Shriver1

Noah Shriver

Mrs. Moon

English

3-1-16

Cyberbullying

Bullying is no longer face to face because of our electronic age. Cyberbullying is defined

as bullying through the use of social media. Although many people believe that cyberbullying

could be written off as teenagers being teenagers, but it is destroying someone elses self-esteem.

Parents and schools are not doing enough to keep children from being cyberbullied, and they are

leaving courts to deal with the situation. Teenagers who are cyberbullied are going through

stages of depression, anger, and confusion which leads some teenagers to commit suicide.

(Opposing Viewpoints)

First of all, even though bullying on social media is still bullying, it is completely

different from everyday bullying. Cyberbullies are anonymous, whereas real life bullies are face

to face with the person. The physical stature of the bully is never seen, because there is never

physical harm involved in cyberbullying. The cyberbully will also never see the outcomes of

their bullying, because the message sometimes takes a couple of days to reach their victim. A
 Shriver2

cyberbully can bully the victim anywhere and at any time. This increases the possibility of a

greater audience by other bullies.(Questiaschool)

Second of all, cyberbullying and traditional bullying can also be different based on the

victims reaction such as his or her perception, effect, controllability, and permanence. Even

when it is easy to stop regular bullying, it is not easy to stop cyberbullying. People can forget

about comments that people said to them when they are traditionally bullied, but when it goes on

the internet it will never go away.(Gale Student Resources)

There are many ways that people are bullied on social media or bullying someone else on

social media. Cyber harassment can be sending hurtful text messages, spreading rumors online,

and even posting embarrassing photos or videos intended to hurt another person. It can also be in

the form of impersonation. A bully may create a fake identity in order to torture their victim.

There are also many signs that a person has been cyberbullied, and there are also many signs that

a person is cyberbullying someone else. Some of the signs of a person being bullied on social

media can be either the person stops using his or her computer, the person becomes depressed

after using the computer, the person avoids conversations about their computer use, a person may

get nervous when they receive a text message or email, a person may be nervous to leave the

house or even go to school, or the person may withdraw themselves from family and friends.

Some of the signs that someone is bullying someone on social media are that a person is using

their computer late at night, the person becomes upset when they are not allowed to use their

computer, the person avoids conversations about their computer use, the person quickly closes

their computer when an adult or counselor walks by, the person uses someone elses account or

makes multiple online accounts, or they may even laugh when they are using their computer.

(Gale Student Resources)

 Shriver3

One of the reasons cyberbullying is still happening to innocent victims is because

cyberbullying is not being handled in the best way. Parents are telling their kids that it is just

teenagers being typical teenagers and to stay away from a certain website. Parents are not

handling it themselves, and they are leaving it for the court to handle. It is not the courts job to

handle it. Some people believe that criminalizing cyberbullying will take away somebodys

freedom of speech.(Infobase Learning)

Some people shrug the bullying off and look at it as just a joke, but it does have some

major consequences. Victims of bullying can suffer from emotional distress including anger,

frustration, embarrassment, sadness, fear, and depression. These problems could eventually

interfere with their schoolwork or even make some kids change schools. Other consequences of

cyberbullying are delinquency, violence, substance abuse, possession of weapons, and even

suicide.(Opposing Viewpoints)

There are so many teens that are cyberbullied every day from middle school up. In the

past few years, there have been several high profile cases that have ended sadly bringing more

attention to cyberbullying. Matthew Homyk was cyberbullied by his friends and his girlfriend

on Ask.fm when he first entered high school and was confused as to why people who he thought

were his friends were cyberbullying him. Matthews dad told him to stay away from Ask.fm, and

that it was typical teenage nonsense. Matthew would stay away from it for a few weeks and then

he would go back to the website. The comments worsened. Matthew was hospitalized from

November to January after two suicide attempts, and even after leaving the hospital, he was still

depressed from all the things people were saying to him. The night he got home from the hospital

on January 10th he hanged himself.(Time Magazine)

 Shriver4

There are also people that are bullied first at school and then are bullied online. Megan

Meier was being bullied in school and suffered from clinical depression. She was then bullied

online. She was being cyberbullied by her friends mom named Lori Drew. After Drews

daughter and Megan had a falling out with each other, Drew and two other people decided to

tease Megan. They set up a fake character named Josh Evans who was Megans age. Josh went

from being sweet and kind to her and made her feel safe, and then one day the comments he

made became dreadful. The last comment he made to her was The world would be a better

place without you. After Megan read that comment she hanged herself that same night.(Infobase

Learning)

The bullying for Ryan Halligan was in school in the eighth grade. He had a learning

disorder that caused him to struggle in school. Ryans dad taught him to box, so he could defend

himself. It worked when he befriended one bully, but that bully turned around and spread a

rumor that Ryan was gay. Online Ryan was flirting with a girl named Ashley, who was a friend

from school, and he said he liked her. Then Ashley turned on him calling him a loser, and Ryan

said Its girls like you that make me want to kill myself. Ryan was also talking to a random pen

pal who had suicidal thoughts and encouraged Ryan to commit suicide. While Ryans father was

on a business trip, Ryan hanged himself.(Infobase Learning)

Cyberbullying targets more than just teenagers. It strongly targets towards the gay,

bisexual, and transgender population. In 2010 a survey by the Cyberbullying Research Center

showed that 36.4% of non-heterosexual people are cyberbullied and while 20.1% of

heterosexual people are cyberbullied. More than 38.8% of non-heterosexual compared to 18.8%

heterosexual have cyberbullied other people. One gay person that was a victim of cyberbullying

was Tyler Clementi. Tyler was in college at Rutgers University in 2010 when he experienced
 Shriver5

cyberbullying. When Tyler was having a romantic encounter with a guy, his roommate, Dharun

Ravi, and Ravis friend Molly Wei recorded it and put it all over social media. It had many

comments, and Tyler had no way to defend himself. He killed himself by jumping off the George

Washington Bridge in September of 2010. Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei were charged with

invasion of privacy and were sentenced to five years imprisonment.(Infobase Learning)

There are many reasons that students bully. One reason students bully is because they

have poor self-esteem and believe that if they demean others they can gain attention and feel

better about themselves. Another is the separation between church and state in certain schools.

There are certain public schools that dont let students talk about their own faith or pray in

school. A lot of people that get bullied dont accept who they are and how Christ made them.

Cyberbullies believe that if they bully online then they wont suffer the real life consequences of

their actions. The George Walton Academy school handbook states that students should not bully

in any case or form and students are not abiding by these rules. Some teachers and faculty are

ignoring the actions of those students that bully.

Cyberbullying is bullying through the use of social media. Parents are letting the courts

handle the situation after it has occurred. They are not handling the incident before any poor

decisions can occur. Bullying is happening, because bullies have poor self-esteem. Although

many people believe that cyberbullying is just like regular bullying and its just teenagers being

teenagers, it is taking a persons life and self-esteem away. I believe in order to stop

cyberbullying completely parents should block the website from where their child is being

cyberbullied and also talk to the school administration about the bullying. They can handle it

instead of letting the courts handle the problem. Parents should also stop fixing the situation after

the severe consequences have happened and fix it while it is still occurring. For people that are
 Shriver6

cyberbullying and for people that are being cyberbullied, they need to realize that we are Gods

creation, and we need to treat each other with kindness.

 Shriver7

Works Cited

Cyberbullying." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2016

Issues & Controversies. Infobase Learning, Web. 22 Jan. 2016.

Preventing and Reporting Cyberbullying." Gale Student Resources in Context.

Detroit: Gale, 2013. Research in Context. Web. 22 Jan. 2016

Davison, Christopher B; Stein, Carl H. North American Journal of Psychology,

December 2014

Lowry, Ryan. The Antisocial Network Inside the Dangerous Online World Kids can't

Quit. Time Magazine.

No Author. The Dangers of Cyberbullying. Questiaschool.com

Shriver8