Gomez 1

Alejandro Gomez

Professor Jennifer Rodrick

English 115 Fr. 2- 4:45

27 September 2017

Technology: The New Gateway to Bullying

Technology can be beneficial to many people, however, many times it can result in vague

outcomes. The result of people using technology can have a negative effect on other people's

lives. For instance, bullying others online can be a source of a negative outcome. Cyberbullying

is a major issue that has been brought upon by the internet, which allows people to cause mental

harm to others. Cyberbullying can range from a small disagreement on someone's post to

continuously picking on someone because they dislike them. Cyberbullying is an aggressive,

intentional act carried out by a group or individual, using electronics of contact, repeatedly and

over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself (Salford Business

School).This form of bullying is most common among young adults such as high schoolers or

sometimes even middle schoolers. Cyberbullying is a major issue that technology has provided

the people of today with. Bullying someone without physical contact is mentally disorienting.

This upshots them into believing that they are worthless due to the fact that they are constantly

being picked on by someone on the web. With today's technology, cyberbullying is a harmful act

that takes place on the internet and results in the victim having their identity crumbled into pieces

because of people putting them down emotionally and mentally.

 Gomez 2

To begin with, technology is the new platform for people to bully each other virtually.

Although the bullying is virtual, it may not seem like the people getting bullied would really

have their self-esteem devalued, but that is not the result in many cyberbullying cases. Many

young adults have taken their own lives due to cyberbullying, they could not take the torment

anymore and just wanted to end their suffering or humiliation. For example, Rebecca Sedwick

was one of many people who were cyberbullied and unfortunately decided to take her own life in

order to put an end to her tormenting. An excerpt from a credible article by Nanci Hellmich

states that, Rebecca Sedwick of Lakeland, Fla., who died Sept. 9, was picked on for months by

as many as 15 girls through online message boards and texts. Sedwick was on sites such as

Ask.fm, Kik, Instagram and Voxer (Nanci). This quote helps prove that this young girl was

bullied on social networks that are accessible through technology; these perpetrators managed to

harass this girl into a bad mental state of mind. Nanci Hellmichs article also states, They

allegedly taunted and bullied a 12-year-old girl who jumped to her death last month from an

abandoned cement factory tower (Nanci). This implies that putting this young girl in a bad state

of mind caused her to take her own life because she couldn't bare with all of the cyberbullying

that she was being tormented with. Cyberbullying is an opposing source that can prove that

technology has created a new gate to commit harmful acts to another human being.

Furthermore, in the case of Rebecca Sedwick, technology had a negative outcome of its

usage for her identity. Since it concluded in her taking her own life, which put an end to her

bullying. Calling people names and telling them harmful threats can really bump down

someones self-esteem causing them into putting their identity into a mental state of change that

will alter their perspective on life. Another excerpt from Hellmichs work provides, One of the
 Gomez 3

suspects is accused of posting a message on the Internet saying the victim should drink bleach

and die (Nanci). In other words, this evidence demonstrates that stating life-threatening

comments to a person can really take a toll on their life causing them to seriously injure

themselves or sometimes even cause their own death such as in the case of Sedwick.

Cyberbullying is a really bad impact that today's technology has created and it can be done by

anyone who can be granted the ability to get on the web.

Important as Rebecca Sedwicks case, there are many other cases significantly eye-

opening as hers. For instance, Ryan Patrick Halligan, a 13-year-old boy in Vermont, US who

committed suicide, because classmates at his school cyber bullied him online (The Top Six

Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases Ever). Not just Ryan but Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl

who hung herself in a bedroom closet, because her cyberbullying escalated when classmates and

friends on MySpace began writing disturbing messages and bulletins about her. Also Tyler

Clementi, a gay 18 year old boy who committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington

Bridge due to the fact that Clemenits roommate, during his freshman year at Rutgers University,

Dharun Ravi, used a webcam in September 2010 to stream footage of Clementi kissing another

boy, resulting him into becoming a twitter thread with ridicule comments (The Top Six

Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases Ever). These are totally different people; however, they all

share one factor. That factor is that they were all victims of cyberbullying and took their own

lives just to put an end to their suffering caused by others. Many different cases of suicides

influenced by cyberbullying will keep on taking a toll as long as technology is around.

Technology has created a major impact on people's identity to be more than enough for someone
 Gomez 4

to handle and just put an end to their life. The internet has become a new gateway for people to

be put down emotionally.

In conclusion, Technology is a new major source that has provided people with access to

being able to bully someone without actually any physical contact. However, they can mentally

disorient people into believing that they are worthless due to the fact that they are getting picked

on by someone on the web space. In which it persuades the victims into having their personal

identity decay into bits and pieces due to the fact that people are putting them down mentally. In

the case of Rebecca Sedwick technology wasn't the best choice for her identity. Technology took

a tally on her life due to the fact that it has been a traumatic experience for her since she was

being bullied by about 15 girls. Sedwick is one of the many victims that technology has taken the

life of. Cyberbullying is something that no young person should experience since it diminishes

their self-worth or self-esteem. Ryan Patrick Halligan, Megan Meier, and Tyler Clementi were

also victims like Sedwick, who were bullied into their death. These young adults had the same

right to live without being bullied as righteous as the perpetrators who weren't bullied by the

victims. Having Technology in the hands of the wrong people can really cause harm to someone,

while on the other hand the perpetrator/s does not see it as harmful because it is virtual.

Although, in reality, it is very harmful because it can result into someone's death if they can not

take the bullying anymore such as in the case of Sedwick and the other victims that were talked

about above. Overall technology has been a new gateway for young people to get bullied and

causing them into doubting their identity into believing they aren't worthy of living anymore.

Technology has shaped people's identity, in both online and in real life to a great extent that
 Gomez 5

many see technology as an act to harm others without seeing the consequences as seriously until

they have taken action.

Work Cited

Nanci, Hellmich. "Latest Cyberbullying Tragedy Could Be a Teachable Moment." USA Today,

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/15/cyberbullying-parents-internet-

guide/2988651/ , Accessed: 27 Sept. 2017

The Top Six Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases Ever. NoBullying, 27 Mar. 2017,

https://nobullying.com/six-unforgettable-cyber-bullying-cases/ , Accessed: 02 Oct. 2017

What is cyberbullying? #StopCyberBullying. Salford Business School, 16 Apr. 2014, YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Op2KZCb88 , Accessed: 03 Oct. 2017