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

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 (Oxford
Dictionary). 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 (Slonje & Smith, 2007).
Wang, Ionnotti, and Nansel have determined that cyber bullying is a distinct nature from
that of traditional bullying (Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009). From my observations, you
can see that the characters in the show are mostly bullied through text messages and

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

emails (Trogdon, 2014). A database of cyber bullying statistics also agrees that 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 (OKeeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011).
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, 2006). Campbell expands
even more on this, saying that bullied students feel more socially ineffective and have
greater interpersonal difficulties (Campbell, 2005). 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 (Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009).
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

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

those bullied never confide in their parents when it occurs. Slonje and Smith also note
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 (Slonje & Smith, 2007). This causes them to deal with it on their own.
Because of the low self-esteem 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 (Hunduia & Patchlin, 2010).

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 would get a clearer perspective on social media. I would like to create a
study and 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.

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

Participants
In order to effectively conduct this study, approximately 100 UNC Charlotte
students would be used as participants. They would 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, would be used to
encourage all people to participate. Although random participants would not be chosen,
conducting the study on the UNCC campus may help, because of the diversity at this
school.

Design
This study would have two parts: a quantitative component and a qualitative
component. The quantitative part would be a survey. It would begin by asking each
person how many social networks they are affiliated with, then statements followed by
ratings 1-10. 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 rated the
statement a 1, it would mean that they do not agree at all. Which means if the participant
rated the statement a 10, they agree completely. The qualitative component would be
comprised of open-ended questions. The students would 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 would ask the participant to provide their
gender and age.

Procedure

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

As participants are coming in, they would be split up one by one into two separate
rooms. One room would be used for the quantitative survey and the other would be used
for the qualitative survey. Only twenty students would be placed in a room at a time, so
that 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 would be controlled as much as possible. The participants would be told to
keep the surveys anonymous by not putting their names on their papers; only the gender
and age of the student would be known. Participants would be released all together when
everyone in the room finishes, to decrease any distraction.

Analyzing Data
When all of the results were collected, they would be combined and analyzed.
The quantitative data would be averaged by gender and by age, separately. The
qualitative data would be grouped into common answers, which may be more difficult,
since the questions 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 would be used
to determine the effects of social media on cyber bullying. First, I would compare the
results by gender, then they would 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 would be pulled from such a small pool of people
compared to all teenagers/young adults in the world, the information obtained cannot be
generalized.

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

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
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

Jasmine Trogdon

Assignment Two

UWRT-1103
Williams

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. Why has bullying moved
from the schoolyard to social media? Why is it such a big problem in adolescents? More
importantly, what can be done to stop it?

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, 68-76.
O'Keeffe, G., Clarke-Pearson, K., & Council on Communications and Media. (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