Cyberbullying and their Effects (Essay Sample)

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Cyberbullying- A Detrimental Predicament Of The Moment
Introduction
The mention of the word “bullying” sends a chill down most people’s spines. It gives a nostalgic memory of the past, more so the high school life where it was part of the norm to welcome the new students into the system. Can you remember being given a coin to go purchase a stuff whose cost is ten times the amount given and you were expected to bring the stuff with you alongside the balance? It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well that was high school bullying. Whereas it took the form of physical torture in which both the victim and the tauter encountered one another, another form of advanced bullying made has erupted that makes use of technology to enhance psychological torture. The internet bullying, also known as cyber bullying, has taken over from the physical bulling that has since reduced due to measures put in place by different institutions. With the increase of the number of people partaking in the communication superhighway, the cases of cyber bullying have gone a notch higher, making it a detrimental predicament of the moment.
Cyber bullying comes both as a comedy and a tragedy to those who are directly involved in it as either a bully or a victim. Whereas the former enjoy the process as they instigate jealousy, relax their boredom, seek anonymity, and pursue revenge, the latter suffers a lot of psychological torture whose effects could be detrimental. At times, such victims end up committing suicide due to the severe effects that the bullying causes in them. According to CBC news, a depressed fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd posted a cry for help on the YouTube, barely a day before she committed suicide due to torments caused by cyber bullying (CBC News, 2012). Unveiling of the Amanda case only brings to light, several other cases of bullying that occur in young people behind the cameras. It justifies the stretch to which cyber bullying contributes to social injustices to the affected families. Cyber bullying comes in different forms such as: Flaming, denigration, exclusion, outing, trickery, impersonation, harassment, and cyber stalking.
Forms of cyberbullying
Cyber harassment comes first under the forms of cyberbullying as a wide range of devices are readily available to effect it. From his point of view, Breguet asserts that cyber harassment occurs when someone bluntly brings to light his intention to harm someone or himself by inflicting physical pain (Baguet 10). From time to time, people tend to have problem with one another. When this happens, the bully takes a move to air the grievances online. This my occur in group platforms as in the case of Face book, or one on one, like in the case of using cellular devices. Such harassing messages cause a lot of mental torture to the recipient and if they find none to confide in, they may cause danger to themselves. Even though the bully gets an opportunity to tease his target and even cause psychological discomfort to him, this act is unethical as its effects pose long-term effects on the recipient. A constant practice of harassment gives birth to Cyberstalking.
Cyberstalking is that kind of bullying that occurs as a result of constant and regular harassment and entails denigration and threats to physical harm. A cyberstalker trails and intimidates the victim by use of internet or other electronic devices in a manner that threatens their lives (Brequet 11). When a bully sends information to a target with intention of harming him, the victim feels cornered and unable to escape. The victim feels worthless and unworthy of living. Well, as this happens, the bully seems to be gaining achievement of his intention. An example of this scenario is when a man desires to engage in an affair with a lady yet the lady isn’t willing to give in to his demand. When this happens, the man may opt to take the issue to the social media, passing threats to the lady with intention of controlling her emotion. This he does in hope that the lady gives in and submit to him. Such cases have happened in the past and the bully tends to carry the day, applying the same mechanism on different victims again and again. Whereas this may put a smile on the beneficiary’s face, the effects that it posses on the victims bring forth effects that are far worse than a few moments of romance. When a bully seems dissatisfied by one on one conversation through, say cellular devices, he may opt to take it to the next level known as chat-room bullying.
Chat-room bullying is another name for cyber flaming. (Schwartz 7) reiterates that flaming occurs when a student disagrees with his colleague’s opinion on the class message board so strongly that he uses caps to shout it. Whenever people of a common interest come together through the social network, they tend to brand their formed social media groups with names that suggest the interests that they purpose to pursue in common. However, subject to eruption of political, social, personality, or ideological difference between some individuals, they may opt to bring their fight to a common platform where everyone else can see it. An example of flaming occurs when political differences instigate division among people who share a common chat room. When this happens, most participants get to align to those with whom they share a common political ground. As such, cross exchange of bitter words and divisive sentiments may follow. This may be portrayed through the usage of abusive words and harsh statements to those on the opposing political divide. Another instance is when two people who share a common chat-room, develop an argument then instead of solving it at personal level, they decide to take it to the chat room. Well in such instances, those involved in war of words have had their colleagues help them solve their problems. In as much as this has proven effective in some instances, no permanent solutions have been realized through this means and at best, it has lead to more division. Flaming is, in essence, closely related to denigration.
Denigration occurs when one puts parsimonious online messages via instant emailing, websites or chat-rooms with an intention of mocking someone else. In Hartford Courant, (Luo) asserts that in most cases, women tend to be the most vulnerable to denegation, and whereas the victims occasional cry out for a helping hand, the society responds dismally to the outcry as members of the society have a tendency of pointing fingers to the female victims. Denigration comes in different shapes and sizes. It may be occasioned criticism in a derogative manner; diminishing someone’s self-worth; sending messages to kill someone’s self-esteem; and spreading of rumors and blackmail with the aim of denting someone’s image. When people feel bad about themselves or simply have low self-esteem, they resort to denigrating others. In pursuit of the course, they get to make themselves feel better. A relatively common of denigration occur in the political arena, when a leader of opposition accepts to work with the one in government. More often than not, denigrators tend to create images of the duo being in affairs in an attempt to show the merger and to mock the opposition leader as well. Another common example is men photo-shopping the images of some ladies then posting them in the chat-rooms, alleging to have had affairs with them. While this helps the bully to gain his self-esteem, the harm that it causes in the victim is quite regrettable. The victim, especially girl child, becomes vulnerable and can easily cause harm to herself. Such bullies must be brought to the books of record and punished amicably. Loc cit., (Luo) confirms that four Manchester High School boys who allegedly took to the social media, a list of female ladies and their alleged sexual partners were properly suspended. Closely related to denigration is outing.
Outing occurs when one shares some information that is deemed to be private and should only be seen by the owner alone. Outing and trickery, more often than not, go hand in hand. Occasionally some people tend to trick others into giving out their private and personal information. The former then take to the social media in an attempt to defame the latter. According to (Peebles), cyberbullies have more behavioral difficulties in addition to the feeling of lack of remorse, thereby setting the children cyberbullies at an increased rate of either committing suicide themselves, or causing their v