Cyberbullying Argumentative Essay

The Shift from Face-to-Face Communication to Digital Interaction

In today’s society, we rely on interacting with people via phone, past generations didn’t experience this because phones were too expensive, or were a luxury to have. The norm is to text or email, and with people today the internet is the way to express emotion to others. What people miss from writing is people's ability to freely write what they are thinking, not being rushed to send out a message on time to someone so you don’t come off as lazy or not wanting to talk to someone. Communicating face to face is a key skill that all people need to be able to master, with social media you can’t build the skill of talking to others with the such flow that others will comprehend. It is key for people to lean away from only using the internet to communicate with others, even though valid points come to light that the internet has brought forth major changes to the world with how we talk to others across the country or world. This addiction causes many issues including depression and anxiety. Furthermore, As a society, it would take all working together to communicate using face-to-face talk or writing to each other to help stop the effects of social media usage to lead to rage or violence for adolescents. Communicating with others by not using phones or the internet also boosts confidence in adults. In this essay, I want to argue the effects coming from this addiction, and go into why adolescents are infatuated with this disease.

For my first topic relating to the Internet, I start off with this which states “Some assume a relationship-lost perspective, suggesting that the Internet causes people to cut off from social interactions by communicating via a socially impoverished medium.” (Chan 276) With the communication of writing to others, it helps strengthen verbal contact, While texting doesn’t do that, society has the ability to change, but it takes all of us to help accomplish this goal, and to end social media addiction. Social media addiction is a disease for adolescents and young adults. As argued by Chan the Internet is like a black hole,

The Detrimental Effects of Social Media Addiction

Texting does help communicate with others who could be across the world, it’s important to limit the use of social media to keep yourself happy. Social media also can be a form to help yourself to cheer up, but not a cure. Furthermore, Social media has been shown to prove it causes depression. “Increasingly, people with diverse health conditions turn to social media to share their illness experiences or seek advice from others with similar health concerns. This unstructured medium may represent a platform on which individuals with severe mental illness naturally provide and receive peer support”.(Naslund, Grande, Aschbrenner, Elwyn) as discussed in this quote, with internet addiction, social media addiction needs to be controlled before the issue causes havoc between families and other adolescents. The use of therapy for addiction is an option if need be, but limiting usage would improve happiness in adolescents, I say this because in the quote it is argued that those who are considered not stable lean to social media for help.

The Importance of Direct Conversations Over Digital Communication

How is face-to-face talk better than texting on social media? From one article I found this quote “mobiles phone use continues to soar as people are becoming increasingly reliant on their devices. However, it seems that human cognition and social norms cannot keep up with this profound proliferation in the use of this technology. Humans have held face-to-face conversations for thousands of years, and a complex set of implicit social rules have evolved to guide these interactions. Face-to-face conversations are such an accepted, integral part of each culture to the point that, in general, there is nothing particularly remarkable or concerned about being exposed to people interacting in this way. However, it seems that the same cannot be said of mobile phone conversations. As noted by Monk et al”. (2004b), (Brendan Norman, Daniel Bennett. Are mobile phone conversations always so annoying? The ‘need-to-listen’ effect re-visited. Introduction page.) this quote explains exactly what needs to be said about social media usage and talking on the phone, with mobile devices the face to face talk is unachievable, and actually talking to someone directly. The key social skill isn’t put to work with texting or calling, which should change, talking face to face has been a key component of humans, but as technology grows over the years the skill of being able to hold a conversation dwindles in teens, and adults. To go further into this, in a work environment would humans be inclined to speak during a meeting, or would one person rather speak over a group message? The simple answer is yes, yet no. younger adults are known to be social media experts, so being in a meeting surrounded by other adults wouldn’t let their skills be put to work, yet if a person is older then they would be more inclined to speak face to face.

The Power of Writing: A Deeper Connection

For the counter-argument, I ask Why should we write instead of text? Writing helps us bring out emotions we cannot express with typing, with texting misinterpreting a comment can easily occur, because you are not taking the time to think about what you want to say, this quote goes directly into this “Why write? Because doing so engages us, changes us, and makes us think. What better reason is there than that? “Why write? Because we must as a way of fulfillment of self and calling and because we should for the sake of the world in which we live and for which we are responsible.” (Hard, Curtis page 1604) Writing challenges are our brain to think about what could be meaningful to the person they are communicating with. Using meaningful words can brighten people's day, or bring a smile. If we chose to write about three to four times a month, and during this time limit social media usage to four hours a day I believe the percentage of teens with depression will go down drastically, because without social media you have to do new things, by getting out of your comfort zone, and talk to people directly. With the limitation of social media, it would also cause teens and other people to explore the surroundings that mother nature offers them.

With the limitation of texting and not looking at your phone 24/7 coming into play, teens can learn to do new things, these new skills can be learning face-to-face communication. Many teens stare at their phones to have conversations with others to hold a conversation. but with others that could not do with their phones or the internet. It is important to know that all of this can not happen in one day, but it can take years to accomplish, speaking of this issue with social media addiction is important for future generations to know social media isn't the only way to communicate with people, nor is it the way to be happy with yourself. Because social media spend your free time talking to others and possibly learning new things from others, it is not something to be taken advantage of in any way, what I mean is that social media can be manipulative for teens, and further lead to peer pressure.

To help this problem I believe the younger generations have the capability to live off the internet for communication for a month, this idea would be great for people to use social skills when talking face to face with people instead of being glued to their phones. The idea doesn’t sound ideal, but for people to have better social cues, and to help with their mental state, it’s important to take time off social media to better themselves and be happy. Why is important to limit the use of social media? Because using too much social media, and having it as the only form of communication causes issues with how one interacts with someone else, for example presenting, social interaction is needed to be able to talk to others, while on a phone texting you are staring down, in a way that comes off as rude.

A solution to help combat internet addiction I believe is having well-known figures of adolescents campaigning to be more social, then being glued to the phone, this would be a great way to motivate teens and adolescents to change their habits of staring into their phones all day, and to help be happier with themselves. I say this because the internet is a privilege to be able to use, as humans do not all have access to the internet, and few rather isolate themselves away from technology, which in a way is understandable. This solution of using the platform of well-known celebrities to advocate that the internet for the wrong purposes is crucial to help prevent bullying, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, problems at school, or the possibility of suicide.

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Cyberbullying: The Dark Side of the Digital World

For the next argument, What is Cyberbullying defined as by educators? It is defined as ”willful and repeated harm inflicted through computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices” (Hinduja & Patchin, 2011,1) also that Shariff and Gouin (2005 explain that “cyberbullying consists of covert psychological bullying, conveyed through electronic mediums such as cell phones, web-logos, and websites and online chat rooms”(3) Horowitz, Bollinger, Merle, Dorothy. Cyberbullying In Social Media Within Educational Institutions, The quote from the book Cyberbullying in Social media within educational institutions is a great example of the epidemic with addiction to social media causing the spread of bullying, depression, and loneliness. To help with spreading the movement of this addiction with social media, it will take talking about the subject on news networks, though with depression being a touchy subject to some, or not wanting to be mentioned in conversations, It’s important to bring these up. Most importantly it is important to educate the world on the topic of the Internet being a portal of issues.

Cyberbullying causes many different things other than depression, in school, the effects cause grades to sink, and less time in school, and may seem sad. In the book “Cyberbullying in social media within educational institutions” a superintendent was quoted as saying this “students who experience cyberbullying may avoid discussing what they are doing online. These emotional responses have caused educators, psychologists, and researchers to study their impact on students in school in the school setting” (Horowitz, Bollinger, Merle, Dorothy. Cyberbullying In Social Media Within Educational Institutions) Cyberbullying is a problem that not all teens or adolescents go through, but many do. Adults need to look into the beginning stages of a teen going through cyberbullying, some of the clues are hard to catch, but the clues that a teen is experiencing cyberbullying are grade dropping, more time away from others, fatigue or tiredness, spending more time on social media than usual and lastly being aggressive to others.

The counter-argument is this “Social media sites allow teens to accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected to family and friends, sharing photographs, and exchanging ideas. Social media participation can also offer adolescents deeper benefits that extend into their self, community, and the world, including community engagement” Horowitz, Bollinger, Merle, Dorothy. Cyberbullying In Social Media Within Educational Institutions, Social media has its pros and cons, many of which some will agree or disagree with, but there's a fine line with social media usage which can cause many issues for a teen in the future. Which may include even anxiety with making friends in school or loneliness throughout their life.

“Cyberbullying in social media is a critical and expanding problem in educational institutions. It ranges from primary schools through college, and from off-campus to on campus.” Horowitz, Bollinger, Merle, Dorothy. Cyberbullying In Social Media Within Educational Institutions. Next, following up with cyber harassment this quote came up “approximately 36 percent of the respondents have been victims of social media harassment at some point in their lives, whereas the ratio of female victims is markedly higher than that of male users (61% vs. 39%). Most of the harassment occurs on social networking sites and instant messaging platforms where people share their personal information and pictures publicly. Online harassment often causes distress and depression in subjects’ personal, academic and professional lives. However, the majority of the victims who are subjected to online harassment do not label it as such and consequently never report it.”(Erum Hafeez. Cyber Harassment and Its Implications on Youth in Pakistan.) as per stated in this piece harassment is more likely on social media sites or sites of interest to communicate. The quote is a good example of how children react to harassment, this quote should be key reason schools and institutions do a better job of handling harassment before it spreads from school.

Another issue with social media and the negatives are self-esteem and peer pressure, as cited in this quote “CB has unique characteristics, such as the anonymity of the cyber-perpetrator, distant and rapid communication, and accessibility to a wide-ranging audience” (Heiman 28) it is important to limit social media use because of the serious consequences it has for children, teens and adults who may have difficulty understanding cyberbullying, one of the consequences from cyber-bullying is suicide. With teens or adolescents, it is important to catch the behavioral effects that come from cyber-bullying, These effects include distancing from family or friends, eating less, sleeping schedule is not normal, or spending more time alone.

Also keying into depression again, while searching for issues against bullying on the internet, this brought to my attention “Talking matters for learning. Although it’s possible to think without talking—and to talk without much thinking— each can strengthen the other. Talking also provides windows into what students are learning” (Clay, Elizabeth 12) this is yet another reason communicating by talking and face to face is important. Too much social media usage can lead to depression for children and teens. And sporadic behavior Also, it’s important parents keep tabs on their children, also limiting social media usage to a child’s happiness being ripped from addiction to the internet is worth noting here

Furthermore, communicating with others face to face can help others bring a smile to their face, due to the fact that emotions can be misinterpreted as something different than intended. To add to this topic with cyberbullying, violence is a big problem with social media. As argued here “cyber-victimization may initiate in childhood a cycle of violence and socio-emotional problems. It was found that among adolescents, even when controlling for traditional forms of victimization, cyber-victimization experiences were associated with increased social anxiety, loneliness, peer rejection, depressive moods, low self-esteem, a low sense of well-being, and low levels of social support” (Brighi et al., 2012; Modecki et al., 2013; Patchin & Hinduja, 2010; Şahin, 2012, Wright & Li, 2013) (Heiman 30). I do believe after time this can change, but it will take time and years for humans to recognize the issue of social media addiction, and how it creates large issues in the past and now.

Then again, many children and teens can handle peer pressure, bullying, and language used on social media. Due to past experience with social media, or just being used to the language, foul language, slang, and other experiences, which is no surprise, I believe this group of individuals have possibly experienced some sort of peer pressure, or bullying, but are too afraid to admit it, or are afraid of backlash from peers for not taking the bullying or peer pressure as a joke. Furthermore, while reading about cyberbullying more in an article I found this quote intriguing “Loneliness is a condition in which the individual feels depressed and disconnected from society (Killeen, 1998). Studies on loneliness among children and adolescents (Cassidy & Asher, 1992) reported that at least 10% of participants reported loneliness due to social problems at school. It was also found that the child who is perceived by other children as isolated is at risk of becoming a victim and target of violence” (Heiman 30) This piece from the research I’ve done also points to issues at school where the root of many bullying incidents occur the most for children and teens, it’s important for adults to listen to children and teens because, if a problem is solved before it jumps to social media it possibly saves a child from growing depression later down the road.

The Path Forward: Balancing Digital and Real-Life Interactions

We can change how we communicate with people because growth is what humans can do. Going out and giving a stranger a compliment can change their day, and it can brighten someone's day, also as humans, we cannot determine how someone feels or in what state they are in as we pass by them or stand next to them, so it’s important we start changing now to help our future generations from suffering from depression, cyberbullying, anxiety. Change is possible, for everyone, because technology has grown into our lives, and made enhancements to how we communicate. Humans have to work together to solve the issues they have now. Social media should never be the escape for teens to express emotion, due to the fact can use so many strangers can use the information anyone gives against them as blackmail. Lastly, I believe writing can grow to become something teens use more than they do now, it may not come tomorrow or two years, but the future generations will see the benefactors of communicating to their peers by writing or talking face to face.