Rough Draft Project Web: Cyberbullying

Vanessa Sandoval

English 113B

Professor Rebecca Lawson

2/12/13
                        Project Web: Cyber-Bullying

Cyber-bullying is bullying through the use of electronic technology such as cell-phones and computers. People are being bullied through text messages and social  networks. The common victims of cyber-bullying are children, teenagers, and young adults. The difference of cyber-bullying and physical bullying is that cyber-bullying can become a cycle happening 24 hours 7 days a week. It can occur anywhere and at anytime. Physical bullying can occur in school but then stops when the individual is safe at home. Cyber-bullying continues at home and the victim hardly ever feels safe. Cyber-Bullying through social networks can lead to teenagers committing suicide because they are constantly being attacked and unfortunately they feel their only escape is by ending their own lives. In order to prevent cyber-bullying there should be an awareness of what teenagers are doing online and an establishment of technology rules in social networks.
Cyber-bullying is very common in social networks such as Face book. This social network has become a gateway for people to attack others through the internet and not in person. It’s easier to attack someone through Face book with out receiving any consequences. Cyber-bullying can start with name calling such as rude comments that eventually hurt the victims feelings. People are taking advantage of Face book in negative ways by putting others down and not realizing they are actually creating emotional damage. Cyber-bullying through social networks than get out of hand and leads to physical aggression where the victim is being bullied at school and also at home. Eventually this person feels like the whole world is against them and decides to commit suicide in order to stop their suffering.

For example a Canadian teenager named Amanda Todd committed suicide after being cyber-bullied through Face book. This shows how cyber-bullying can really effect a person tremendously that their only alternative is to kill themselves. Amanda Todd posted a video on You tube to reveal her story and her suffering due to cyber-bullying. In her video she describes how it all started by a picture that changed her entire life. “One year later, a man contacted her on Face book, threatening to send around the picture of her topless the stranger knew everything about her: her address, school, friends, relatives. Soon, her naked photo had been forwarded "to everyone."(Huffington Post)  The stranger created a face book account using Todd’s uncensored photo as his profile picture. Todd become targeted in face book and then it led to bullying in school.
This is how cyber-bullying starts in social networks and then directs into physical aggression. Todd changes schools after schools but her torment wouldn't come to its end. Sadly she suffered from depression and anxiety disorders that triggered her to abuse drugs and alcohol. In her video Todd mentions her attempts to commit suicide and how she is “struggling to stay in this world“. Unfortunately a month after posting the video Amanda Todd commits suicide by hanging herself in her house. This proves that cyber-bullying leads to teenagers committing suicide. Todd was constantly being attacked through social network sites and at school. She never felt safe and tried anything to end this painful cycle. For Todd her only escape was through committing suicide.

Another example of a teenager committing suicide due to cyber-bullying is the case of  15 year old Phoebe Prince a recent Irish immigrant who killed herself after three months of routine torment through text messages and face book by her classmates. Prince was being tormented by students mostly girls from her high school who resented her for dating a senior football player. They would threat her with physical harm in face book and verbally assault her. The cyber-bullying went out of hand when one of the girls crushed a soda can on her head. This made Prince feel humiliated and impossible for her to remain in school. She felt her only solution for this taunting to end was by hanging herself. Even after her death the girls who attacked her left disparaging messages on the face book page created for her memory. This shows how far cyber-bullying can go and even after Prince death she was still being attacked. Hurtful comments online shouldn’t lead a teenager to the extent of committing suicide. This cycle of cyber-bullying must come to an end before more teenagers end up taking their own lives.
  Cyber-bullying is what lead Todd to take her own life and its sad that the whole world found out when it was too late. Shockingly this is still happening in social networks such as face book which are meant to be used to connect with friend and family, but are being used negatively to hurt others. “The primary cyber-bullying location where victimizing occurs, at 56%, is in chat rooms.”( maskmatters.org) In order to prevent cyber-bullying is to first become aware of what is going on. What are teenagers up to in face book? Who are they talking to? These are questions parents and guardians should be thinking about and be able to figure out. Face book is a huge social network that connects over one billion people from around the world. People can basically talk to anyone and anywhere. That is why its possible teenagers can be talking to strangers who are “bad people” and have the wrong intentions. In Todd’s case she was being attacked by a man who created a face book account using her personal photo. This shows how face book can be used for almost anything and there should be some type of awareness that there is “bad people” who can do damage. “
There should also be an establishment of rules in social network sites. Face book is still very popular but the rules aren't good enough. People can upload almost anything without receiving any consequences. There should be more strict rules for example people shouldn't be allowed to hurt or put down others and if they do they should get banned out of face book. Rude comments targeting a certain group or person should not be tolerated. People should have the right to defend themselves in a non violent matter and stop these “unknown” cyber-bullies. Cyber-bullying may never stop but it should be prevented from getting of hand and destroying someone’s life where they feel their only escape is death. Lets help end cyber-bullying and safe a person before its too late. Amanda Todd and Phoebe Prince were dying silently and the world finally listened when it was too late.