Cyber Bullying

Bullying has existed for years, many kids and adolescents deal with it every day. In today’s world technology is an easy access for everyone. Since it’s very accessible many people use social media. In social media you could seek news, others peoples pictures/ videos and their thoughts and views. That’s where the problems begin; cyberbullying is when you get bullied online through text messages and social media. About 43 percent of teens have been a victim Cyber bullying has more effect than physical, it can cause depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and suicidal. It’s a worldwide problem but it could be stopped by telling victims stories, better online security, parent’s involvement, administration needs to inform students and hiring an expert.

Cyber bullying has affected millions of people and has had many effects on the person that is getting bullied. A study by Summera Batool claims “that there are many emotional effects such as anxiety, aggression, stress and depression due to the bullying. Depression so severe that could lead to suicide. The students that get bullied also suffer from low academic performance” (Batool, Sumera 121). Batool also claimed that there are long and short terms side effects. Long terms wise, the person affected could have serious low self-esteem for their entire life and take every judgment to heart. In short term wise the teenager or child will longer be able to make friends, have a higher chance of doing drugs and have higher risk of having a criminal record. Several of kids have been affected and it’s clearly a problem yet people take the problem very lightly. Take Jessica Logan for example, She was going through a break up when her ex boyfriends sends screenshots of there “sexting” messages. She got called names such as whore and slut. The victim’s grades started dropping and she started running away from school. She told her story on Arkansas news and two months later her mom found her dead in her room. If many people tell other victims stories and make a strong argument they will be heard. Attackers will think twice and know that words hurt others and isn’t something to joke about.

Cyber bullying isn’t illegal. There is now law or policy that says you can’t bully someone. There are many contradictions that are made which include freedom of speech and you can’t get punished but Cyber bullying could be controlled and stopped. Dyskria, Josiah wrote an article named “The case of disappearing Cyber Bullying”. The author argues that “cyber security should be kept out of sight and out of mind for end users. Topics include the possible deployment of less-vulnerable systems by developers using tools or techniques such as code minimization and type-safe languages, the failure of end users to take actions required to improve cyber security, and end users’ acceptance of automatic patch updates built into desktop software” ( Dyskria 224). Therefore if you say something that offends any person, the bully’s account from social media and will be send straight to the cops and gets deleted. The more attackers they catch the more the bully will think twice on what they say to others online. After a teenager or child gets bullied they get scared or they don’t know how to act. When a child gets attacked they should tell a parent or guardian and take screenshots of the messages then contact the internet service provider, the bully’s Internet service provider or host for any web pages, or the help desk of any social media networks on which the cyberbullying occurs. Another way to control and reduce bullying is something called IT designs. An article named “Using IT design to prevent Cyber bullying” written by Lowry, Paul Benjamin explains that “IT design features create a strong Cyber Bullying opportunity for individuals who perceive that they are controlled by others. Whether this perception is real or imagined, it creates a sense of vulnerability, prompting them to engage in Cyberbullying. We can thus propose specific IT design feature manipulations that can be used to discourage Cyberbullying. These results should have salient implications for researchers and social media designers, especially in developing social media networks that are safe, supportive, responsible, and constructive” (Lowry 863). Basically it’s like writing in a journal, you could write whatever the victim is thinking or feeling and not getting in trouble for speaking their mind. The victims could tell their stories, to show people the meaning of compassion. Which makes them feel strong and in control.

Many parents think they could handle the issue in their own hands. Some parents don’t even notice that there child is getting bullied. Then there parents that make them fight for themselves. Research by Dr. Andrew Rossow claims that “cyberbullying is like a virus its Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you…once an idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed – fully understood – that sticks; right in there somewhere” (Rossow). Experts are the key to help victims. There are so many therapists and experts that go to school to help children that have been attacked and can’t catch up with their thoughts. Some parents don’t understand what the definition of cyber bullying or how to understand it. Juanne N clarke in the article “A Study of the portrayal of Bullying in Magazine for parents: it is everywhere and its growing” argues and claims that “certain parents don’t give little to nor critical attention is paid to the social and /or educational causes and solutions for bullying. Thus, instead of interrogating larger social forces, blame and responsibility for bullying are portrayed as largely the responsibility of the parents of individual children. This heightens the fears associated with children and child rearing and underscores the demands of intensive parenting” (Clarke 441). Many parents work and come home to a messy house, have to make dinner and deal with things in the household; and probably come home with anger from traffic or work and take it out on the child or there significant other but doesn’t give a reason to not check up on a child nor take out their anger out on them. Many bullied individuals don’t make themselves look like they’re getting bullied. Clarke also claimed that because parents aren’t paying attention to their child is one reason why there has been so much fighting and shooting in schools. When a child sees anger in a household and sees its okay to let anger out to others both emotionally and physically. The parents are practically saying its okay to bully.

Principles and administration’s in a school need to take more action. Many schools have a no bullying policies but not all schools enforce it or check up on students until it’s too late. David Mills wrote an article explaining how administration should prevent and how to handle the situation smoothly. Mills stated that “citizenship and online responsibility should address the use of the Internet before, during and after people actually go online. This responsible approach is more than protecting our children and families against potential dangers – it is about teaching them how to make wise decisions in all aspects of their online lives. From social networking to cell phone use to web searches, online responsibility is about how an individual uses the Internet and what impressions they make in the online world. Online safety risks and solutions evolve rapidly with changing technologies” (Mills section 1). Technology is something we use every day but kids especially don’t know how to use it. Schools should inform the students that bullying is something that might happen there’s a 50% chance that bullying could happen. But if administration prepares their students. Students would be happy and know how to act and how to take the information in without hurting the individual.

In conclusion Cyberbullying is a problem that needs to be taken very seriously. Especially now when technology is a big impact on young people’s life. Yet it could be stopped by telling victims stories, better online security, parents involvement, administration needs to inform students and hiring an expert. If people don’t take action there will be more suicidal and students will suffer mentally.