In a society that we live in today, cyberbullying is so prevalent. Based on the website thewindowsclub.com, cyberbullying may be defined as the method where the bullies and the bullied make use of modern technologies. According to stopbullying.gov, cyberbullying may occur through SMS, apps, or social media platforms where people have the choice of viewing, participating, or sharing content. It continues to say that cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative or mean information about someone, it may be private or personal information. It is said that cyberbullying is a worldwide issue and that it needs to be resolved. Cyberbullying is a great danger to society. It causes harm to people and results negatively for, both, the bully and the victim. Cyberbullying may not harm someone physically but can harm them mentally. The causes and effects of cyberbullying can vary and it can be very dangerous to a lot of people.
A few effects of cyberbullying may include a lack of socialization, a drop in grades, a lack of sleep, and low self-esteem. Children, teenagers, and even adults may some of the times have these effects. Socialization may or may not affect everyone who is cyberbullied or who has been cyberbullied. People may shut out or ignore people around them because they are being bullied on social media. If they show a lack of interest in anything and stay in their room all the time, then this is called chronic depression. Chronic depression is something that we should not take lightly. In today’s society, we see a lot of young children, even from the age of two years old, being engaged in online activities. Often times lack of socialization leads to children being left feeling humiliated. Some of the time children may be terrified to leave their home because they fear what people may say to them; whether they may say it online or face to face.
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Cyberbullying may also affect children’s grades in school. Children will spend more time on social media than more time in their school work. According to verywellfamily.com, cyberbullying victims have a much higher rate of absenteeism than that non-bullied children. They went on to say that their grades suffer because they find it extremely difficult to concentrate or to even study. The reason is that the bullying causes them to have anxiety and stress. In some cases, we see where children either drop out of school or lose interest in continuing their education after high school. Some children who cyberbully others have no remorse for the ones they are doing it to. Children are rather impulsive when it comes to certain actions online, they do not think before they act. It is really and truly sad to see that this is what the world has come to.
Cyberbullying may also affect how people sleep. This is so because, they may be up all night on social media, scrolling looking at their comments or on how many likes that they get. This is especially unhealthy for children’s bodies and minds. At night our bodies need to repair for the next day. So they need at least eight hours of sleep every night for this to happen. A lack of sleep may also arrive from having suicidal thoughts at night and also self-harming. Parents should notice if they see any drastic change in their children and confront them about it. Lack of sleep may also be called insomnia. Insomnia may be defined as the inability to sleep.
Cyberbullying may affect one's self-esteem. According to endocyberspace.com, because the victims are being humiliated within cyberspace, they tend to develop low self-esteem. With low self-esteem the victim will become disinterested in school, social activities, making friends, or building relationships. For example, this may happen to a girl, who gets called fat on social media, she will begin to ask herself questions such am I really that fat? She will begin to dwell on this and become depressed; and also as a result have low self-esteem. Low self-esteem also comes with feeling alone and isolated. The victims may feel as if they have no one to talk to, or no one to share their problems with. If a child is not being supervised properly they may choose to commit suicide because they have low self-esteem.
We are living in a world now where people bully and get bullied on a daily basis. In this world there are two kinds of people who bully, they are the socially active people and the socially inactive people. Some causes of cyberbullying may include the nature of the internet, revenge, and drug and alcohol abuse, just to name a few.
According to flyextremeworld.com, they found that cyberbullies feel anonymous, which gives them more incentive to be aggressive as they feel there, will be no consequences. In today’s society, there is not a lot of face-to-face conversation happening anymore. This is because the use of social media has increased significantly. So if someone has a problem with another person, they would rather go online and express themselves rather than go to the person and talk to them face to face. The internet increases the use of the anonymous and mysterious nature of the person. This gives them somewhat of control in bullying someone and makes them feel powerful or even untouchable. They also believe that just because you cannot see them that they will never get in trouble. With this in mind, they may attack the person way harsher than they would in person and it can hurt far worse than any physical confrontation.
Revenge is another cause of cyberbullying. People seek revenge simply because they may have been bullied before and want to get revenge on the person who bullied them. They get power from bullying others and this is not a healthy way to live. Take for example a teenager who is not physically strong being bullied in school. The way they take their revenge is on the internet by using their words as a weapon against others. When people become cyberbullies they actually make the person who bullied them before their own target. According to psycnet.apa.org, an online survey was conducted on 473 students in which data was collected from them. Of the 473 students, 149 of them were identified as victims or cyberbullies. The results showed that students who were bullied did indeed make their targets the person who bullied them in the first place.
Cyberbullying can also cause drug and alcohol abuse. Drugs and alcohol can be used as an escape for a person being bullied. Substance use is strongly associated with trauma and co-occurring mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. On the other hand, research does show that adolescents who have been bullied are twice likely to use alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes than those who have not been bullied. Those who are on the receiving end of bullying are not the ones being negatively affected by cyberbullying. Teenagers may experience mental health and substance abuse issues in association with cyberbullying, parents should look out for concerns such as increased anxiety or worry, declining energy, declining interest in enjoyable activities, or evidence of self-harm.
The causes and effects of cyberbullying are very serious nowadays, and we should pay more attention and take more action against this act. While cyberbullying may not be physical as a punch, the words used toward a person may be hurtful, and overall it causes problems for all those that are affected.
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