Cyber Bullying

Cyber Bullying

Introduction and Overview

Cyberbullying is the act in which people threaten and insult fellow human beings on online platforms. In most cases, the adolescents participate in numerous forms of cyberbullying form one generation to the next. The rapid increase in technological tools that enhance online platform does fuel the increased kinds of cyberbullying using digital devices. As such, adolescents take photographs in areas that require privacy, such as bedrooms and bathrooms. The person may decide to share the image with a friend; the friend may choose to share the same photo with the third party on social media platforms. The result would be these social media platforms fueling the image to trend that leads to the anger and frustration of the person whose picture is in circulation.

In most cases, the social media platforms that teenagers use to propagate cyberbullying encompass Snap chat, Instagram, Twitter and even Facebook. When compared to the commonly known traditional bullying, the problem of cyberbullying is on a significant growth trend that requires immediate attention (Hinduja & Patchin, 2014). One should keep in mind that the rate at which the United States teenagers stands at 95%. Besides, 74% of the United States’ teenagers can access online platforms via digital devices and makes them vulnerable to rising cyberbullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2014). Prevalently, the commonly used digital tools to access online platform that lead to cyber bullying include tablets, smartphones ipads, laptops and even desktops.

The Prevalence of Cyber Bullying

In the present day world, rumour spreading and name-calling are the most common cyberbullying techniques that account for the significant proportion of cyberbullying in the 21^st century. To be more precise, 59% of teenagers in the United States whose ages lie between 14 and 16 years report having faced or experienced at least one or two forms of online abusive behaviours (Anderson, 2018). More significantly, name-calling is the most offensive of the encounters by adolescents who happen to be interacting on online social media platforms. Frequently, a considerable number of teenagers happen to communicate via digital messaging and texting. As a result, adolescents happen to receive troubling photographs that they did not expect to encounter.

Approximately fifty-seven per cent of the United States’ parents happen to be worrying regarding their adolescent children sending and receiving explicit texts and photographs to their age mates. In the entire globe, some anonymous individuals happen to use social media platforms to blackmail adolescents for their pleasure and extortion. In comparison to their male counterparts, girls are most vulnerable and most likely to report cyber abuse. Worth noting is that the abusive online messaging targets older females whose ages range between 15 and 16 years when compared to their young male counterparts (Anderson, 2018; Azam & Jasmin, 2018). To be more particular, teenagers from low-income families are more exposed to the act of cyberbullying when compared to their age mates from middle income or high-income families.

Effects of Cyber Bullying

Cyberbullying, like any other bullying, results in an adverse impact on the victim. As such, the victim under cyberbullying may develop both emotional and psychological distress. Similar to the other victims of bullying, the adolescent may encounter stress, anxiety and even depression in their daily lives (Johnson et al., 2016; Miller, 2016). As a result, it causes the adolescent to feel overwhelmed with the act and thoughts making them feel sick and exhausted most of the time. In other cases, the continued prevalence of cyberbullying on adolescent may case victimized youths to develop suicidal thoughts because of the feeling of exposure and shame. If no intervention and proper remedy such as counselling come in, the victims end up committing suicide.

Interestingly, the victims under target get to feel powerless and vulnerable. The feeling of exposure and defenceless makes the teenager live under duress and unprotected a matter that limits the development of self-confidence (Johnson et al., 2016; Miller, 2016). These victims get exposed to cyberbullying in their homes via computers and other digital devices that make them feel unsafe in the cyberspace (Azam & Jasmin, 2018). The effect such a feeling, when the adolescents get to feel the invasion of cyberbullying in their homes, makes them think that cyberbullying is universal. Such is not a fact, but only an effect of continued cyberbullying that invades individuals’ homes, and the victims feel they do not have a place to escape.

Similarly, the persons may feel humiliated and exposed by the surrounding world, making them feel stressed. Online bullying is permanent, and the adolescents may develop a sense that the activity may not end any time soon (Johnson et al., 2016; Azam & Jasmin, 2018). In particular, the victims of cyberbullying may not have a satisfying feeling in every endeavour they undertake, and it is worth noting that cyberbullying attacks individuals who spent most of their time on online platforms making them vulnerable to the act.

Prevention of Cyber Bullying

Even though cyber bullying is the most prevalent form of cyber space torture, society can develop control measures for preventing and curbing the act. Combating cyberbullying is an initiative that demands a broad spectrum of rules for the safety of teenagers that happen to be drowning in online activities.

1. Monitoring the online activities of adolescents

Monitoring cyberspace activities is the most probable method of preventing the spread of rumors and name-calling types of cyber bullying. As such, parents should be innovative and install phone monitoring soft wares on mobile handsets for measuring their children’s activities on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The monitoring apps can track call logs, messages, and the rest of the online behaviors the child may engage.

2. Creating Awareness Among Parents and Youths

The creation of awareness amongst parents and teenagers regarding cyber bullying would vital in facilitating school safety measures against children’s exposure to cyberspace bullying. When every individual is aware of the existence and prevalence, curbing the crime would be manageable.

3. The Government to use celebrities to create awareness and combating the crime

In the contemporary world, celebrities support victims of cyber bullying. In such a case, they post comments on their social media accounts against cyber bullying acts. As a result, the government and society can use these celebrities to combat all forms of cyber bullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2014). Also, the school staff can develop a favorable climate for enhancing the safety of the cyberspace. To be more specific, the ultimate goal of cyber bullying prevention is the restoration of the victims’ self-respect.

4. Creating stringent laws governing the Cyberspace

The government should legislate laws that govern the cyberspace. The rules should be so rigorous in that the wrongdoers are punishable through prosecution and sentencing, and such would help manage the cyberspace to bring sanity (Franco & Ghanayim, 2019).

Conclusion

From the discussion, it is clear that cyber bullying encompasses the creation of hate speech and posting of mean comments about an individual. Besides, the activity involves the spread of rumor regarding a specific individual via posting videos or images on online platforms. As a result, the victim gets affected by anxiety, anger, and frustrations. In other cases, the victim may be overwhelmed with depression, thereby developing suicidal thoughts. Importantly, the crime is preventable, as this can be done through, creation of awareness amongst parents and adolescents, monitoring online user activities, together with the creation of laws that are meant to govern and discipline the offenders.

References

Anderson, M. (2018, November 30). A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of Cyberbullying. Retrieved from https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/

Azam, Z., & Jasmin, K. S. (2018). A STUDY ON CYBER BULLYING AMONG SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CHENNAI. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, 120(5), 263-273.

Franco, L., & Ghanayim, K. (2019). The Criminalization of Cyberbullying Among Children and Youth. Santa Clara Journal of International Law, 17(2), 1.

Hinduja, S., & Patchin. W. (2014) “Cyberbullying.” Identification, Prevention and Response. Cyberbullying.org https://cyberbullying. org/Cyberbullying-Identification-Prevention-Response. Pdf

Johnson, L. D., Haralson, A., Batts, S., Brown, E., Collins, C., Van Buren-Travis, A., & Spencer, M. (2016). Cyberbullying on Social Media Among College Students. Vistas Online, 1-8.

Miller, K. (2016). Cyberbullying and its consequences: How cyberbullying is contorting the minds of victims and bullies alike, and the law’s limited available redress. S. Cal. Interdisc. LJ, 26, 379.