Bullying Enters the Cyber World
Thesis: Cyberbullying is a 21st century form of harassment that is resulting in psychological, emotional, and physical stress, which is why the issue of cyberbullying desperately needs effective laws and consequences to decrease the amount of victims that suffer from the act each year. This is especially true when considering the effects of cyberbullying and statistics, outcomes of cyberbullying cases, and lack of awareness that exists to help victims.
Introduction:
Bullying has been a critical issue for many decades
Many anthropologists believe bullying was in fact evident right from the birth of our species and was inherited from our primal ancestors
Monkeys and chimpanzees engaged in bullying-like behaviors
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This is especially true when considering the effects of cyberbullying and statistics, outcomes of cyberbullying cases, and the lack of awareness that exists to help …show more content…
Seventy percent of 55 million is over 38 million students
53% of children admit to having said something mean or hurtful to another person online
Children who are cyberbullied have a harder time getting away from the behavior
There is no escape for victims; usually bullied in school and online
Cyberbullying Cases:
Tyler Clementi-Clementi 's roommate during his freshman year at Rutgers University, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam in September 2010 to stream footage of Clementi kissing another man. On September 22, 2010, Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge
Jamey- 14 year old who committed suicide on Sept. 18, just days after posting on Facebook that "no one listened" to his cries for help.
Lack of Awareness (Laws):
There is no Federal anti-bullying law. Although 49 states have anti-bullying legislations, bullying is not illegal
New Jersey has two laws for cyberbullying, the New Jersey’s Cyber Harassment Law, which involves punishment for any offensive behavior in an electronic format, and the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, which defines bullying and related behaviors, requires training for school faculty in bullying and suicide prevention, and lists procedures for reporting
Cyberbullying has become a widespread problem. The more people have been using the internet, the more the number of cyberbullying incidents increase. According to document A, 25.1% of girls and 16.6% of boys reported being bullied in their lifetime. In addition to this, document A also
Moreover, cyberbullying has longer effects through a child’s life, leading the victims to turn into victim-bullies (Donegan 1). Victim bullies take their own frustrations on bullying others as an escape to help them cope with their pain caused by cyberbullying. In addition, it’s been reported that bullies commit at least one crime as an adult whereas victim-bullies commit a 23 percent higher than of the bullies (Donegan 4). Konnikova doesn’t mention that bullies also need help as much as the victims, but not all bullies are born that way. In fact, most of them have been bullied before or they have psychological problems (Donegan 5). Indeed, people should take this statistics as a wakeup call to help cyberbullies to cope with their frustrations to lower the numbers of victims, to create a better childhood, and a healthier adolescence for a better
Forty-nine states have some sort of law against bullying. Only eighteen of them include online bullying, and twelve include off school behavior. Montana is the only state with no statewide law that specifically discriminates against bullying. The first anti-bullying state was Georgia, in 1999, and in 2011, New Jersey enforced the toughest bullying law of that time. “…the State will grade each school based on bullying standards, policies, and incidents.”
Approximately 75% (3 out of 4) of all girls have never been a victim of cyberbullying. Approximately 83% (5 out of 6) of all males have never been a victim of cyberbullying. If only 25.1% of girls reported being a victim of cyberbullying and only 16.6 % of all males reported being a victim of cyberbullying what 's the point of limiting students speech. The percentages hardly makes up one-fourth of the overall percentage.Approximately 75% (3 out of 4) of all girls have never been a victim of cyberbullying. Approximately 83% (5 out of 6) of all males have never been a victim of cyberbullying. This evidence helps explain why schools should not limit students’ online speech because the majority of the students are not affected by cyberbullying making no reason for new reinforcements on the
They go through difficult times because others constantly harass them until it is just too much for them to handle. Resulting in self-harm or even suicide in some occasions. An example of a teenager being affected by cyberbullying is the Tyler Clementi case that occurred in 2010. According to nobullying.gov, “It was during the summer after his high school graduation that 18-year-old Tyler Clementi began sharing that he was gay. Clemenit’s roommate during his freshman year at Rutgers University, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam in September 2010 to stream footage of Clementi kissing another man. According to the Tyler Clementi Foundation, the teenager learned through his roommate’s Twitter feed that he had become “a topic of ridicule in his new social environment.” On September 22, 2010, Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge”. This is an example of the negative consequences that can result from cyberbullying. In Clementi’s situation he committed suicide because he could not tolerate the harassment by others that he was
Cyberbullying is simply the use of technology and its accessible tools to harass, hurt and embarrass the targeted individual repeatedly. Stopcyberbullying.org (n.d.), a dedicated organization to prevent cyberbullying and promote awareness, has defined cyberbullying as the use of the internet and mobile devices or digital technology such as text or instant messaging, e-mail, and/or post blogging by adolescents or teens to repeatedly threaten, harass, embarrass, torment, humiliate, or likewise the targeted adolescent(s) or teen(s). The 21st century has promoted and forced our teens to become very knowledgeable with the use of technology in addition to social media use and access. The array of social media medium includes Twitter, Facebook, and the even low-key Formspring—a medium that offers “total anonymity” to users (Holladay, 2011, p. 5). Even though ...
Because cyberbullying is a relatively new phenomenon, there is some degree of variance in its definition. In its early inception, cyberbullying was thought to be limited to the internet. However, the rapid creation of new technology tolls has expanded the boundaries to include cell phones, instant messaging, chat rooms, and email (Campfield, 2006). Campfield (2006) conducted a study of middle school students to determine the incidence rates of cyberbullying. She found that nearly 70% of students were involved in cyberbullying in some capacity, as a bully or victim. In a similar study, Li (2007) found that 39% of students have been involved in cyberbullying, while 52% were aware of a peer being harassed through electronic m...
Cyber bullying can be more terrifying than standard bullying, because the target typically does not know who is after them. Cyber bullies believe that because they are posting anonymously or not using their names, they can get away with anything. The case is that Internet activity is traceable. It is important to know that cyber bullying can be charged as crimes. In some cases, cyber bullies will be charged as sexual predators and have to be on the registry. Furthermore, items posted on the Internet can affect the person’s ability to get into university or employment.
Currently, there is no federal law that directly addresses bullying alone. Although, if the bullying overlaps with some form of harassment then it can open up a case. Some examples would be making violent or death threats, physically harassment, proof of text messages or comments on social media, and committing hate crimes. Federally funded schools are obliged to address the issue of bullying, although 1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and will only intervene 4% of the time (stompoutbullying.org). Bullying in general should become a crime because of the affect it has on society and the victims. It is not taken as seriously as it should be taken in our society today.
Imagine being personally targeted and bullied by another individual constantly. Maybe never seriously injured but verbally abused in person and possibly online. The issue of cyberbullying can be quite pivotal in this new generation. Cyberbullying is a controversial matter that the world must address because of how it can occur anywhere at any time, causes harm to targeted people, and affects all associated parties.
Cyberbullying should be a criminal offense because whether it’s bullying or cyberbullying, it still damages a person emotionally and physically. Admittedly, many will argue that it is crossing the line to force perpetrators behind bars when it is not even bullying, but some foul words thrown in social sites. However, there is no difference between cyberbullying and offline bullying when it is still an issue that constantly eats away at its victims, abusing them with hurtful words and messages. “The United States Department of Health and Human Services calculated the percentages of bullied victims, where 37% of teens have been physically bullied, while 52% of teens have been cyberbullied” (Cyber/Bullying Statistics). Studies shown indicate that there have been more cases of cyberbullying than offline bullying, whereas people believe that “cyberbullying is not real bullying” and “it is to speak out in what...
All around the United States, the prevalence of cyberbullying ranges from 10-40% of people who get bullied through electronics. Furthermore, this is a problem caused by kids, teens, and adults who target one another online by repeating harmful threats and harassments. This conflict negatively impacts the victims’ life which is why anyone who cyberbullies should pay the consequences and be prosecuted.
Children are bullied for thousands of reasons, none of them are valid (Hile [pg. 26]). There aren’t any causes that puts a child at risk of being a bully or being bullied by others. It can happen anywhere in any city, town, or suburb. It also can depend on the environment, such as upon groups of gays, ...
Stutzky suggests that cyber bullying is the use of modern communication technologies to embarrass, humiliate, threaten, or intimidate an individual in the attempt to gain power and control over them. Bullying has been around since the beginning of time. These days however, bullying isn’t just happening on the playground, it’s happening on the internet and mobile phones, making it possible to bully a child 24 hours a day. Cyber bullying follows children around the clock and into the safety of their own bedrooms. A recent survey by MindOh!, an educational company that follows youth trends, reported that nearly 80% of the 5,500 teens that were surveyed said that they had been exposed to cyber bullying. Cyber bullying affects the mental health of so many young adolescents around the world, and the issue is steadily increasing as more and more ways to bully are created.In extreme incidents, cyber bullying has led teenagers to suicide. Most victims, however, suffer shame, embarrassment, anger, depression and withdrawal. While technology continues to evolve, new means of communication enable today’s bullies to become more effective in terrorizing and tormenting their victims. The aim was to increase awareness and decrease the prevalence of cyber bullying- Year 9 at Meridan State College being the stakeholders (people involved).
With technology progressing, students are moving past face to face hectoring, and are verbally bullying other through social media. Cyberbullying can sometimes become more harmful than verbal, physical, and emotional bullying due to victims, not feeling like they have an escape route because they are threatened repeatedly through text messages, e-mails, social media, etc. The worst part about cyberbullying is that the things posted can be anonymous; therefore, there is no blame for who posts what. A victim can suspect that someone is to blame for the actions done, but there is no proof to solve a possible ongoing issue. Cyberbullying and bullying are actually considered a crime when someone: physically assaults another person, gender or racism is talked about, violent or deadly threats are made, sexually texting, inappropriate photos, stalking,