From smart phones to portable tablets, technology ceases to amaze us throughout the years. It seems as though with every passing month, another updated technological item is available for purchase. Although there are many positive outcomes from this, there are also many negative ones. It’s safe to say that the effects of bullying are extremely damaging but when they are applied online, it only makes everything worse. In order to attack this problem, it is important to understand all aspects of cyberbullying. From the psychological understanding of cyberbullies to how cyberbullying affects other people, this plague has become serious as it has evolved from the playground to the world wide web. Not only is this a public space that causes more ridicule but it also moves its way into the privacy of the victim’s home, a place where they should feel safe and secure. Cyberbullying has become a devastating epidemic that requires immediate action to find a remedy.
The first step in remedying the situation is to understand what exactly cyberbullying is. By definition, cyberbullying is the use of electronic devices to intimidate, harass, or even threaten another person. After careful research and observation, I’ve learned there are multiple types of cyerbullying and they almost all result in damaged attitudes or negative life changing experiences. One type of cyberbullying is called denigration. Denigration is the sending or posting of gossip or rumors to damage a person’s reputation (Feinberg 12). Seeing this type of cyberbullying happen to my nephew was an eye opening experience for me. A few girls in his class decided to make a list of all the things they found wrong with him, from ridiculing him on his appearance to rumors of him being gay. This list was then posted on Facebook for the rest of his class and school to see. He was absolutely humiliated, destroying any kind of self confidence he had. Another example of cyberbullying is outing. Outing is engaging someone electronically, tricking them into exposing sensitive information, and revealing it to others online (12). This happened to a fellow student and friend of mine from high school. After being told by her boyfriend that he would never break her trust, she sent revealing photos to him. The very next day, they were posted online for the whole world to see. She was so embarrassed that she ended up transferring schools in the middle of the year. In both of these cases, the bullies had some sort of preexisting relationship to the victim. Although common, this is not always the case. Cyberbullying can happen to anyone from anyone. In learning the types of cyberbullying, we are closer to figuring out how to fix this crisis.
After clearly identifying what cyberbullying is and its effects, we now acknowledge the cyberbully and the common theme of being in power. The list posted online about my nephew proved that these girls are not only intolerant but are the type of people that feel the need to put others down in order to make themselves feel better. After examining a study that involved college students and their experiences with cyberbullying, it confirmed that this was a main theme among many cyberbullies (Hoff 656). The cyberbully feels powerful in this reality by putting others down online with the use of derogatory and insulting words. Being in power is also related to the most prominent cause in the study at 41%, which was reprisal of a break-up (655). My friend from high school sent revealing photos to her boyfriend who swore to keep them private. After a major fight that same night, he took his revenge out on her and posted the pictures onto a social media site. Although the pictures were eventually taken down by the website, the damage was done. She was ridiculed and scorned so severely online that she transferred schools during the middle of her junior year. Personal feelings of vengeance were the prime cause of cyberbullying in this case. By posting these pictures online, he may have lost a girlfriend but he was able to secure a sense power by posting the pictures. There were a majority of girls who commented on the pictures, using derogatory words to shame her as well. There was most likely a sense of power in this case as well. In using these words to make her feel bad, these girls felt better about themselves. Through exploring these examples, it is evident that a common theme with cyberbullies is a lack of power in their own lives. Being powerful online brings them satisfaction that they don’t have in this life.
The damaging aftermath of cyberbullying has a way of not only affecting the victim but the family and friends of the victim as well. Cyberbullying firstly causes serious psychological issues for the victim. My nephew still has self esteem issues from that list from sixth grade and is currently a freshman in college. As hard as it is to be targeted, though, it’s just as hard for loved ones to see it completely destroy the victim. Personally, I remember feeling completely helpless when my nephew would come home crying. One majorly public example of this is when Charlotte Dawson, a famous supermodel and television personality, committed suicide because of cyberbullying. To have online harassment become so serious and threatening that someone feels the need to take their own life to escape it is horrifying. But the torment didn’t end there. When Dawson’s family and friends heard the news, they were beyond devastated. Russell Crowe, another famous actor and close friend of the supermodel, reportedly dropped to his knees in the middle of the restaurant he was at and wept (Taylor). The harassing comments and threats online directed towards this one woman completely changed the lives of multiple people in this case alone. The fact that these kinds of cases happen every day make this an even more serious epidemic in our generation.
It might seem as though that, at least in the eyes of the law, the cyberbullying problem has been taken care of. When someone is being harassed online, these victims have every right to fight against it with law on their side. Every state in this country protects a person’s right in online harassment and threatening messages. When cyberbullying overlaps into threatening harassment, schools are obligated by law to step in. It seems as though the problem has been solved. However, the problem here lies within the school systems: schools officials are not making it clear that young adults are protected under law. Many young people, as explained by Dianne Hoff, expressed that they did not believe cyberbullying had anything to do with school officials and that even if these officials did know about said harassment, there wasn’t much that could be done about it (Hoff 664). The law states that even though cyberbullying happens in a virtual state, it is constituted as a real threat and must be taken as such. There are many different ways that schools can take legal action. One basic example is if cyberbullying happens on campus. School officials then have every right to intervene. There are other ways, however, that most people, including myself, had no idea of. If cyberbullying occurs on any type of school owned technology or if cyberbullying makes a student feel fearful of attending school, the school officials have the right to get involved (664). It’s obvious through the multiple studies and research online that most people who are victims of cyberbullying do not know where to go when they are being bullied or are too fearful to say anything about the harassment at all. This is where schools need to become more proactive and vocal about these laws.
Now that cyberbullying and all aspects of it have been explained thoroughly, it is time to take this information and become proactive. There are multiple ways that victims tend to react to cyberbullying. One major way that people respond is with physical violence. By threatening someone online, victims tend to act out in real life. Violence, however, is never the answer in cases of cyberbullying. It will only cause more problems for the victim. Another way people respond is with returning the threatening messages online. Although this may seem like an appropriate response, it does absolutely nothing except prolong the problem. One other possible reaction that happens often is when the victim just simply takes himself offline. They cannot be cyberbullied if they aren’t online. Although this is true, it does not change the fact that there may still be threats or hurtful messages online for the rest of the internet to see. Not only is it still out there, just avoiding it does nothing to help remedy the situation as a whole. Through all the multiple ways that victims react to cyberbullying, all of my research has backed up the way I believe is the best way possible to help fix cyberbullying: to speak up. Speaking to a parent or school official about being bullied is the only way to effectively help remedy the situation. If no one ever says anything, there’s no way to fix the problem. When schools start expressing more clearly the dangers of cyberbullying and ways on how students can protect themselves, we will start seeing a dramatic drop not only in cyberbullying but the psychological effects that come with it.
To be put bluntly, bullying will never completely disappear and because of this, cyberbullying will never completely disappear either. No matter how many times the subject is studied, there will always be mean kids on the playground and even meaner kids behind a keyboard. But just because it will never fully go away doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t fight against it. Throughout the past few years of my life, I’ve observed cyberbullying and the damaging effects it has on multiple people. Throughout my research, I’ve learned much more. The two most important actions in finding a remedy are making sure that schools are doing everything they can to make young adults understand that they have legal rights when it comes to online harassment and that speaking up when being bullied is the only way that they can be helped. Only when students and school officials come together and become proactive in the fight against cyberbullying can positive change happen.
The first step in remedying the situation is to understand what exactly cyberbullying is. By definition, cyberbullying is the use of electronic devices to intimidate, harass, or even threaten another person. After careful research and observation, I’ve learned there are multiple types of cyerbullying and they almost all result in damaged attitudes or negative life changing experiences. One type of cyberbullying is called denigration. Denigration is the sending or posting of gossip or rumors to damage a person’s reputation (Feinberg 12). Seeing this type of cyberbullying happen to my nephew was an eye opening experience for me. A few girls in his class decided to make a list of all the things they found wrong with him, from ridiculing him on his appearance to rumors of him being gay. This list was then posted on Facebook for the rest of his class and school to see. He was absolutely humiliated, destroying any kind of self confidence he had. Another example of cyberbullying is outing. Outing is engaging someone electronically, tricking them into exposing sensitive information, and revealing it to others online (12). This happened to a fellow student and friend of mine from high school. After being told by her boyfriend that he would never break her trust, she sent revealing photos to him. The very next day, they were posted online for the whole world to see. She was so embarrassed that she ended up transferring schools in the middle of the year. In both of these cases, the bullies had some sort of preexisting relationship to the victim. Although common, this is not always the case. Cyberbullying can happen to anyone from anyone. In learning the types of cyberbullying, we are closer to figuring out how to fix this crisis.
After clearly identifying what cyberbullying is and its effects, we now acknowledge the cyberbully and the common theme of being in power. The list posted online about my nephew proved that these girls are not only intolerant but are the type of people that feel the need to put others down in order to make themselves feel better. After examining a study that involved college students and their experiences with cyberbullying, it confirmed that this was a main theme among many cyberbullies (Hoff 656). The cyberbully feels powerful in this reality by putting others down online with the use of derogatory and insulting words. Being in power is also related to the most prominent cause in the study at 41%, which was reprisal of a break-up (655). My friend from high school sent revealing photos to her boyfriend who swore to keep them private. After a major fight that same night, he took his revenge out on her and posted the pictures onto a social media site. Although the pictures were eventually taken down by the website, the damage was done. She was ridiculed and scorned so severely online that she transferred schools during the middle of her junior year. Personal feelings of vengeance were the prime cause of cyberbullying in this case. By posting these pictures online, he may have lost a girlfriend but he was able to secure a sense power by posting the pictures. There were a majority of girls who commented on the pictures, using derogatory words to shame her as well. There was most likely a sense of power in this case as well. In using these words to make her feel bad, these girls felt better about themselves. Through exploring these examples, it is evident that a common theme with cyberbullies is a lack of power in their own lives. Being powerful online brings them satisfaction that they don’t have in this life.
The damaging aftermath of cyberbullying has a way of not only affecting the victim but the family and friends of the victim as well. Cyberbullying firstly causes serious psychological issues for the victim. My nephew still has self esteem issues from that list from sixth grade and is currently a freshman in college. As hard as it is to be targeted, though, it’s just as hard for loved ones to see it completely destroy the victim. Personally, I remember feeling completely helpless when my nephew would come home crying. One majorly public example of this is when Charlotte Dawson, a famous supermodel and television personality, committed suicide because of cyberbullying. To have online harassment become so serious and threatening that someone feels the need to take their own life to escape it is horrifying. But the torment didn’t end there. When Dawson’s family and friends heard the news, they were beyond devastated. Russell Crowe, another famous actor and close friend of the supermodel, reportedly dropped to his knees in the middle of the restaurant he was at and wept (Taylor). The harassing comments and threats online directed towards this one woman completely changed the lives of multiple people in this case alone. The fact that these kinds of cases happen every day make this an even more serious epidemic in our generation.
It might seem as though that, at least in the eyes of the law, the cyberbullying problem has been taken care of. When someone is being harassed online, these victims have every right to fight against it with law on their side. Every state in this country protects a person’s right in online harassment and threatening messages. When cyberbullying overlaps into threatening harassment, schools are obligated by law to step in. It seems as though the problem has been solved. However, the problem here lies within the school systems: schools officials are not making it clear that young adults are protected under law. Many young people, as explained by Dianne Hoff, expressed that they did not believe cyberbullying had anything to do with school officials and that even if these officials did know about said harassment, there wasn’t much that could be done about it (Hoff 664). The law states that even though cyberbullying happens in a virtual state, it is constituted as a real threat and must be taken as such. There are many different ways that schools can take legal action. One basic example is if cyberbullying happens on campus. School officials then have every right to intervene. There are other ways, however, that most people, including myself, had no idea of. If cyberbullying occurs on any type of school owned technology or if cyberbullying makes a student feel fearful of attending school, the school officials have the right to get involved (664). It’s obvious through the multiple studies and research online that most people who are victims of cyberbullying do not know where to go when they are being bullied or are too fearful to say anything about the harassment at all. This is where schools need to become more proactive and vocal about these laws.
Now that cyberbullying and all aspects of it have been explained thoroughly, it is time to take this information and become proactive. There are multiple ways that victims tend to react to cyberbullying. One major way that people respond is with physical violence. By threatening someone online, victims tend to act out in real life. Violence, however, is never the answer in cases of cyberbullying. It will only cause more problems for the victim. Another way people respond is with returning the threatening messages online. Although this may seem like an appropriate response, it does absolutely nothing except prolong the problem. One other possible reaction that happens often is when the victim just simply takes himself offline. They cannot be cyberbullied if they aren’t online. Although this is true, it does not change the fact that there may still be threats or hurtful messages online for the rest of the internet to see. Not only is it still out there, just avoiding it does nothing to help remedy the situation as a whole. Through all the multiple ways that victims react to cyberbullying, all of my research has backed up the way I believe is the best way possible to help fix cyberbullying: to speak up. Speaking to a parent or school official about being bullied is the only way to effectively help remedy the situation. If no one ever says anything, there’s no way to fix the problem. When schools start expressing more clearly the dangers of cyberbullying and ways on how students can protect themselves, we will start seeing a dramatic drop not only in cyberbullying but the psychological effects that come with it.
To be put bluntly, bullying will never completely disappear and because of this, cyberbullying will never completely disappear either. No matter how many times the subject is studied, there will always be mean kids on the playground and even meaner kids behind a keyboard. But just because it will never fully go away doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t fight against it. Throughout the past few years of my life, I’ve observed cyberbullying and the damaging effects it has on multiple people. Throughout my research, I’ve learned much more. The two most important actions in finding a remedy are making sure that schools are doing everything they can to make young adults understand that they have legal rights when it comes to online harassment and that speaking up when being bullied is the only way that they can be helped. Only when students and school officials come together and become proactive in the fight against cyberbullying can positive change happen.