Media Cultural Studies Communications & Media Essay (Essay Sample)

Journal article
The journal article is on the sub topic cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a prominent issue in Media Culture and stems from the topic transformative effects of web.20 on society and culture. This essay analyses the causes and effects of cyberbullying in reference to psychological theories behind cyberbullying. As well as social media sites that are contributing to cyberbullying and gender effects i.e. who is targeted more as victims. The first part of the essay will be defining cyberbullying and will be examining psychological theories in regards to why people cyberbully such as Self-Esteem Theory, The Social Norms Theory, Social Rank Theory, Routine Activity Theory and the General Strain Theory etc. from authors such as Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin, Hawker and Boulton etc. The second part of the essay will be looking at different types of cyberbullying and it will examine the role of social media having an impact on cyberbullying using statistics from surveys/reports as evidence and look at examples of young people who were affected by cyberbullying. The third part of the essay will look at gender and which gender is more targeted by cyberbullying and which gender bullies more by surveys/statistics. The conclusion will summarise the overall essay and look at the future implications of cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying is a form of bullying which occurs online, on the internet and through electronic texts. Cyberbullying is a phenomenon that has emerged from the rise of web.20 and interactive media technologies. Cyberbullying has become accessible to bullies as it gives them opportunities to enter into digital portals such as the internet and their actions are often kept anonymous online and they can get away with harming victims who are not part of their social group. They can for instance go in a chat room, if it is not monitored. With the growth of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, and advanced technology cyberbullying behaviours are becoming more evident in high school and college age populations. According to Amanda Lenhart (2007), ‘research indicates that young people who use the internet and go online for a long period of time are in risk for being cyberbullied.’ The next few paragraphs will look at the psychological theories behind cyberbullying.