Cyberbullying Under Scrutiny
“Traditional” bullying, as one would recognize it, may consist name calling, abusal of reputation or relationships or otherwise. To older generations, this was the primary ailment to teens inflicted by malicious peers. Singling out victims made humiliation an easy game. Even physical abuse made its presence under more intense circumstances of bullying. But this is not to say that such bullying is not present today, for that is only one current ailment among many that teens may face. Now, bullying largely takes a different form in the online atmosphere.
With expanding internet influence comes a plethora of useful functions and means of entertainment to easily access. Though of course, with ease in efficiency comes ease in bullying to those who wish to twist media’s capabilities to ill deeds. Online harassment is omnipresent, beyond teenage quarrels. Online platforms such Twitter and Facebook serve as fronts for drama and harassment to fester. This culture of drama seeps in most online media, and has found its way in more localized incidences of personal matters. This is where cyberbullying takes root, to use these devices to shame others.
Cyberbullying may have many reasons to exist, but there is no single or true cause of it. To pinpoint a hostile soul’s aim is sometimes inexplicable. Personal spite may provoke someone to carry their malice to the internet and present a bad online presence. Being “dominant” by exerting aggression and hostility over someone may produce an ego boost. And sometimes, it is simply to garner a reaction for a bully’s empty satisfaction. All in all, there is no good reason or excuse for cyberbullying. Although typically, in cases of cyberbullying, the bully themselves are lacking in confidence or are enduring their own struggles that result in channeling frustration onto others.
Accessibility plays a major role in the growing epidemic of cyberbullying, as most teens own a cellphone with social media access. To post a demeaning comment or send a hateful message is all too easy. The option of anonymity is another added lethality of cyberbullying, with seemingly no personal repercussions to enact hate as one sees fit. The temptation and ease simply to great to someone who may hold a particular grudge or wants to take out their own frustrations.
As cyberbullying is typically aimed towards people who are already bashful or self-conscious, to target these people is salt on the wound that only further ensures a reserved confidence, or lack thereof. Victims are prone to a host of psychological effects, such as anxiety, lowered self-esteem, and frustration. And in turn of these effects, they are increasingly susceptible to react with a heightened mental toll by being cyberbullied further. For these victims, going to school is yet another chore, having such issues that induce greater stress.
More serious, long term effects of harassments may lead to substance abuse and depressive thoughts or actions In the worst of cases, cyberbullying can drive people to suicide, as cyberbullying and self-harm have become more closely-linked in the past few years. Elevated circumstances of cyberbullying may consist of sexual harassment by trying to solicit suggestive photographs from a victim, or even by using these against a person as blackmail.
No victim should simply brush off cyberbullying if it begins to take its toll on them. Websites like stopbullying.gov and cyberbullying.org exist for a reason, to assist in dealing with and finding a solution to online harassment. Though it may come with hesitance to a person being cyberbullied, informing a parent or informing school staff may be the best thing one could do to prevent further harassment. Being aware of one’s own online presence and media engagement may also limit the chances of being targeted by a predator. Painting a larger target for oneself breeds new opportunities for cyberbullies to harass a person. Retractions from these media platforms provide a buffer from harassers that potentially eliminate all such threats.
In conviction of the faults presented by cyberbullying, plain to see are the detrimental effects caused by such incidents. As a modern issue that echoes previous generations of persecution among teens by their peers, its effects are only amplified by such relative ease to induce suffering. No one wants to wake up to having received hateful messages, or to dread another day in which they are at the receiving end of a cyberbully’s impudent fury. Unfortunately, it is likely that ill-inspired contempt will always propagate such antagonistic online behavior To mitigate or avert the causes tended by these attitudes will pave individual solutions to cyberbullying. By taking initiative for oneself and reaching out in whichever way they may, we as a developing generation may become more graciously headstrong to obstacles presented by others, so that the benevolent brand of people may stand tall above those who wish for a bleaker society.