How serious is cyberbullying?

You shouldnt have to think twice to answer this

question. Javier Ochoa, a 21 year-old biology major attending the University of El Paso,
attempted suicide after months of cyberbullying. Fortunately, he did not succeed, but the
attempted suicide is not the
worst part of the story. After
being released from the hospital,
Ochoas friends said to him,
You know, if you had
committed suicide, we would
have thought, maybe we should
have been a little nicer on Facebook (Clift, 2014). People are aware of how mean they
can be, yet they continue to do so. Bullying is nothing new, it has always been a problem,
but the technological world we live in has made it even easier to bully, making
cyberbullying a much bigger and much more serious problem.
In many ways cyber bullying is worse than traditional bullying. As Professor Rick
Myer, Counseling Program coordinator, of the University of Texas at El Paso said when
interviewed, cyberbullying is 24/7. It is more difficult to escape as it follows you where
you are (Clift, 2014). In addition, unlike traditional bullying victims, cyberbullying
victims may not see or know who their harasser is, making them more likely to feel
isolated, dehumanized or helpless (Smith, 2010). Furthermore, another argument for
cyberbullying having worse effects as opposed to traditional bullying has to do with the
size of the audience reached. Not only does cyberbullying have the opportunity to reach
hundreds and thousands more people, but also once
something is written online, it is there forever.
Cyberbullying is a big deal and must be
stopped. As of today 46 states out of the 50 have
adopted anti-cyberbullying laws (Hinduja & Patchin,
2014). Most of these laws call for schools to set up
rules and policies as to how to deal with any type of bullying, whether it be cyber or
traditional. Although this is a great step forward, most of these laws focus on punishment
of the crime, and therefore only address half of the problem, not doing anything to
prevent future cases of cyberbullying.
Our focus should thus be directed towards the prevention of cyberbullying. The
best way to accomplish this is through education. As we saw earlier, in the case of Javier
Ochoa, his friends dismissed the severity of what they were doing. People are becoming
more and more immune to this behavior and this must be stopped. The Dignity for
Every Student bill was passed in Massachusetts in May 2010, after Phoebe Prince
committed suicide as a result of being cyberbullied; it makes anti-bullying curriculum
mandatory for every student in every grade, as well as requiring training for every adult
in the school on how to recognize bullying and what do about it (Huus, 2011). Bills like
this should be implemented in every school and it should be the case that anti-bullying
programs should be set up to teach students, teachers, parents, people of all ages, what
cyberbullying is, and its effects so that it can be stopped before it goes too far.
Lets work together then to get anti-cyberbullying programs like the one above,
where anti-cyberbullying curriculum is mandatory, implemented in every school. Some
bullying prevention programs with extensive research support include the Steps to
Respect program and the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. You can visit the
following websites to gather more information on the programs:
http://www.cfchildren.org/steps-to-respect.aspx or http://www.olweus.org.
Spread the word about wanting to implement these types of programs; talk to the
principal of your local school, go to school board meetings, gather support, or sign a
petition and bring the issue up to your local school board. Cyberbullying is a serious
problem, but with the implementation of programs like the ones above that advocate
educating the public on cyberbullying, future cases of cyberbullying can be prevented.

El Paso Independent School District Info
6531 Boeing Dr. El Paso, TX 79925
Main: (915) 230-2000
Info@episd.org
Ysleta Independent School District Info-
9600 Sims Drive El Paso, TX 79925
(915) 434-0000
Socorro Independent School District Info
12440 Rojas Drive, El Paso, TX 79928
915-937-0000

References
Clift, A. (2014, July 2). Cyberbullying Interview. Unpublished raw data, University of
Texas at El Paso.
Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. (2014, 04). State cyberbullying laws. Retrieved from
http://www.cyberbullying.us/Bullying_and_Cyberbullying_Laws.pdf
Huus, K. (2011, December 28). Bullied girls suicide has ongoing impact. NBC News.
Retrieved from http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/12/28/9781587-bullied-
girls-suicide-has-ongoing-impact
Ochoa, J. (2014, 07 17). Interview by Alexa Clift [Personal Interview]. Cyberbullying,
UTEP.
Smith, S. (2010, September 21). Cyber bully victims isolated, dehumanized. CNN.
Retrieved from http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/21/cyber-bully-victims-
isolated-dehumanized/

Image Citations:
Granlund, D. (Artist). (2011, March 25). Cyber Bullies [Print Photo]. Retrieved from
http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/c5490378-d70f-4806-9c51-
fc18964b1ece.html
Rustad, S. (Artist). (2010, October 20). Cyber Bullies [Print Photo]. Retrieved from
http://steve-rustad.blogs.petaluma360.com/10811/cyber-bullies/