Lindsey, Alexis, Mariah, Lucy

Mrs. Harrell

English II Honors

October 9, 2017

Imagine if a teenage girl was scrolling through her instagram feed and saw a picture of

her with her friends. As she smiled, remembering the moment her friends took the picture, she

looked at the caption and realized that she was being singled out for being the only girl

overweight compared to the other girls in the picture. As she continued reading the comments

below the picture, she noticed several negative statements concerning her weight, along with the

caption. The main comment that truly made her feel offended was when she was compared to an

oversized cow. After the teenager saw the post, she became more self conscious about her weight

and could not go to school without several people calling her names and mocking her about her

weight. Since the picture was posted on a form of social media, more and more teenagers

continued to view the post and the amount of people picking on her continued to grow. All of

this stemmed from one picture being posted for several people to see and for several people to

comment on. Cyber bullying is a major problem expanding within our society today and unless

awareness is brought to the issue, there will not be progressional movements to resolve it.

There are countless amount of individuals that face cyber bulling, not only within our

community but also, within the whole world. Cyberbullying is the process in which an individual

experiences bullying through different forms of social media virtually. Cyber bullying can be

taken place through a phone, tablet, computer, laptop, and all of the social media software that is

also downloaded on it. Statistics show that 52 per cent of young people report being

cyberbullied. While overall, 25 percent of teenagers report that they have experienced repeated
bullying by their cell phone, or on the Internet(Cyber Bullying Statistics). The worst part of

cyber bullying, is that an individual can never get a break from being treated in a negative

manner. Social media runs at all times of the day, month, and even the year. This has truly

caused a pathway for bullies in general to attack other individuals through words, whenever a

hurtful thought comes to their mind. There are many different ways in which an individual can

cyberbully someone else. A few ways in which a person can virtually offend another person is

by: stating rude names, posting false facts, singling out another individual, and exchanging rude

and inappropriate comments through a social media group chat. Sadly, this list is only a few

ways in which an individual can be cyber bullied through, there are countless more amount of

ways to hurt another person virtually. Unless the problem is addressed and awareness it brought

to the issue, nothing will be accomplished and cyberbullying will continue its path and grow.

Some people do not realize that cyberbullying can be just as harmful, if not more, than regular

bullying. Unless a person has experienced the unfortunate issue or has had a friend that had to

experience it, people do not usually understand the harmful and everlasting effects that

cyberbullying can have on them.

Furthermore, cyberbullying can cause permanent and damaging effects on the target

being bullied. At first, the effects might not seem as major, and one would most likely tend to see

a person start to have a lower self esteem and fear of possibly going out to school and facing

their bully. Unfortunately, the effects cyberbullying has on individuals can escalate at a rapid

pace and could eventually cause serious and life threatening problems. As time goes on, and the

virtual bullying continues to occur, one may find that a person will most likely start to feel

powerless, humiliated, angry, alone, and then could eventually feel suicidal. Californias largest

school district, Los Angeles Unified, tallied more than 5,000 incidents of suicidal behavior last
year and a major part of those attempted deaths were because of cyber bullying (Teen

Depression). Cyberbullying gets to a point in which individuals can no longer ignore what is

being said to them, unfortunately causing them to think that they should take extreme actions.

All of this could have been prevented, if the school or community laid down ground rules

pertaining cyberbullying and state what is acceptable and unacceptable. Schools can even offer a

required class or online seminar to bring awareness about what cyberbullying is, what to do if

one experiences or sees cyber bullying taking place, and show what the overall effects are once

cyberbullying has stopped or been limited. The way to prevent a problem, is to stop it before it

gets out of hand. With the continuous amount of new technology and social software being

created, it truly is hard to stop cyberbullying from continuously growing. But, between schools

bringing awareness, other people helping out a victim of cyberbullying, and a more open

atmosphere in which one is comfortable to talk with an adult, the horrific effects of

cyberbullying could start to be limited. Anna Maria Chavez stated that, Unless and until our

society recognizes cyber bullying for what it is, the suffering of thousands of silent victims will

continue (Gupta). By taking the appropriate actions to not only stop cyberbullying, but also

aiding the individuals that are victims of the issue, a community can stop the problem from

progressing.

However, even though many people are affected by cyberbullying, others do not let the

immature virtual bully affect them. Ashley Jackson stated that, Its funny when Im

cyberbullied (anonymously) because when people do it to me, I dont think of how much I want

to hurt them or punch them in the face like my friends dobut I go on this site and write a quote

to them back, hoping to kill them with kindness (Gupta). Some people are wise and mature

enough to understand that the person behind the screen is not going up to them and saying the
negative insults to their face for a reason. That reason is because the cyberbully is a coward.

These people understand how to cope with negative comments and turn away from the screen.

Even though there are some people that know how to be the bigger person and look the other

way, others cannot. Cyberbullying still affects many people that do not know how to deal with

the insults or realize how immature the other person behind the screen is acting.

In either case, awareness needs to be brought to the major problem of cyberbullying

because it is a problem that is seen wherever you look and is continuing to grow within our

society. In extreme cases, it could even cause depression, anxiety, and in worst cases, death. The

main group of people that cyberbully are teenagers and they can easily ruin another persons self

confidence by the push of a button and make them feel worthless. Overall, people do not know

everything about everyones life situation. Some people are experiencing hard times, while

others are not. Therefore, an individual does not have the right nor the authority to treat people

any differently than how they would want to be treated. Cyberbullying has been a major issue for

an extensive period of time and has been more common within our society today. Unless

awareness is brought to the issue, cyberbullying will not come to an end and will still continue to

progress and grow. In conclusion, an individual should always treat others the way that they

would want to be treated.

Works Cited

Cyber Bullying Statistics. NoBullying - Bullying & CyberBullying Resources, 12 June

2017, nobullying.com/cyber-bullying-statistics-2014/.
Gupta, Written by Priyanka. 20 Cyber Bullying Quotes That You Must Spread Right

Now.EdTechReview, 6 Mar. 2016, edtechreview.in/news/2326-cyber-bullying-quotes.

Teen Depression on the Rise Says New Pediatrics Study. Time, Time,

time.com/4572593/increase-depression-teens-teenage-mental-health/.