Society Today: Arguing Against Cyber Bullying (Term Paper Sample)

Jimmy B. Grissom
Prof. Diane S. Hunter
English 102
December 9th, 2017.
Arguing Against Cyber Bullying
Introduction
Cyber bullying is the process of using information and communication technologies to facilitate a hostile, deliberate and repeated behavior intended to cause harm to other people (Belsey, P.218). The process of cyberbullying can either be carried out by one person or a group. Several scholars and organizations have carried the controversies associated with cyberbullying. For instance, there was a collaborative study on the issue in 2006 by the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) and Harris Interactive Inc. The survey established out of 824 students from high schools and middle schools studied, 43% of them had been cyberbullied for the last one year. The cyberbullying crime has become a menace to most students and children being more vulnerable victims. The paper argues against cyberbullying crime which is increasingly growing at a high rate in our societies today.
A study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Project specifically on the cyberbullying issue established that three teenagers have encountered online harassment (Lenhart, p.135). According to research conducted by Pew, the most common form of cyberbullying is the process of publicizing of information which includes e-mails, pictures and text messages (Lenhart, p.136). Furthermore, Pew also found out that boys are lesser victims of cyberbullying than girls. Middle-aged girls of between 15-17 years of age have a higher probability of experiencing cyberbullying with research showing that 41% of the ladies in this age group have been involved in the cyberbullying vice (Lenhart, p.136).
One of the harmful effects of the cyberbullying is that people can assault each other through the different online channels. For this reason, the whole world has been against this controversial issue. Several laws have been enacted in various countries which makes cyberbullying a criminal offense. With recent advancements in technology, bullying has been on the rise. Online forums have proved to be the primary breeding grounds for exchanging insults for youth and other people (Subrahmanyam and Greenfield, p.119).
The recent technological advancements have led to the emergence of different apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) which gives the opportunity to youths to share gossips. For an instant, the AIM offers a chance to children to spend most of their free times talking to one another. The chatting may take place privately or publicly in the various chat rooms. The AIM program gives opportunities to youths to form specific chat rooms. Cyberbullying arises when the kids decide to get together and start spreading gossips, lies, assaults or harassments against their counterparts (Hinduja et al., p.142).
Cyberbullying is unwelcomed because it has adverse effects on the victims. A 13-year old girl by the name Megan Meier from Missouri was bullied to the extent that she decided to commit suicide by hanging herself in her closet. The astonishing act took place in October 2006 (Pokin, p.394). Megan began conversations with Josh, a 16-year-old boy on Myspace. The chat continued for the next six weeks, and Megan’s mum always kept peeping on the discussion. Josh sent a particular message to Megan which led to her death. In his text, Josh had informed that he doesn’t want the friendship anymore because Megan is not a lovely girl. Besides, Josh told her that she is hated by her friends and thus the world would be a better place if Megan did not exist. It did not take long for Megan’s find to discover that she had hung herself in her closet and rushed the child to the hospital where she died. Therefore, cyberbullying has various negative impacts on the victims such as causing of deaths among other things. The research points some of these issues and gives multiple arguments against the cyberbullying.
Objectives
To give arguments against cyber bullying which has increased due to increase in technology.
Statement of the Problem
Cyberbullying has some negative impacts on the victims. Some of these include assaults, mental depression, spreading of gossips and sometimes death. With the growth in technology, the effects of cyberbullying cannot be ignored. The desire to offer solutions to some of the challenges associated with cyberbullying forced me to conduct the research.
Literature Review
Cyberbullying refers to the process of utilizing information and communication technology to effect harmful practices on the other people (Besley, p.218). According to the survey conducted by the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) and Harris Interactive Inc. in 2006, the students who had received cyberbullying that year corresponded to 43%. A study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project established that a third of the teenage population had encountered online harassment at least once in their lifetime (Lenhart, p.150).
Approximately 13 million of the kids in the United States of America in the age group of between 6 to 7 years have been victims of cyberbullying. The data about the 13 million figure is extracted from NASP Communique article in research carried out by a group called the Fight Crime Invest in Kids.
Nine types of cyberbullying exist. These are denigration, flaming, trickery, harassment, outing, cyberstalking, cyber threats and exclusion. Flaming is an act of engaging in online wars by use of electronic messages which display are written in the vulgar language to show anger. Harassment is the process of sending offensive messages through the internet. Denigration is throwing a “dis” to a person who is online and consists of spreading gossips and rumors about a person. Denigration damages a person’s reputations and destroys friendships. Impersonation is the pretense of being another person and taking the position of that individual to put him or her in serious trouble and damage his reputation and friendship. An outing is a process of sharing someone’s personal information, disgusting info or posting photos online without permission from the owner. In trickery, the cyberbully tricks the victim into sharing intimate secrets and data after which the bully will share the information online to embarrass the person. Exclusion is a behavior of omitting someone from an online group. Cyberstalking is where the bully repeatedly harasses a person. Denigration is where the cyberbully continuously threatens a person with the intention of creating fear in that particular individual to heed to his or her desires. Finally, cyber threats are the process of intimidating another human being with the intention of upsetting that specific individual where the person is forced to consider harming himself, another person or commit suicide (Willard, p.54).
There are three additional concerns related to the nine forms of cyberbullying according to Willard. They include disclosure of large amounts of personal information by the students through the internet. Students also become addicted to the internet to the extent of spending all their free time browsing and posting photos on the internet. Finally, a suicidal and self-harming community prevails in which the kids in some instances access information to try to gain info related to suicide and mechanisms of self-harm (Willard, p.56).
There are other additional concerns associated with cyberbullying according to Shariff. Some of these include anonymity, an audience which is infinite, prevailing erotic and homophobic harassment, and permanence expression. Anonymity is the cyberspace nature in which human beings have the capability of hiding behind the screen names that offer protection to their identity. The online audience is infinite because a large number of people can the information is written by the bully and the onlookers have a tendency of supporting the perpetrators rather than the victim. Besides, there is the emergence of sexual and homophobic harassment on the web which is associated with the mechanisms in which ladies and gentlemen utilize the internet. The internet somewhere displays a permanent perspective because once something is written and posted online, it becomes difficult to erase because many people download and save it and can also end up sharing with others (Willard, p.57).
Cyberbullying has negative impacts on the teens. Some of the results of cyberbullying include low self-esteem and loneliness among others. The most troubled teens are those who fall in the age group of 13-17 years. Such teenagers are frequent users of the internet, mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, palm chats and other channels of communication. The learners have the capability of accessing the electronic tools of communication in different places such as homes, institutions, towns, Wi-Fi sites, and public libraries. Research shows that 78% of the teens have been using internet for chatting, browsing and posting photos online using the various communication channels. The study also shows that 80% of the youths report that they used web yesterday, and 27% utilized the internet for several hours yesterday, not one or two hours but many hours. In the process of conversing with their friends, the youth meets cyberbullies who assault and embarrass them making them become sad, angry, depressed and feel helpless (Hinduja et al., p.145). The cyberbullying vice calls for the government and members of the public to devise the best possible ways of handling the controversial issue because it is turning to be a menace to the society. Some of the adverse effects arising from cyberbullying have been discussed below.
Negative Impacts of Cyberbullying
Psychological Disturbances
There are some negative impacts associated with cyberbullying. For instance, cyberbullying causes mental disturbances ...