CYBER BULLYING
It's just like the bullying we've had for generations and generations except now it's online, for the whole world to see it. By definition cyber bullying is the use of technology to torment a person or groups of persons. Generally cyber bullying takes place with teens using social media websites such as Facebook Twitter, YouTube and many more. It can also be through text messaging and in online chat rooms. 1500 students between grades 4-8 were surveyed; 42% of kids have been bullied online, 35% have been threatened online, 58% admit someone has said something mean or hurtful to them online, 53% say they have said something mean or hurtful to others while online and 58% said that they never told their parents or an adult they trust. While some bullies defend their actions as harmless fun, it affects real lives not on a computer screen. Cyber bullying happens all over the world, anywhere where there is access to the internet. There are many different views towards this issue, but I believe that this is wrong and we need to do something to stop the statistics from growing.
Cyber bullying affects a large percentage of teenagers and children in the United States, Canada and many other countries. The Cyber Bullying Research center surveyed middle school students and it showed that girls are more likely than boys to be victims or perpetrators of cyber bullying. Also more girls admitted to taking photos of people and posting them online without permission than boys. Sexual orientation is also another reason to be a victim of cyber bullying; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students are more likely to be humiliated online then heterosexual students. Cyber bullying doesn't just stay on the internet, it affects real people in real life. Once something is posted on the internet it's there forever whether it's deleted or not. It can lead to depression and suicide attempts.
However there are opposing views to this topic, some people believe that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter should be banned in schools and monitored by parents closely, but in some countries like Canada the constitution covers Freedom of Speech. And they believe that it is their write to post and state their opinions and views. When CBC news interviewed David Knight, a victim of cyber bullying, he had the following to say. "Rather than just some people, say 30 in a cafeteria, hearing everyone yell insults at you, it's up there for 6 billion people to see. Anyone with a computer can see it and you can't get away from it. It doesn't go away when you come home from school. It made me feel more trapped". But others like Jeffery Shallitt, who speaks for a group called Electronic Frontier have a completely different view point. He says "I think that free speech is an important value in Canada and I think that we should start at an early age to tell kids that this is an important value. When a person in a position of authority says 'Look you say this and I don't like it and therefore I'm going to censor it,' we are sending students the wrong message. We are saying that free speech isn't a value we support.
I believe that cyber bullying is wrong, I think most people just shrug it off and don't realize the affect it has on people. Most adults don't understand cyber bullying because they didn't grow up with the influence of the internet, social media websites and blogs. Therefore I don't think that they can really help this problem that much. Most kids are going to do what they want to do regardless of what their parents think or say. You can't delete websites that people use to harass others on because lets be honest the teenagers of this century wouldn't know what to do without Facebook. But why not reverse cyber bullying? Instead of insulting people online how about we start to do the opposite and compliment our peers over the internet.
In conclusion cyber bullying needs to stop, it affects to many people, all over the world, every single day. Regardless of the different perspectives towards this global issue at the end of the day it is up to us to change things. We're the problem and now we need to be the solution. If we all post one thing nice about another person online once a day slowly we'll put a stop to cyber bullying.
Cyber bullying affects a large percentage of teenagers and children in the United States, Canada and many other countries. The Cyber Bullying Research center surveyed middle school students and it showed that girls are more likely than boys to be victims or perpetrators of cyber bullying. Also more girls admitted to taking photos of people and posting them online without permission than boys. Sexual orientation is also another reason to be a victim of cyber bullying; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students are more likely to be humiliated online then heterosexual students. Cyber bullying doesn't just stay on the internet, it affects real people in real life. Once something is posted on the internet it's there forever whether it's deleted or not. It can lead to depression and suicide attempts.
However there are opposing views to this topic, some people believe that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter should be banned in schools and monitored by parents closely, but in some countries like Canada the constitution covers Freedom of Speech. And they believe that it is their write to post and state their opinions and views. When CBC news interviewed David Knight, a victim of cyber bullying, he had the following to say. "Rather than just some people, say 30 in a cafeteria, hearing everyone yell insults at you, it's up there for 6 billion people to see. Anyone with a computer can see it and you can't get away from it. It doesn't go away when you come home from school. It made me feel more trapped". But others like Jeffery Shallitt, who speaks for a group called Electronic Frontier have a completely different view point. He says "I think that free speech is an important value in Canada and I think that we should start at an early age to tell kids that this is an important value. When a person in a position of authority says 'Look you say this and I don't like it and therefore I'm going to censor it,' we are sending students the wrong message. We are saying that free speech isn't a value we support.
I believe that cyber bullying is wrong, I think most people just shrug it off and don't realize the affect it has on people. Most adults don't understand cyber bullying because they didn't grow up with the influence of the internet, social media websites and blogs. Therefore I don't think that they can really help this problem that much. Most kids are going to do what they want to do regardless of what their parents think or say. You can't delete websites that people use to harass others on because lets be honest the teenagers of this century wouldn't know what to do without Facebook. But why not reverse cyber bullying? Instead of insulting people online how about we start to do the opposite and compliment our peers over the internet.
In conclusion cyber bullying needs to stop, it affects to many people, all over the world, every single day. Regardless of the different perspectives towards this global issue at the end of the day it is up to us to change things. We're the problem and now we need to be the solution. If we all post one thing nice about another person online once a day slowly we'll put a stop to cyber bullying.
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