When I was thinking about topics I was reading through the chapters in The Curious Researcher and saw how it talked about the Internet a lot. Most of us can agree that we spend a majority of our time on social networks but what people don’t think about is how they might be a victim or contribute to cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can range from calling someone a name on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or any social media site.
When a child is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child is what is considered cyber bullying. Many people now a days don’t even realize that they are doing it. It can be so minor that you post a status saying I hate you and that is considered cyber bullying. Most people contribute to cyber bullying because of anger or frustration with another person and it fuels them to do it. Others can do it because they are bored and want excitement. Even when people don’t post to many tweets, I find people on my Twitter saying stuff like, “Lets see a twitter fight to liven up tonight!” Some of their friends might enjoy them making fun of someone else so they could have someone forcing them to be mean. Especially in middle school, there is a constant urge to be “popular” and sometimes that means picking on people to get to the top. This is where cyber bullying falls into place.
Just the other day I logged onto my Twitter account and witnessed cyber bullying myself. Some people on my timeline were arguing about each other because of their boyfriend. When kids are younger and are victims of this, most are tempted to commit suicide. About a year ago there was this young boy from my hometown who did in fact commit suicide because he was being cyber bullied. It is very sad and a shame that people can say those things to other people. There was this movie that I saw too about cyber bullying and sometimes victims are scared to tell anyone about what is happening to them because they can be ashamed thus leading them to have no one to turn to. It is really sad that this actually happens to people and that it can hurt them so much their willing to give up their lives. It is a lot easier to say mean things when your writing it to a computer but still, words hurt just as much as saying it to someone’s face.
I think that cyber bullying will eventually die down; once kids learn about the consequences and how it can really hurt people, they will stop cyber bullying. Lets just hope this is soon so that we can stop all the rude and hurtful comments people say about each other!
So my questions to the class…
Have you ever been a victim of cyber bullying? What happened?
Have you ever been an instigator of cyber bullying?
Do you have any other ideas on how to stop cyber bullying?
