Social media can be used for so many things like promoting your business, posting pictures, and videos, and many more. Social media change our world. Now people are more noticeable when doing something because of their social media platforms. Using social media can benefit us a lot in our daily lives but, some people use social media for the wrong purposes which can lead to crimes. Cyberbully is harassing someone online and trying to make someone else look bad. Cyberbullying is a form of bullying, it’s just using social media not directly. Cyberbullying is considered a crime. Using social media for negative purposes like this is not good, we as humans should not cyberbully one another. You can use the comments section in social media to do good like complement each other not tear each other down. Cyberbullying is when someone comments on somebody else social media and tells bad things about that person and telling bad opinions using hurtful words that could possibly hurt the other person's feelings it could lead to suicide, depression, hurting themself, having less social interaction, less socialization to other people, and many more.
According to Joseph, “Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person” (“Cyberbullying”). This means that when you harass or make fun of someone on social media, it’s called cyberbullying and it is not ok. When someone posted a picture of you that you don’t like or you don’t want them getting posted, it can also be considered cyberbullying.
According to stopbullying.gov, “Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content.” (“What Is Cyberbullying”). This means that anything negative that you receive online in text or in social media counts as cyberbullying.
According to commonsensemedia.org, “Cyberbullying is the use of digital-communication tools (such as the Internet and cell phones) to make another person feel angry, sad, or scared, usually again and again.” (“Cyberbullying, Haters, and Trolls”). This means that they make negative comments with the purpose to make someone angry.
From 3 sources that I got, I can conclude that cyberbullying is using your technology for negative purposes which can be a text or in your social media and sometimes people do it on purpose to make someone angry.
There are lots of people in this world who had been cyberbullied, specifically teenagers, teenagers get mean comments on their social media or any websites that can interact with other people. Cyberbullying is one of the types of bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic devices include cell phones, computers, tablets, etc. Electronics can be used for positive activities like connecting to your families or friends, it is better than using it for cyberbullying. There are lots of bullying solutions that can make more problems. Many teenagers skipped school because they feel ashamed that their friends at school cyberbullied them. Teenagers that are depressed usually run to bad stuff including drugs, no parent would even let their kids do drugs. Some even do suicide, they were too depressed and too ashamed of the world so they decided that they want to kill themselves.
According to Gabriel, “Cyberbullying happens for many of the same reasons as any other type of bullying, but it may be even more appealing because it can be done anonymously” (“What Are the Causes of Cyberbullying”. It means that it is easier for people to do because the person they bullied might not be able to find out who bullied them online because we can just create a fake account and use that. Nobody will know if we make a fake account anyway. Some kids even cyberbully to be popular and it’s a thing. Some causes also include you want to fit in, want to feel powerful, prove yourself, and upgrade to confidence. I think that cyberbullying used to be a trend where if you follow you will be popular but the truth is that you don’t need to bring others down to feel powerful. And I think that by doing cyberbullying, you fit in with the bad people and it’s not good for you.
According to Rogers, some people said that people cyberbully each other because of jealousy, or unhappiness, this has some truth to it but some cyberbully each other just because they have a mundane feeling and some may even do it out of boredom. Some students said that bullying makes them feel better and feeling more powerful, funny, and popular. Some students also explained that they cyberbully to get more attention. Some also cyberbully to get revenge on others (“What Really Causes Cyberbullying”). This means that not all cyberbullying comes from jealousy there are many other reasons why people love to cyber bully.
According to Gordon, there are 8 reasons why people cyberbully each other. Those reasons include being motivated by revenge, believing the victims deserve it, doing it out of boredom, doing it under peer pressure, they think everyone is doing it, power-hungry, believing they won’t get caught, and lack of empathy. These reasons are usually why people cyber bully each other (“8 Reasons Why Kids Cyberbully Each Other”). This means that there are many possible reasons why people cyberbully each other.
Emotions of teenagers are still very unstable, so they often express themselves and can’t control themselves, until they bully their own friend. For example, insulting or humiliating friends through social media. Children or teens who commit cyberbullying to their friends sometimes do not think about the bad effects. The person he/she bullied can be disappointed, and sad, feel depressed, and can withdraw from his environment because he has no sense of confidence in himself. This is very detrimental and makes other people get the negative effects of cyberbullying. Even though, some teens believe that it’s ok to do cyberbullying because it’s fun, it’s not ok because it could lead the person that is bullied to depression, and stress, and even can cause them to commit suicide and it could also make the person that is bullied suffer from low self-esteem and being insecure about themselves.
“Most people know when they're being bullied, though, because bullying involves repeated insults or threats. The people doing the bullying know they've crossed a line, too. It's not a one-off joke or insult — it's constant harassment and threats that go beyond typical fun teasing or a nasty comment made in anger.” (“Cyberbullying”). This means that some people think it’s actually fun to tease or make fun of other people.
Cyberbullying should stop because of some reasons. It could make the person that is bullied suffer from low self-esteem and being insecure about themselves. But most importantly, it’s not ok because it could lead the person that is bullied to depression, and stress, and even can cause them to commit suicide. Stop cyberbullying because people that do cyberbully don’t know the impact on the people that they bullied, they don’t know how the person feels and reacts. So, for all the bullies out there, they need to stop because bullying is not a positive thing to do and there are no benefits of doing cyberbullying rather than making the cyberbullies happy and satisfied seeing somebody else hurt, sad, and depressed.
A girl from Texas shoots herself in the chest after receiving abusive texts from bullies. Her father tells the media that someone created a fake Facebook page for her creating a new way of cyberbullying. She told her family that she wanted to kill herself resulting in her parents hurrying home and still finding her alive. Her sister heard someone crying and when her sister enters her room, she was already in the corner pointing a gun to her chest while crying. She ended up pulling the trigger and dying and all this because of receiving an abusive text for months and cyberbullying on social media.
Amanda Michael Todd was a Canadian student. She was 15 years old when she committed suicide. Before committing suicide, Amanda posted a video on YouTube telling everybody her story using papers and without talking. She tells everyone that she was blackmailed into exposing her breast and was cyberbullied. After posting the video on YouTube, she committed suicide by hanging herself in her room. The video was viral after her death. If only someone paid more attention to her before the video, she may be alive right now because in the video she said that she have nobody and she need someone. People who cyberbullied her have no idea what it felt like being Amanda and being bullied or even blackmailed into exposing her breast. She must’ve felt so alone and scared and she’s still very young too, she’s still 15.
I think that the role of parents is very important to keep children from bullying. Mothers and Fathers need to control cyber activities carried out by children. Parents also need to understand about the cyber world, such as social media. In addition, parents really need to talk to children about the negative effects of bullying. Because no one is willing to be a victim of bullying, especially by their friends. I think that the solution can come from the parent. Parents have a huge role in their kids growing up and I think if your parents raise you right, you wouldn’t bully someone just to make yourself feel better because it is not ok to bully others.
Since the internet was developed evenly to many devices with speed and improvement in social technology like social media, it increased cyberbullying drastically, this is why internet safety is needed. Many improved social media nowadays have important features called the “Report” And “Block” buttons to decrease cyberbullying for many people. Humans now live in a place with mass cyberbullying, those types of people are socially active people and socially inactive people. Bullying is mostly done to gain confidence and popularity. Some people wanted to look cool and more powerful than the opposing side.
Cyberbullying is bad and there are ways that you can stop or prevent them. Some ways include standing up for yourself and telling the person to stop, this can actually give you more power than the bullies, and standing up for yourself means you love yourself and that’s good. Reach out for help, reaching out for help may be difficult but you will be thankful and grateful once you got help from older and more mature people like your parents. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Take action, if you know one of your friends is bullied you need to stop the person who bullied them not just watch because if you just watched your friend get bullied, then you’re a bully too. Know that it’s not your fault, there is nothing wrong with you and there is nothing you need to change just so they won’t bully you, their bullying you is usually their own fault, maybe they just wanted to have fun when it’s actually not okay. Don’t respond or retaliate, if you respond back with more mean and negative stuff you are also considered a bully so respond with positive stuff like standing up for yourself (“Tips to Help Stop Cyberbullying”).
The conclusion is that using social media or technology for negative purposes can harm others. Using social media to harass others will not make you feel great about yourself. Sometimes people have their own reasons to bully someone and there sure are a lot of reasons to cyber bully someone but those reasons often lead to popularity or trying to fit in. Cyberbullying someone will not make you cool, it will make you look like a bad person, and it means you don’t care about people's feelings.
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