Jacqueline Morgan and Emily Morey

November 21, 2016

CYBERBULLYING
AND ITS EFFECTS

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Jackie Morgan and Emily Morey

Nice cover page

Professor Clasby
A2 essay
November 21, 2016
In todays rapidly evolving digital era, cyberbullying has become an epidemic across
many social media platforms. Cyberbullying is essentially the same as regular bullying: using
words to hurt someones feeling. The only difference between bullying and cyberbullying is that
cyberbullies are hiding behind the screen of an electronic device. The use of social media has
completely changed the way communication takes place between todays youth including
opening the door to cyberbullying. The specific age group were looking at is 13-18-year-olds,
middle school to high school range. Cyberbullying is offensive at any age but for the purpose of
this paper we focused on this subsection because we felt it was most prevalent among
teenagers. As children transition into pre-teen and teenage years, tensions are already
skyrocketing as these kids are trying to find their respective ways into social networks. During

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this extremely fragile transition, committing any one single, semi-embarrassing act could be as
good as committing social suicide; children can be awfully harsh to one another without any
regard to their victims feelings. This type of callous behavior is especially prevalent with the
immediacy of technology today. Excellent context
Many scholars have drawn their attention to cyberbullying and the effects that it has on
the victims of these horrible situations. Though there has been a magnified focus on the causes
and effects of cyberbullying, the erratic behavior that the digital environment supports through
avid cyberbullying seems to be overlooked. This is your thesis statementright? If so, it should
be embedded in your introductory paragraph and not exist as a stand-alone section.
Now you need to add a section that briefly introduces your scholars.
Due to these impulsive actions supported by the availability and readiness of social
media, cyber bullying has spread; thus, creating negative physical and psychological effects on
its victims at an increased rate as well as led teenagers to physically and psychologically harm
themselves because of a lowered self-esteem and a bleak outlook, create a new sentence

herintroduce McQuades workthen McQuade points out, it follows that

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victims of bullying are often younger and more passive than bullies, and may also lack close or
supportive peer relationships at school. Bullying victims are more likely to be depressed,
anxious, have low self-esteem, perform poorly academically, and have suicidal thoughts (25).
Follow up this quote with a sentence that serves as a transition to the next paragraph.

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Technology has become a very active part of the lives of just about every teenager in the
modern world. There are many families that have incorporated devices that provide access to
social media platforms into the home which has increased the frequency of cyberbullying.
Teenagers today spend long stretches of time striving to stay as connected as possible to their
peers, which often times is accomplished using social media. However, this increased access to
social media has created a new environment for the bullying process to occur.
Not only has the environment changed, apparently, the age range has as well which
makes us second guess our theory that cyber bullying mostly takes place among middle
schoolers and high schoolers. As Samuel McQuade points out, we now know that kids report
being mean to each other online beginning around the second grade when they are approximately

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a 7 or 8-year-old (26). Children as young as 7 and 8 years old are starting to pick on

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cyberbullying because they have the means of doing so. Children begin to receive these lavish
gifts (iPads, tablets, and smart phones) at such a young age that they need something to occupy

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their time and resort to bullying their peersthis is a bold claim here that needs temperingyou

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are implying this technology causes boredom, and boredom results in bullyingI dont think

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you believe the process is that simple. On a side note, these types of gifts could also be cause for
concern for multiple reasons. One reason is that if one of these bullys classmates is a little on
the less fortunate side, they could easily be bullied both in person and on the internet for not

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being able to afford these devices, thus, creating a bridge between reality and cyberspacial
bullyinggood point. However, we digress. The point we are trying to get across is that
individuals targeting and victimizing their peers no longer have to do so in a face-to-face
situation and now feel a new sense of freedom since there are little restrictions when it comes to
communicating via social media--good. The long distances created by social mediaclarify?
make it easy for cyber bullying to occur without acknowledging any of the damage that is being
wreaked. This freedom has allowed cyberbullies to conflate a sense of empowerment with the
bullying because of the distance between themselves and their victims--OK. The lack of

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consequences these bullies face for their demeaning words and actions has allowed for the
dissemination of online bullying without any of the proper repercussions. Good point
While social media creates a new environment within which bullying occurs, it also
creates a larger audience to view the behaviors of the bully and the reactions of the victim. It
would seem likely that with a larger audience to cyberbullying, we would see more individuals
becoming involved in the situation, specifically to stand up for the victim or reach out to offer
support. However, a studyname that study here with the authors and the date and provide a
little context-- done that examined the response of bystanders between the ages of ten and

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thirteen over a six-month period showed that the bystanders over time responded less
empathetically towards victims and did not show a change in attitude overall towards
cyberbullying. According to Pabian and his team, The results of the present study emphasize the
importance of empathy training and education for early adolescents in order to influence and
improve their moral evaluations (Just put the page number for the quote here) In other words,
teenagers should be exposed to education and training that targets their morals and how they
respond to others. We agree that this type of training is necessary because social media is a fairly
new and still evolving platform that many are unfamiliar with. This new environment has created
situations that are foreign and unique to many of us and the issues that occur within it need to be
embraced and addressed openly. Good
Along with creating a larger audience that may view our online words and actions, social
media has also affected the way we communicate with others. When having a conversation faceto-face, we must think about our words and how they will be interpreted by others. We must also
consider the consequences of our words while we speak, which is easier in person because we
are able to immediately see how others react. We learn from an early age how to read someone
based on their body language, facial expressions and other characteristics. Social media,
however, eliminates that ability to view the way our words come across to others, creating a
distance between those communicating and changing the way we interact with others. Along
with this distance that separates our actions and the consequences, we also have begun to act on
impulse. In her book, Alone Together, Sherry Turkle maintains that, technology makes it easy to
express emotions while they are being formed. It supports an emotional style in which feelings
are not fully experienced until they are communicated. Put otherwise, there is every opportunity
to form a thought by sending out for comment (175)excellent!. The implications of Turkles

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argument are that people think before they speak; however, the internet is so readily available to
voice an opinion that people often do not think about what they are posting before they post it.
We no longer have to consider the way our words come across to others because we are not able
to directly witness the effects, which is beneficial to the bully in a cyberbullying situation. The
cyberbully no longer has to worry about a victim fighting back which can expand the pool of
potential victims. Excellentyour voice is coming across with great confidence
All of these factors contribute to a bully acting and speaking on impulse when communicating
using social media. In his book, Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a
Technological Age (no need to use the whole title), Michael Bugeja agrees when he writes, The

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convenience and availability of high-tech gadgets entice us to interact on impulse (41)--good.

This is important because there is less thought going into what we say and how it affects who we
are speaking to. It has become abundantly clear, especially in the comment sections across all
social media platforms, that people do not think about that they post before they post it. Internet
trolls constantly react on impulse; if they see something they dont like or dont agree with
they will have no problem leaving a rude comment underneath someones picture or video. Good
point
Bugejas theory that we are tempted to act on impulse is useful because it draws attention
to the fact that there is an appealing factor of not having to deal with the consequences of our
words. This would specifically benefit a bully who no longer has to think through their actions.
Or similarly disheartening, is when kids see that other kids are harassing one another, they think
that it is okay to follow the same pattern which perpetuates the problem of cyber bullying.
Howard Gardner and Katie Davis, authors of The App Generation, make the argument that
Without time and space to ponder alternative ways of being in the worldyoung persons risk
prematurely foreclosing their identities, making it less likely that they will achieve a fully
realized and personally fulfilling sense of self (74)--excellent. What they are warning here is
that young people are so attached to their technologies that they are not properly developing their
personalities, but rather, they are letting their devices and opinions of other on social media do it
for them. Once impressionable children repeatedly see rude comments, they will start to follow
their peers leads--good. On top of this, the thought process before speaking or acting is almost
completely eliminated, which potentially would have caused a bully to think twice about what
they are saying to their victims. Technology usage has altered the way we communicate and

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seem to be appealingrevisit this part of the sentence for clarity to a bully looking to bring their
behaviors to a new environment, namely the Internet. Good
The ease of cyberbullying has caused it to occur frequently, especially amongst

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teenagers. With the increase of this occurrence comes an increase in the negative effects felt by
the victims. It does not seem surprising that many victims at this age have shown thoughts
related to suicide because of the actions of cyberbullies. According to Sherry Boschert, who
examined suicide rates in teenagers as a result of cyberbullying, The fact that rates of suicidal
ideation, suicide planning, and suicide attempts in teens now are nearly the same as in adults
belies the notion that today's children and adolescents live carefree lives (Boschertjust use the
page number for this quote). Boschert is warning that teenagers are experiencing stressful

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situations that have caused them to take a negative view which has increased the suicide rates
within this age group. Boschert is certainly right that these increased rates show that
cyberbullying is affecting these teenagers in a very serious way. It is clear that bullies are not
thinking through their actions and it is largely affecting their victims.
Delving into the backgrounds or the cyber bullies themselves, Samuel McQuade made an
interesting statement in his book, Cyberbullying: Protecting Kids and Adults from Online

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Bullies. (if you introduce McQuades book at the beginning of your essay, you do not need to

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mention it in full here) McQuade points out:

Community environments in which tough street kids live is somewhat analogous
to the wild west environments of cyberspace in which rules are not well defined
or enforced and cyberbullies languish. However; some bullies live in very
comfortable settings, attend fine school districts, and have very loving parents
who provide their every imaginable need even to the point of spoiling their kids
into becoming selfish brats. After all, youth can only experience cyberbullying to
the extent they are online, implying that they need information technology devices
and internet/ cellular phone connections to become a cyber bully, a cyberbullying
victim, or both. (McQuade 25) excellent block quote form
McQuade is suggesting that it doesnt matter who you are, what your socioeconomic background
is, where you live, or how you were/ are treated as a child; literally anyone can become a bully, a
victim or both if they have access to the internet. This is interesting because prior to our initial

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research, we spoke about how we thought the main reason kids bully each other is because they
have bad home lives or unsteady familial relationships. Once again, we were made to think
about cyber bullying in a different light and thought that another reason kids might bully each
other is because of feelings of emptiness or lack of substance in their own lives. This in turn
makes them uneasy and they then project and translate these feelings onto their peers in terms of
anger and other assorted aggressive behaviors. Good
Cyber bullying has become a societal norm across social media platforms. The
availability of information technologies has made it extremely easy for people to voice their
opinions whether or not they might be considered offensive. These behaviors can be seen by
anyone who has access to the internet including children at progressively younger ages. These
comments induce negative bodily and mental effects on its victims. Some victims of
cyberbullying have physically and psychologically harmed themselves because of a lowered selfesteem and a bleak outlook due to these negative comments. What it means to be human in this
digital landscape has become increasingly distorted. We are becoming slaves to technology and
all of its immediacy. This is especially prevalent in peoples actions toward one another in
comment sections where there are rude and offensive comments abound. Cyberbullying is just
one of many consequences of this technological era. Excellent concluding statement
Emily and Jackie,
This is a very good essayyou have engaged the joining the conversation genre very
well. The collaborative aspect of this project has produced a seamless body of writing, and it is
evident that you worked well together. This collaboration demonstrates a professional
understanding of the topic, and an excellent application of our course theme. On a technical level
you paper is well organized, well written with good in text citation and excellent works cited
page.
Your focus for this paper is sharp, and you do a good job unfolding your thesis in such a
way that you keep your reader on track with your inquiry from start to finish. You have struck a
good balance between what your scholars are saying, and your own contribution to the
discussion. In the process you have also laid out a convincing argument to be careful of
assumptions surrounding the links between socioeconomics and cyberbullying. In order to do

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this you have used good writing strategies to draw in your quoted material and propel the inquiry
forward. For revision, add a section at the beginning of your essay that introduces your scholars
and their work. Make sure you introduce you scholars by name in the sentences where you
embed quotes from their work.
Grade: A-

Works Citedgood
All book titles should be italicized in MLA
Boschert, Sherry. "Cyberbullying triples suicide risk in teenagers." Pediatric News, June 2013,

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p.15. Academic OneFile,

http://go.galegroup.com.libdatabase.newpaltz.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=nysl_se_
sojotru&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA336488787&it=r&authCount=1. Accessed 20 Oct.
2016.
Bugeja, Michael J. Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age.
Oxford UP, 2005.
Gardner, Howard, and Katie Davis. The App Generation: How Today's Youth Navigate Identity,
Intimacy, and Imagination in a Digital World. Yale University Press, 2013.
McQuade, Samuel C., James P. Colt, and Nancy B. B. Meyer. Cyber Bullying: Protecting Kids
and Adults from Online Bullies. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009.
Pabian, Sara, et al. "Exposure to cyberbullying as a bystander: An investigation of
desensitization effects among early adolescents." ScienceDirect, Elsevier B.V., 21 Apr.
2016,
www.sciencedirect.com.libdatabase.newpaltz.edu/science/article/pii/S074756321630297
7. Accessed 26 Oct. 2016.

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Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each
Other. New York, Basic Books, 2011.