As computer access becomes increasingly prevalent with our children, concerns have been raised about that lack of parental awareness of their content exposure. One of the areas of great concern revolves around cyberbullying. The emotional damage created by the simple strokes of a keypad is often overlooked because of the electronic nature of the abuse. Cyberbullying like any other form of bullying, must be closely monitored by school administrators with strict consequences for violators. After reading this paper I hope to convince you that cyberbullying school policies should allow administrators to discipline students in some off campus incidents in spite of alleged First Amendment protections. Since most cyberbullying incidents happen off campus, teachers and school administrators often fail to get involved because of the fear of a lawsuit for violating the students freedom of speech. But the off campus cyberbullying follows the student and causes actual bullying during school hours. Cyberbullies are creating hate websites/pages, and messaging. They even post pictures of students on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace walls’ where everyone can see it. The victims are often greeted at school with laughter or even physical abuse because of the nature of students to be part of the school drama. The 2007, L.W. v. Toms River Regional School Board of Education case displays the lasting affect that cyberbullying had on a child. The bullying started in 4th grade when his classmates started calling him homosexual names. Everything escalated when these bullies started to gain access to MySpace. The kids became so powerful on MySpace that even though they were harassing this child with their own name, their parents said it was their child’s Fi... ... middle of paper ... ...tives released the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act. Congress made clear six findings that would categorize cyberbullying. To date there are 12 states that have off campus cyberbullying discipline policies. Evidence shows that off campus use of the Internet is the catalyst for incidents of cyberbullying. This follows the victim to school where cell phones and verbal abuse continue the assault. School administrators need the education and legal recourse to investigate and penalize cyberbullies. No longer should protection under the First Amendment be a shield for the cyberbullies to hide behind. In the near future I hope that there will be federal legislation for cyberbullying, which would allow administrators to discipline students for off campus incidents with clear guidance regarding First Amendment protections. This legislation cannot come soon enough!
Total freedom does not exist. Being American has made some people believe that they have the freedom to do whatever they want, but this isn’t the case. In this day and age students are free to use texting, social media, and they also have access to various other things on the internet. Some students use these resources responsibly and do not abuse these methods, but on the other hand some students use these resources immaturely and usually cause great dilemmas that can extend to their school life. Consequently, schools should be allowed to limit students’ online speech because cyberbullying can cause widespread problems among both students and teachers, it disrupts learning, and it violates students’ civil rights.
Well, based from both evidence from Document D and F, we can conclude that cyberbullying and its effect is just another form of bullying, but is just being exaggerated or, in other words, is made a bigger deal out of what it real is. In Document D, the fact that cyberbullying is not very disruptive is because a classroom discussion about a certain topic is very normal. It would not be a surprise if the topic of the principal's profile was discussed. Therefore, we can never conclude that a student’s speech online has triggered a disruption in the classroom
States are required for some form of action when it comes to cyber bullying. In Oakland County Michigan, a case of cyberbullying from a group of more than 30 students could face serious felony charges. Students rights and privacy was violated. The group of students shared pictures of not only themselves but other minors as well. Sharing provocative pictures that were released to other students in school and on social media. Cyberbullying leads to serious manners, the school district is to protect their students’ privacy and rights due to the First
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 students. In document D, the court sided with the students, but the students must serve ten days, but the ten day suspension will not be shown on their records. It must pose a threat, there was no threat so they sided with the students.
Cyberbullying is defined as behavior online that is “repeated, hostile, and severe with the intent to embarrass, threaten, or harass”, and it has become a serious problem. With the new popularity of social media and technology, victims of bullying have been finding it impossible to escape the onslaught of rude and embarrassing comments. Because of this, Congress has been trying to pass a law that states that people should be held responsible for the comments they make. Individuals should be prosecuted if the cyberbullying endangers someone's life, or severely affects the victim. First, cyberbullying can lead to embarrassment and shame, which can be amplified by the wide audience.
Along with the usual low self esteem, cyberbullying victims can feel lonely, sad, angry, frustrated, or a combination of them. These feelings can lead to suicide, like in the case of Megan Meier, along with murder/manslaughter, or physically injuring someone badly. Teens cyberbullied can also find relief from the hate through drugs and alcohol, which is normally illegal for most teens. Constantly, the already injured victim has a lot more ways to hurt themselves that might seem good at the time because of cyberbullying. If we don't use the 1st amendment to prosecute cyberbullies, the bullying would most likely be stopped. But if the bullies do use the 1st amendment so they do not get in trouble, the bullying could still be going on. And, most bullies don't just bully one person in their lifetime. This means that more and more people can and will be bullied if we don't stop them. Megan Meier committed suicide after being harassed online by her friends mom after she created a fake social media account and embarrassed her
Murphy, Wendy J. "Federal Law Requires Schools to Protect Children from Cyberbullying." Cyberbullying. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "Suing School Would Shine Light on 'Suicide by Bullying,'." Patriot Ledger 13 Feb. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Colt. James P. "Cyber Bullying Case Raises Questions about Privacy Laws: Background." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 6 Feb. 2011.
Each year, schools are having to update the Code of Conduct in order to keep up with the bullying that is occurring on social media. Schools have failed to effectively monitor and take action upon what these students have been doing to others and what others are doing in return. This has resulted in many lost lawsuits, in which schools were held liable for not taking appropriate action on what occurs outside of campus. School districts therefore must take more responsibility over what happens to the students, on and off campus. Districts argue that such instances are outside of the school’s control, however, these victims are still their students.
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 ...
McQuade, III, Samuel, James Colt, and Nancy Meyer. Cyber Bullying: Protecting Kids and Adults from Online Bullies. First Edition. Road West, Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2009. 47-49. Print.
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...
Mickie Wong-Lo and Lyndal M. Bullock, in their encouraging attempt to intervene in incidents of cyberbullying, have recommended many ways to deal with it. In their article entitled “Digital Aggression: Cyberworld Meets School Bullies”, they asserted that children do not acquaint their parents with their activities on the Internet and as a result parents do not know how to address similar situations (67). According to Kowalski, parents ought to follow “reporting techniques, which includes knowing when to ignore, block, or react, being mindful of the language being used and respond appropriately;” (qtd. in Wong-Lo and Bullock 68). In other words, the authors rightly emphasize that systematic supervision and knowledge can be valuable measures because parents will monitor children’s use of Internet and will be able to provide appropriate guidelines just in case a danger arises (Wong-Lo and Bullock 68). Moreover, as Keith and Martin argue, “[…] incorporating popular youth technology would be to teach youth how to use a social networking site to promote themselves in a positive manner that would appeal ...
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,
Jacobs, Judge Tom. Teen Cyberbullying Investigated: Where Do Your Rights End and Consequences Begin? Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, Inc., 2010. Print.