We Must Stop Cyberbullying

1384 Words3 Pages

The amount of technology present in this world is changing right before our eyes. Life is becoming easier for most but for others, life is getting more difficult to cope with. With the increase of technology and social media use, cyberbullying is rapidly growing. Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey found that 16% of high school students were cyberbullied in 2011 (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services). The unique thing of bullying is when it is physical, it eventually stops and the physical scars fade away. However, with cyberbullying, it can happen 24/7 and unfortunately, the emotional scars never heal. The objective of this paper is to find out the effect of cyberbullying and ways to prevent it from happening.

Case-In-Point

Born July 18, 1997, Sarah Lynn Butler was a seventh grader who lived in Hardy, Arkansas. In 2009, she was voted Queen for her school’s upcoming Fall Festival. According to her memorial page, she was a student at Williford High School, a participant of the ASPIRE club, and participated in the band. She was of the Baptist Faith. (Sandra, 2009). Sarah also was an active Myspace user who had her mom as a friend as well. Her mom would check on her page periodically and one day stumbled across messages on Sarah’s page that was calling her a slut. When her mom approached her to talk about it, Sarah removed her mom from her friends’ page and her mom was no longer able to visit or read anything on Sarah’s page. On September 28, 2009, Sarah stayed home while her family went out, and browsed through her Myspace page one last time. The last message Sarah will ever read in her short life of 12 years will say something to the extent ...

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...007, February 28). Retrieved from http://www.ncpc.org/resources/files/pdf/bullying/Teens%20and%20Cyberbullying%20Research%20Study.pdf

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Sandra. (2009, September 28). Sarah Lynn Bulter. Retrieved from Find a Grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42493065

Taft High School. (n.d.). Their Stories. Retrieved from Cyber Bullying: http://dianapp8mw.weebly.com/their-stories.html

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (n.d.). What is Cyberbullying? Retrieved from Stopbullying.org: http://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/

Young, Y. (2009, November 24). Online teasing leads to teen's suicide. Retrieved from 8kati: http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11566204

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