Social network has been a popular tool for the
past twenty years or so that connects people who are living miles away from
each other back together. With its easy communication and instantaneous
posting online, why wouldn’t anyone want to be involved with it? However,
people fail to understand the perils that social media brings
about. With every advantage comes a corresponding disadvantage. While the Internet has become
a great source of entertainment and research materials, it has also created a virtual
platform for people to fight verbally without being identified. Bullying is no
longer isolated to classrooms or playgrounds but rather has widespread to harassments through
mobile phones and social media sites. This is known as cyber-bullying.
Cyber-bullying is a form of verbal harassment in which occurs through
social networking sites or by any form of communication means. People
conceal their identity by creating and using fake profiles leaving themselves
anonymous to defame others by posting rumors on to social sites such as Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram. Such cases have been
rather prevalent in the America. An alarming result of 52
percent of students reported being bullied online, which is more than half of
the cohort surveyed (No Bullying, America,
2014). For the past decade, numerous cyber-bullying cases ended with
victims ending their life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), suicide is the third main cause of death among youths and
teenagers with around 4,400 deaths each year worldwide.
Also, with every death comes at least 100 suicide attempts (Ibid).
One
of the top stories that have gotten national and maybe even global attention
would be the Amanda Todd Case (1996-2012). Todd
met an anonymous person through Facebook who frequently complimented her to the
extent of convincing her to show her bare body to him. A year later after the
incident, she received a picture of her topless body through an anonymous mail
which then went viral. Many people teased and bullied her where she had to be forced to
switch schools numerous times. Todd suffered from anxiety, major depression and
panic disorder.
After several months later, she eventually gave up and ended her life.
However, the hatred for her did not cease with her passing. Her story continued
circulating online. People continued to mock at her suicide and treat her story
as if it was a joke and was not sympathetic at her plight at all (No Bullying, 2014). The people that ridiculed and
caused much distressed in Todd are still roaming down the streets thinking that
what they did means nothing while in actual fact, their actions had brought
much pain to her and people who loved her. These perpetrators ought to be brought to justice and
taught of the consequences of their actions.
To curb such problems, schools have welcomed cyber-bullying
assembly speakers to educate students on the current situation of
cyber-bullying. Also, the American Humane Association (AHA), committed to
extend help to victims and to the bullies as well. AHA has spread the word on
how to identify victims of cyber-bullying and also how each and every
individual would be able to help them. Bullies themselves also need help.
Children turn into bullies because they were victims of cyber-bullying
themselves and have suffered from trauma in the past. Providing them with
psychological help can prevent them from intimidating others and at the same
time mend their distress previously suffered. Parents also play
important roles in helping to ease cyber-bullying cases. Among the parents of
teenagers, aged 13-17 that has a social networking account, one in six of them
know that their child is being bullied in the cyberspace. But it does not seem to be helping
out in any way to lessen the cases of cyber-bullying. Moreover, 39% of parents of teens connect to their child through
social networking sites, but connecting with them does not mean ending
cyber-bullying acts online. It
in fact creates more problems and relationship issues between them (No Bullying, 2014).
Singapore is the next in line, behind the United States for
cyber-bullying. Victims of cyber-bullying have little or nothing to end the
mistreatments. Despite
the emotional trauma suffered, they still did not want to reach out to the
authorities since there was no law to protect them. To alleviate such problems,
Singapore introduced a new law, on 3rd March 2014, against those
that participates in harassment (Ministry of Law,
2014). The intention of such a law is to legalize any forms of
harassments, be it in or out of the cyber space. Activities
like stalking, bullying, sexual harassment and harassment of children, are
considered to be acts of harassments in Singapore. The law covers
for people within the workforce and also Singaporeans suffering from bullying
out of the country. With the newly implemented law, perpetrators would have
to take full accountability for what they do and say and have a taste of the
damage done to the victims. Cyber-bullying can now lead to obligatory
counseling and the possibility of being locked behind bars. Victims are now protected
and covered by the law. This forces committers to think twice before posting
anything sensitive online, as the outcome may be detrimental towards their future. Since
such a law implemented can force perpetrators to stop their acts, America should consider imposing
such a law in a few states to see if such an implementation can yield results, before
introducing it to every state in America to help lessen the problem of
cyber-bullying.
Cyber-bullying is a socially disagreeable behavior. It
brings about negative impacts on both the bully and the victim. Cyber-bullying can possibly lead to low
self-esteem or even suicidal thoughts in victims. Moreover, the Internet is a dangerous place where
information can be spread worldwide with just a click away. Cyber-bullying is a
vicious cycle.
962 words
No Bullying, America. (2014, November 05). Cyber Bullying
in America.
No Bullying. (2014, November 30). The truth behind 6
disturbing cyberbullying cases that turned into suicide stories.
American Humane Association.
Ministry of Law, Press releases. (2014, February 26). A new
Protection from Harassment Bill to be introduced to strengthen the laws against
harassment.
