The Pros And Cons Of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying: How It Is Harming Children and Adolescents

Amanda was in 7th grade when her cyberbullying story began. One day, she met a guy online who talked her into flashing him her breasts, a decision she regretted later. A year later, she got a message from him on Facebook that said “if you don’t put on a show for me, I will send your boobs” to everyone she knew. One day, her picture was revealed to everyone. Shortly after, she suffered from depression, anxiety and panic disorder. She also started abusing drugs and alcohol. She moved to another city, but the bullying continued, especially since the guy had made a Facebook page with her boobs as his profile picture for her new school friends to see. After that, she lost all of her friends

However, certain schools have tried to limit the amount of cyberbullying happening between students without disrespecting their freedom of speech. As a society we need to come together and propose legislation so that we start taking this problem seriously because in many cases lives are at stake. Cyberbullying isn’t beneficial to anybody. If cyberbullying became illegal, many teens wouldn’t do it due to fear of going to jail. This way cyberbullying-even traditional bullying- would substantially decline along with low academic performance, depression and suicide caused by this phenomenon. Even if cyberbullying does not become illegal then maybe the government can put an age restriction for the use of technology or social media. Technology only increases the chances of getting cyberbullied, so maybe if it were limited to a certain age where teens don’t feel too insecure and are more mature to make responsible decisions, then this could also decrease cyberbullying as a whole and reduce suicidal thoughts. If there are age restrictions for drinking, driving, smoking etc. then there can most definitely be one for using technology. This way freedom of speech isn’t compromised. One way or another, cyberbullying should be dealt with by the government because all in all, it’s their job to make this world a better and safer