Abdul Moaeed
Professor Anna Voisard
English 110
March 20, 2022
The Rise of Cyberbullying
Technology has been accumulating around the majority of the world, and so has the use of social media networks such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and much more. With the rise of social media and technology comes consequences as almost everybody possesses a smart device such as laptops, computers, and smartphones. The majority of the world is on social media, 93% being teens from which only 75% own a smartphone. As more and more teens are starting to own electronic devices the rate of cyberbullying has risen.
The Types of Cyberbullying.
There are 2 types of cyberbullying, direct and public. The actions of direct cyberbullying include harassing and threatening an individual via direct messaging through a phone number or a social media app. Public cyberbullying isn’t much different than direct, the only difference is instead of it being on private messaging, it is shown to the public as a public post and it is most likely a false rumor being spread about someone or it could be a known public threat towards someone. As said in the article “Cyberbullying” ” Direct cyberbullying involves person-to-person contact between the perpetrator and the victim; proxy cyberbullying occurs when a perpetrator tricks an unsuspecting third party into posting information or sending communications meant to harm the
the victim; and public cyberbullying describes attempts to shame, demean, harass, or threaten the victim in front of a wide audience, such as a social media network or multi-user online community. “ (Gale, a Cengage Company). The way cyberbullying works is the bully wants to embarrass and denigrate someone so they post and share audio messages, post pictures that are just not meant to be posted in the public eye as also stated in the article (Gale, a Cengage Company) “ cyberbullying tactics include sharing images, audio, video, or other content meant to embarrass or belittle the victim and impersonating the victim online in an effort to harm their relationships, reputation, or social standing. “ This shows how cyberbullying can be seen in effect and the best way to avoid these types of problems is by not having social media accounts at such a young age as the internet is brutal.
The Effects of Cyberbullying
The way some kids respond to getting cyberbullied is by keeping it to themselves. The majority of the kids won’t let their parents or guardians know that they are victims of cyberbullying. In The New York Times article “How to Safeguard Children against Cyberbullying.” author Misha Valencia states “ Nearly 60 percent of kids don’t tell caregivers they’re being cyberbullied, making it critical to know the warning signs.” I would say most kids don’t tell their parents or guardians due to the fact the bully might blackmail them and threaten them to not tell their parents or otherwise this will happen. Some characteristics that show a kid is being cyberbullied as said in The New York Times article “ A significant increase or decrease
in online activity. Becoming withdrawn, anxious, or avoiding social situations. “ The signs indicate that a kid dealing with cyberbullying tends to not be social and more to themselves which I would say isn’t what should happen, speaking up is the only thing that will bring help into a situation of being a victim of cyberbullying. Parents should be keeping track of their children’s smart devices and how much time they spend, and if they are safe and sound using their devices with no threat or harm as a safety precaution.
Most Targeted Individuals
When it comes to cyberbullying it doesn’t just mean bullying people online based on their looks, or making a fake rumor it also deals with harassing individuals based on their sexuality. The most targeted individuals to get cyberbullied are a part of the LGBTQ+ community which includes homosexuality. In a research article “ Bullying, Cyberbullying, and LGBTQ Students ” the authors Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. stated “ Bullying that specifically targets youth and young adults based on their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression has been a problem for decades. The increased utilization of technology among youth (and, well, just about everyone) has resulted in bullying behaviors moving online. As a result, cyberbullying perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth has emerged.“ (2). This problem as said in the article has increased overtime and risen and has been occurring for decades. Parents should be talking with their children about their sexuality and not be judgmental and they should make sure their child is comfortable with his or her sexuality and make sure to keep in contact at all times as homosexual people are tended to get targeted more for cyberbullying or any kind of bullying. Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W also state in their article “ Over 72% of LGBTQ students reported being bullied at some point in their lifetime compared to 63% of heterosexual students. The difference was even more striking when focusing on cyberbullying: almost twice as many LGBTQ students reported being cyberbullied compared to heterosexual students (36.1% compared to 20.1%). LGBTQ students were also significantly more likely to report that they had bullied and/or cyberbullied others during their lifetimes. “ People apart of the LGBTQ+ community are most likely to be bullied and as 60% of the children don’t speak up as mentioned before and 72% of the LBGTQ+ community have been bullied those stats show a lot and we as a world should be less judgmental and do what it takes to keep each other safe and comfortable in our skin and sexuality.
Suicide on The Rise
With the rates of cyberbullying increasing it also leads to an increase in mental health issues which sadly sometimes involves self extermination or suicide. In the research article “Cyberbullying, School Bullying, and Psychological Distress: A Regional Census of High School Students. “ the author states “ Recent national attention to several cases of suicide among youth victims of cyberbullying 1,2 has raised concerns about its prevalence and psychological impact. Most states now have legislation in place that requires schools to address electronic harassment in their anti-bullying policies “(Schneider). More states need to come up and speak up about cyberbullying because being online means you could interact with people from all around different states, maybe the government needs to take this more seriously and apply some rules for bullying as it is leading to a rise of mental issues which led some children to take their own lives. Schneider also states “ For example, reports of depressive symptoms were highest among victims of both cyber and school bullying (47.0%), followed by cyber-only victims (33.9%), “ As shown by the data in 2012 over 33.9% of the children who had mental issues had them due to cyberbullying and due to pandemic everything went online as did school, which meant everybody in school had access to a smart device which led to an increase of cyberbullying. It is our job as humans to stop putting each other down and to stop being judgmental as it can lead to something gruesome and just miserable. It doesn’t hurt to be a good human, being kind helps progress the world for the better. If you know anyone that has been or is a victim of cyberbullying please speak up before it’s too late, you could be the reason someone is alive. Be a kind Human.
Work Citation
Source: “Cyberbullying.” Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999103/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=d2c750c4.
Source : Cyberbullying Research Center, et al. “Bullying, Cyberbullying, and LGBTQ Students.” Cyberbullying Research Center, 12 Feb. 2022, https://cyberbullying.org/bullying-cyberbullying-lgbtq.
Source: Schneider, Shari Kessel, et al. “Cyberbullying, School Bullying, and Psychological Distress: A Regional Census of High School Students.” American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, Jan. 2012, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3490574/.
Source : Valencia, Misha. “How to Safeguard Children against Cyberbullying.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Sept. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/well/family/how-to-safeguard-children-against-cyberbullying.html.
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