Running head: CYBERBULLYING 1
CYBERBULLYING 7
Cyberbullying
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Cyberbullying
With the introduction of modern technology and the use of different social media platforms, cyberbullying is an aspect that is quite rampant. Cyberbullying is the art of using the internet or modern technology to intimidate, harass, or cause harm to another person. Most of the teenagers who participated in the research agreed to being bullied at least one time when using social media platforms. The rationale of this paper is to introduce us to a study that conducts the emotional effects of cyberbullying.
Statement of the topic and a description of its importance and relevance
Any form of cyberbullying always has adverse effects on the victim. Cyberbullying can create long emotional wounds for the persons who have experienced this (Cummings, 2017). Analyzing this topic is fundamental so that we can suggest ways in which it can be prevented. We will also suggest how we can deal with cases of cyberbullying in case that happens. As we follow what happens in our society today, some people have gone to as far as killing themselves because of being trolled online. Young people like teenagers and young adults need to be taught about the safe usage of online spaces. This group spends a lot of time online doing various activities. To get more information about cyberbullying, we explored more research about scholars who focused on this sensitive topic.
Background Information
Cyberbullying is the form of harassment that happens using electronic means. It is also called online bullying. This kind of trend has become prevalent, especially among young people, especially teenagers. Harmful bullying can include threats online, posting rumors, rude sexual remarks, using a person’s personal information negatively, hate speech, and using pejorative labels on people. Cyberbullying, in most instances, is done with the intent to bring harm. People who have gone through this may have low self-esteem, increased suicidal thoughts. Others may start getting scared, may fall into depression, may get angry and frustrated. Some of the people that have been cyberbullied have exited online spaces for their safety.
Awareness of cyberbullying, especially here in the United States, has been promoted due to many cases that have been announced lately. Several laws have been passed to combat the malpractice of cyberbullying. Some of the cases that have reported have extended from online bullying to physical bullying. Cases of cyberbullying can be reported to any authorities around. Cyberbullying can come in the form of trolling. The internet is the common form in online spaces where people come together to talk negatively on another person. Cyberstalking is another form of cyberbullying where a person uses various platforms online to find information about another person. This may pose potential threats to the victim. Gaining one’s sensitive information can be used negatively to harm them. Cyberstalking is considered online harassment and poses severe risks to the victim’s safety. Different researches have also shown that peer pressure is malpractice that often results from visiting several sites online.
Bullies online usually send a particular message to harass a person and may ask other online users to do the same. Defamatory, false accusations on a person may make them lose their self-esteem. Making a person the subject of ridicule online is immensely destroying a person’s character (Febriana, 2019). It’s also very humiliating to talk negatively about a person online. Many people have fallen prey to cyberbullying even if they haven’t talked about it. The kind of trauma and anxiety that comes with cyberbullying may make a person go silent for some time.
Research Questions/Objectives
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of cyberbullying on teenagers and children. This is the group that could be affected most by the effects of cyberbullying. Some of the research questions that we will use are;
What are the main forms of cyberbullying experienced?
To what extent does cyberbullying affect people?
What group is commonly affected by cyberbullying?
What measures can we put in place to combat the malpractice?
How does society view cyberbullying?
How has the government handled cyberbullies?
Using these research questions, we will be able to explore the whole area of cyberbullying. Specifically, we will address the kind of problems that teenagers and children have regarding online spaces. We will also suggest ways of how cyberbullying can be stopped.
Research Methods
Data from this study will be collected from responses in the form of questionnaires. To answer these questions, 80 students from colleges and high school will be asked to fill the questionnaires. Professionals and parents will also have their own set of questionnaires to fill. This is to ensure that we can get enough feedback from teenagers as well as their parents. We will try to balance the number of females and male respondents so that we can get unbiased information. Additionally, the data will be collected through interviews for the parents and guardians and some of the respondents that have gone through cyberbullying experiences.
Hypothesis/Expectations:
Our hypotheses will have various variables under study. These variables will be measured to ascertain how they affect each other. Hypotheses formulated from the study will be to investigate the different effects of cyberbullying. Testing the hypotheses will give us the results we desire-of how far does cyber bully negatively affects the victims. The main hypothesis understudy will be to determine the emotional trauma caused by online bullying. For the victims that were cyberbullied, they will also tell us how they dealt with the situation.
Literature review
Several studies have been done to address the issue of cyberbullying. Research by Olweus & Limber has indicated that most cyberbullying happens in sites like Facebook, Instagram, MySpace, and twitter. By 2008, 93 % of the youths between 12-17 have Facebook and Instagram accounts. Other studies by Kowalski, Limber, McCord (2019), showed that most of the youth spend more time on social media than any other activity other than sleeping. The last decade has witnessed a high number of people being bullied through social media platforms. Some people say that they haven’t been directly bullied but have witnessed mean behavior online. Another study by Yurtkoru & Islamoglu(2019) has analyzed that cyberbullying represents one of the dark sides of using the internet. The increased usage of the internet and social media platforms has brought negative impacts that have given researchers an interesting topic for research. Researchers have discussed various aspects affecting the issue of cyberbullying. However, one thing is common among all these studies; the effects of cyberbullying are harmful to all the victims. No single cyberbullying incident has a happy ending. Cyberbullying is quite hard to stop in children because parents might not understand when such things are happening to their children.
(Sahni & Raja, 2017), who conducted their research in India found that celebrities have a high probability of being trolled. This is because the lives of celebrities are out there. Most of the celebrities can do nothing about it-only ignoring what the haters say. Most people will troll celebs for how they look, who they date, and what they do. A larger population of people also compares their private lives online compared to 2013(Sahni & Raja, 2017). This includes a lot of their images, location, and even contact information. Malicious people might use this information to attack people online. Parents can take precautions by not sharing confidential information about their children online. Rosewarne, in her research, noted that cyberbullies might disclose the victim’s personal data (Rosewarne, 2016). Some bullies also create fake accounts and practice impersonation, where they publish fake information about a person. Impersonation or creating fake accounts leaves a cyberbully anonymous. This will make it difficult for them to be caught and punished for their malicious behavior.
Results
The purpose of the research was to investigate the emotional effects on teenagers and children caused by bullying. To find this information, we took the answers that were obtained from the interviews and questionnaires. Most of the victims of cyberbullying described that they experienced having distress and anxiety. These reactions were connected with cyber harassment. These were the main reactions that most victims described. Other emotions expressed were such as anger, sadness, embarrassment, and self-blame.
Discussion
This survey was conducted to find out the main emotional effects that were observed from the teenagers that we interviewed. We will also suggest the preventive measures that can be recommended to people that have been bullied. Research has found that having stricter laws on cyberbullying has reduced such crimes in the country significantly. However, very few people report cases of cyberbullying in the country. Most people go through such times alone. Other studies have shown that cyberbullying happens within the school environment. Students choose on a student that they will troll. This may adversely affect one’s concentration and result in poor grades in school (Campbell & Bauman, 2018). Schools need to put stringent laws in place so that perpetrators of such events may be punished.
Solutions
It will be useful to introduce parents, educators, and teachers to the necessary knowledge about new technologies and what teenagers and children do online. School administration needs to supervise and monitor the kind of activities that students do online while in school. We have heard many cases of students committing suicide because they were trolled online by their classmates. These are deaths that could be avoided. Teachers and the whole school administration need to be vigilant about such incidents. Cyberbullying in schools should be addressed with the same seriousness that is given to physical bullying. Parents also need to be vigilant about what their kids do online since most of these cases happen right in their homes.
Conclusion
This study paper has examined the impact of cyberbullying on the younger generation and protective steps against digital bullying. The goal of the present study has been to decide whatever kind of issues children/teenagers can experience and also to show possible ways to mitigate cyberbullying. People, especially teenagers, need to adopt health approaches to dealing with cyberbullying. This includes talking to their parents and guardians about such cases. They may also report such cases to the authorities so that strict actions are taken against the perpetrators.
References
Campbell, M., & Bauman, S. (Eds.). (2018). Reducing cyberbullying in schools: International evidence-based best practices. Academic Press.
Chantelle A. Cummings (2017), I Can’t See You, You Can’t See Me: Cyberbullying: An Exploratory Study Examining this concept through the Lens of the Social Bond Theory. Int J Cri & For Sci. 1:2, 32-39. DOI: 10.25141/2576-3563-2017-2.0032 Associations among bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide in high school students Author links open overlay panelSheriBaumanaRussell B.ToomeybJenny L.Walkerc https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.12.001
Febriana, S. K. T. (2019, March). Cyber Incivility Perpetrator: The Influenced of Dissociative Anonymity, Invisibility, Asynchronicity, and Dissociative Imagination. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1175, No. 1, p. 012238). IOP Publishing.
Kowalski, R. M., Limber, S. P., & McCord, A. (2019). A developmental approach to cyberbullying: Prevalence and protective factors. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 45, 20-32.
Olweus, D., & Limber, S. P. (2018). Some problems with cyberbullying research. Current opinion in psychology, 19, 139-143.
Rosewarne, L. (2016). Cyberbullies, Cyberactivists, Cyberpredators: Film, TV, and Internet Stereotypes: Film, TV, and Internet Stereotypes. ABC-CLIO.
Sahni, A., & Raja, N. (2017, October). Analyzation and Detection of Cyberbullying: A Twitter Based Indian Case Study. In International Conference on Recent Developments in Science, Engineering and Technology (pp. 484-497). Springer, Singapore.
Yurtkoru, S., & Islamoğlu, G. (2019). Incivility In Digital Era: A Study On Cyberbullying. Joint Conference: 14Th ISMC And 8Th ICLTIBM-2018, 5(2). doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.01.02.6