, anonymity, and inability for victims to rest at places they could feel secure at. There has been research conducted on cyberbullying but it is still in its early stages and much more needs to done to fully understand the consequences it has in for us. Many anti-bullying programs and strategies have been adopted by teachers and parents to reduce bullying. However, looking at the psychological consequences of lowered self-esteem, depression, and suicide that arise from cyberbullying, it could not be ignored that more serious preventive measures need to be taken to stop or at least lower the consequences related to cyberbullying

Open Document