Douglas 1

Tristan Douglas
Mr. Sweeny
Computer 1
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying
With a new online era, many things have become much less complicated and faster for
people to accomplish that would have been very time consuming without the internet. Of course,
with advances in technology and society, many aspects change to form around it. With the
internet came spam emails, scammers, hackers, and of course, a new form of bullying.
Cyberbullying has become a major problem for many teenagers and young adults. Since the
internet has become widely available and is used by all different kinds of people, it has opened
up a new form of bullying. Hateful messages on someones posts or in private messages and
blackmailing or revealing someones secrets online for the whole world to see are two of the
most common ways people are cyberbullied.
Cyberbullying has happened since the internet had become popular with the public, but
significantly increased with the boom in social media. With over 80% of teens using cell phones
regularly, and about 81% of teens aged 12-17 using social media, young adults are opened up to
something comparable to a new world. A cyberbully is anybody who bullies a person over the
internet in any way. Cyberbullying can come in many forms. A cyberbully can post about
someone to purposely try to hurt them. A cyberbully could also reveal someones secrets or start
a rumor on the internet, which can never go away. Even if the post is deleted, there is a way for it
to pop back up in another place. Another way to cyberbully is creating hateful websites that
make fun of a person. Just like the posts or revealed secrets, they can never be completely
deleted from the black hole that is the internet. Many people believe that cyberbullying is easier
to get away with for the bully, and hurts the victim just as much. A cyberbully is hidden behind a
screen and could be halfway across the world and safe from any physical retaliation by the
victim. Some bullies prefer cyberbullying because they think they are completely safe from any
punishment or harm, but in reality they arent. In most states, cyberbullying is punishable by
State laws. Cyberbullying should be reported to a parent, trusted adult or the authorities and it
will hopefully be resolved.

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The most common way people are cyberbullied is by having hateful, rude or just outright
scary sent to you or commented on a post. Here is one example of this situation happening.
Fourteen year old Justine never imagined that she would become a victim of cyber bullying.
Justine was no stranger to personal challenges, but her experience with cyber bullying was
really something she was not prepared for. Justine had spent months battling cancer, and after
she was told that her cancer was in remission, she felt certain that her struggles were behind
her. That was until she began to receive threatening email messages from a mysterious cyber
bully. The threatening messages continued and continued until Justines in box held ninety
messages. The messages ranged from merely rude to downright frightening. Once the
messages escalated into things like, Im going to rape you, Justines parents decided to take
the issue to the police. The police were quickly able to trace the messages back to Justines
classmate and surprisingly best friend. The courts required the cyber bully to attend
counselling sessions and to write Justine a formal letter of apology. Though, Justines family
felt that this punishment was likely too lenient, they were glad that their action did result in a
positive outcome. This story is one example of how people can be easily hidden behind a
screen and hurt someone. The victim Justine in this story was already having troubles in her
life and a classmate and best friend took advantage of her and hurt her more than she already
was.
Revealing secrets online or blackmailing someone online is the second most common
way people are cyberbullied. Many people tell trusted friends embarrassing or very personal
secrets about situations that have happened to them or that they have done. One small and
insignificant fight between these two friends can lead to this secret being released onto the
internet for everybody to see, or can be threatened to be released unless certain demands are
met by the victim. In October 2012, ABC News reported that the video that Amanda Todd had
posted to YouTube had been viewed more than 17 million times. In the video entitled My
story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm, the British Columbia teenager uses flash cards
to tell about her experiences of being blackmailed and bullied. A little over a month after
posting the video on September 7, 2012, Amanda hanged herself in her home on October 10,
2012.

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Amanda began using video chat in the seventh grade to meet new people online, and one
stranger convinced the teenager to bare her breasts on camera. However, the stranger
attempted to use the photo to blackmail Amanda, and the picture began circulating on the
internet, including a Facebook profile that used the topless photograph as the profile image.
The Internet stalker she flashed kept stalking her, Amandas mother, Carol Todd, told the
Vancouver Sun. Every time she moved schools he would go undercover and become a
Facebook friend. This story about bullying has become a very well know story among
children around the world through schools educating their students about cyberbullying.
Stories like this one have become motivation for anti-bullying organizations around the
country and around the world to push harder for laws or regulations to be passed to stop any
and every type of bullying they can.
In a study conducted by the i-SAFE Foundation, over 25% of adolescents have been
repeatedly bullied through their cell phones or the internet in some way. In a similar study
conducted by The Cyberbullying Research Center, about half of young people have
experienced cyberbullying, and 10%-20% have experienced cyberbullying repeatedly. A very
high amount of teens and young adults have been cyberbullied in some way or another.
Depression, self-harm and suicide caused by cyberbullying is higher than ever. Cyberbullies
act in silence behind the curtain of a computer screen. They act as if they are invincible. If
you or someone you know is being cyberbullied, it should be reported immediately.
Cyberbullying doesnt have to be as large of a problem as it is. It can be easily eliminated
from society.

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Works Cited
"Please Login OR Register First to Make Recursive Donation." NoBullyingExpert Advice on
Bullying Cyber Bullying. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
"11 Facts About Cyber Bullying." 11 Facts About Cyber Bullying. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr.
2015.
"Cyber Blackmail." NoBullyingBullying Cyber Bullying Resources Advice. N.p., 06 Nov.
2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

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"10 Forms of Cyberbullying." Cyberbullying Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
"STOP Cyberbullying: What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly?" STOP Cyberbullying: What Is
Cyberbullying, Exactly? N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.