In recent years cyberbullying has become a big complication for today’s society. The basic definition of cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person.
According to Google, this is becoming more of a problem, especially for today’s society because most of people’s time is spent on some kind of technology. In statista statistics, it states “40 percent of adult internet users report having personally experienced cyberbullying in their lifetime. Among teenagers, this phenomenon is even more pronounced, as an ever-increasing number of children are gaining access to digital means of communication at a young age. As of 2020, the cyberbullying victimization rate among middle and high school students stands at an all-time high” These all-time high statistics could potentially make the internet a harsh place for people.
I believe that people cyberbully others for multiple reasons. I truly feel like the main problem is how easy it is to do because there are little to no consequences for this, usually resulting in a temporary ban or permanent ban. However, this is little to no help because if a person is using an alt account (a brand new account that they don’t care about that would be banned) then at that point, all they have to do is say what they want to say with little to no trace to be connected to them.
Doherty junior Caleb Hairhoger brings up a good point when it comes to older generations getting cyber bullied: “A lot of people are more susceptible to cyber bullying, especially older generations due to the lack of knowledge of the internet.” I completely agree with this statement because a lack of knowledge could cause catastrophic problems for any user on the internet. From another standpoint, I also believe that people cyberbully because they can’t bully anyone in real life since everybody is trying to fit in, especially during high school, so if someone gets bullied in real life that person is gonna feel like they have to get back somehow so that’s when they turn to the cyberbullying cause they still get a sense of power and making them feel like they are now on the same level socially as there bully by still finding that sense of power. However, this does not rule out people also cyberbullying to vent their frustrations or insecurities. There are some steps you can take to avoid or stop getting cyberbullied. These include setting your profile to private and blocking people these are two of the main steps and the first things you can do to prevent cyberbullying in the first place cause if you set your account to private no one can access your page till your confirmation. This is an excellent tool that should be used more, especially if you are not comfortable with your information being around the internet. I would also personally be careful and make sure that you know the person before accepting any follow requests. Blocking people helps when you are actively getting cyberbullied blocking the person in subject this is a specialized list of users that no longer have access to your page and can’t send your account messages or see any posts. There is also always the option to just log off as well if things get to serious.
If you still find this problem occurring please text START to 741741 to chat 24/7 with a live, trained counselor at Crisis Text Line.
