Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

Cyber Bullying:
Words Can Hurt
Introduction
Our increasingly connected world has created another platform for bullies to
harass their victims. No longer are bullies confined to picking on other kids on the school
playground; today, many bullies are refraining from physical assaults, opting instead for
around the clock bashing via email, social media, instant messaging and other online
platforms. Although parents, teachers and other authority figures can no longer count on
physical signs like scars, torn clothing and bruises to tell the story, this certainly doesnt
mean that the effects of cyber bullying are any less damaging. (Cyber Bullying Statistics
2014. (n.d.).) In 2014, 52% of young people report being cyber bullied and approximately
10%-20% of those experience cyber bullying regularly. Of the young people who
reported cyber-bullying incidents, 33% of them reported that their bullies threatened
them. Over 55% of all teens who use social media have witnessed bullying through it and
more than 80% of teens regularly use cell phones, making them the most popular form of
technology and a common medium for cyber bullying.
Bullying has been a problem for as long as people can remember, but was often
accepted as a normal part of childhood. In recent years, this view has changed and
bullying had been seen as a serious problem that deserved attention. Cyber bullying is a
new issue that although doesnt seem as prominent or detrimental, is just as bad as, or
maybe even worse than, what bullying used to be. With such an increase in technology
and the use of the Internet over the past 20 years, bullies are able to reach someone in a
matter of seconds anywhere at any time of the day. Social media has immensely

Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:50 AM

Comment [1]: Your introduction was
superb. I especially loved your hook
because it makes the reader emotionally
invested in your topic. Also your personal
bias portion touches the reader. Overall
the introduction was touchy and nicely
articulated your topic.

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

influenced cyber bullying. Because of the secrecy involved, bullies are now able to say
things anonymously and often times, the only people that know about the situation are the
bully and the victim.
It is important to me to discuss this topic, because I have seen how cyber bullying
can affect someone, but I also dont believe that the use of social media has to be a
negative thing. When sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram are spoken about,
they are usually connected to cyber bullying. Therefore, they are talked about in a bad
way. People often times fail to see, or speak about, the good that can come from the use
of these sites. My curiosity with why the negative side of social media is so widely
broadcasted is what leads me to write about this topic. From my research, I hope to
realize if cyber bullying is a major problem for teenagers/young adults and if social
media is the root of this problem.

Literature Review
Cyber bullying is defined as the use of electronic communication to bully a
person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. Slonje
and Smith speak about how cyber bullying has recently emerged as a new form of
harassment and can be broken down into four main categories: text message, email,
phone call, and picture/video. They also realized that there is a significant amount of
cyber bullying in secondary education, such as high school. Wang, Ionnotti, and Nansel
have determined that cyber bullying is a distinct nature from that of traditional bullying.
From my observations, you can see that the characters in the show are mostly bullied
through text messages and emails. A database of cyber bullying statistics also agrees that

Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:46 AM

Comment [2]: In your literature review
you do a good job of going into the right
amount of detail. Be careful to use the
proper way of citing your sources. You go
back and forth from just simple mentioning
the authors name to actually using the
(Author, Year) format. You also did a very
good and organized way, besides that
factor, of grouping together your sources.
Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:50 AM
Comment [3]: You did a good job
organizing your body, I feel like you
touched all of areas of discussion of
cyberbullying. I really like you added a
T.V. reference to your argument. It would
be nice if you can describe how a
cyberbully is different from regular bully.

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

there is a significant amount of cyber bullying occurring, but is more concerned about the
use of social media as a medium for this act. When you think about social media,
Facebook and Twitter are probably the most common things that come to mind, but
OKeeffe and Clarke-Pearson even talk about how YouTube and Sims can be used as
means to cyber bully someone.
One of the most common implications of cyber bullying is the want to disconnect
from the technological world, and sometimes, even the real world. In a personal interview
conducted by KCRA News, a mother talks about the effect that cyber bullying had on her
son, a child in high school. He was targeted and received many rude comments through
Facebook, which caused him to distance himself from social media sites and avoid going
to school. He also did not want to participate in the interview. Patchin discusses how
cyber bullying can cause a person to feel subjected to humiliation and embarrassment in a
public setting. Because social acceptance is so important at this age, cyber bullying can
wreak psychological, emotional, and social havoc (Patchin J., 2006). Campbell expands
even more on this, saying that bullied students feel more socially ineffective and have
greater interpersonal difficulties. In Pretty Little Liars, the characters initially try to block
the bully from messaging or emailing them, but soon realizes that it will not make the
bully go away. Wang, Iannotti, and Nansel even proved that having more friends was
associated with less victimization, so trying to disconnect from certain worlds may only
make the problem worse.
Another effect of cyber bullying is suicide or the thought of wanting to commit
suicide. The database of cyber bullying statistics also points out that more than half of
those bullied never confide in their parents when it occurs. Slonje and Smith also note

Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:48 AM

Comment [4]: In your lit. review, while
the themes are very organized and
thoughtful, the points made could be a
little more strong when talking about each
source. In some sections, for example
when talking about OKeefe, it seems as if
you are more just stating random facts
from the sources instead of talking about
the main forward point of that source. Try
to be a little more forward and specific.

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

that most cyber victims choose not to tell anyone what is happening to them. Many
victims are embarrassed and some even believe that it is their own fault that they are
being bullied. They also believe that nobody could possibly understand what they are
going through. This causes them to deal with it on their own. Because of the low selfesteem problems that victims suffer with, suicide is often considered. Many believe that
suicide is the only way out of their situation. Hunduia and Patchlin agree that cyber
bullying is directly linked to suicidal ideation among teenagers. Not only do the victims
have suicidal thoughts, but also the bully. Researchers believe it is just as important to
pay attention to those with suicidal ideation, because although it does not always progress
to suicidal behavior, it is an important warning sign, just as depression and anxiety are.

Entering the Conversation

When social media is talked about, it is often portrayed in a negative way. Cyber
bullying is something that is most often brought up. Most of the people that study the
effects of social media are older and only have outside evidence. I believe that by going
straight to the source and surveying the people who may be most effected by acts of
cyber bullying, I will get a clearer perspective on social media. I would like to compare
the results from what I get to those of others who have studied the effects of social media.
While I do believe that cyber bullying is a major issue, I dont think it should solely be
blamed on social media use.

Participants

Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:47 AM

Comment [5]: For your entering the
conversation section, it once again is very
thoughtful. One thing to be careful of is
how you structure and word that you are
breaking down the entering the
conversation section into different parts. It
was a little confusing to follow and I did not
know which parts were continued and part
of that section and which ones were not.
Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:51 AM
Comment [6]: Your experiment was
thoroughly explained; I like that you stated
the possible weakness of you design. The
procedure was descriptive and mentioning
the possible errors make you credible
writer. Overall this portion was good and
shows that you conducted credible survey.

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

In order to effectively conduct this study, approximately 100 UNC Charlotte

students will be used as participants. They will be males and females between the ages of
18 and 24. Because of the difficulty of randomizing the experiment, there may be some
bias present. A common incentive, such as food or shirts, will be used to encourage all
people to participate. Although random participants will not be chosen, conducting the
study on the UNCC campus will help, because of the diversity at this school.

Design
This study will have two parts: a quantitative component and a qualitative
component. The quantitative part will be a survey. It will begin by asking each person
how many social networks they are affiliated with, then statements followed by ratings 110. Statements will be things such as I feel safe on social networks, I have been cyber
bullied before, I have cyber bullied someone before, etc. If the participant rates the
statement a 1, it means they do not agree at all. Which means if the participant rates the
statement a 10, they agree completely. The qualitative component will be comprised of
open-ended questions. The students will be asked things such as what social network they
use the most, what social network have they been bullied through, how did they handle it,
etc. Both surveys will ask the participant to provide their gender and age.

Procedure
As participants are coming in, they will be split up one by one into two separate
rooms. One room will be used for the quantitative survey and the other will be used for
the qualitative survey. Only twenty students will be placed in a room at a time, so that

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

they remain spaced out and do not look at other peoples surveys or speak to each other.
This is done, so that the data does not become skewed. Also, the male-female ratio in
each room will be controlled as much as possible. The participants will be told to keep
the surveys anonymous by not putting their names on their papers; only the gender and
age of the student will be known. Participants will be released all together when everyone
in the room finishes, to decrease any distraction.

Analyzing Data
When all of the results are collected, they will be combined and analyzed. The
quantitative data will be averaged by gender and by age, separately. The qualitative data
will be grouped into common answers, which may be more difficult, since the questions

Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 9:06 AM

Comment [7]: The only thing your
conversation lacked was the results from
the survey. I feel like this is a crucial part
of the conversation where you are
comparing your finding to the information
you found from your research. I explain
your finding in this section and again
summarize it in the conclusion.

are open-ended. If there are questions that have more than five different answers, the top
five will be used. The results from both surveys will be used to determine the effects of
social media on cyber bullying. First I will compare the results by gender, then they will
be combined again and compared by age. I think its not only important to know which
gender is affected more, but also the age that is more affected. Because the participants
will be pulled from such a small pool of people compared to all teenagers/young adults in
the world, the information obtained cannot be generalized.

Conclusion
When social media is talked about, it is often portrayed in a bad way, because it is
often related to cyber bullying. In my research, I wanted to determine whether or not
social media could be directly blamed for the problems involved with cyber bullying and

Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:47 AM

Comment [8]: Your conclusion seems to
be very thoughtful and put together. One
thing that you are missing from your
conclusion is the last #5 Question. To
end your conclusion you are supposed to
leave the reader off with a question or
questions for them to think of and consider
after reading your paper. Right now it
seems as if you are just summing
everything up to end your conclusion.
Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:52 AM
Comment [9]: Your conclusion was good
at pointing out why your topic is important
and what else we could study. It also did a
good job of summarizes your topic. The
only thing I would add to it would be
discuss your findings if social media is
solely responsible for cyberbulling.
Jasmine Trogdon 10/23/14 8:49 AM
Comment [10]: In your conclusion, you
are very strongly opinionated. This can be
seen in a good and in a bad sense seeing
that the point of this paper is to add your
own personal commentary but at the same
time this still is a paper. Maybe consider
adding more factual aspects in it as well
as your strong personal opinions on cyber
bullying. Conclusion was very straight
forward though, which is very good!

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

how much people are actually affected by cyber bullying. Researchers only discuss the
bad side of social media, which can make it look like such a negative thing. Although I
do believe that cyber bullying is a problem, I do not believe that social media should only
be portrayed as a negative thing because of it, which is why I wanted to conduct my own
study about this topic. My study consists of college students being surveyed about
whether or not they have been affected by cyber bullying through the social mediums that
they use. From the results, I hoped to be able to tell how detrimental cyber bullying
actually is for people of this age group.
My study is important because it will help me to understand the severity of this
problem in my area. While I cannot go out and study the areas that cyber bullying is most
often problematic, I do believe that some of the questions asked in the surveys will be
able to show whether or not bullying has been a problem for the participants previously.
Studying this topic matters, because it is important to know how bad this problem is.
Without knowing, the correct measures may not be taken to prevent or fix this problem.
The effects of cyber bullying may be blown out of proportion, or they may be just as bad
as they are portrayed to be. The significance of this problem should be used to determine
how to lessen the effects of it.
I feel like there are many gray areas associated with cyber bullying and the effects
of it, which is why further research must be done. Not only should the victims of this
issue be studied, but also the bullies and why they choose to do these things. Also,
researchers should study what would be an effective way to put an end to this problem:
more policies, more parental supervision, or a mixture of both.

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

References
Campbell, M. (2005). Cyber Bullying: An Old Problem in a New Guise. Australian
Journal of Guidance & Counseling.
O'Keeffe, G., & Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The Impact of Social Media on Children,
Adolescents, and Families. Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of
Pediatrics, 800-804.
Hunduia, S., & Patchlin, J. (2010). Bullying, Cyber Bullying, & Suicide. Taylor &
Francis Online.
Slonje, R., & Smith, P. (2007). Cyberbullying: Another Main Type Of Bullying?
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 147-154.
Patchin, J. (2006). Bullies Move Beyond The Schoolyard: A Preliminary Look At
Cyberbullying. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 148-169.
Wang, J., Iannotti, R., & Nansel, T. (2009). School Bullying Among Adolescents in the
United States:Physical, Verbal, Relational, and Cyber. Journal of Adolescent Health,
368-375.
Social Media: One Tool Used by Cyber Bullies [Personal interview]. (2012).
Cyber Bullying Statistics 2014. (n.d.).
Trogdon, Jasmine. (2014) Assignment One