Cyber Bullying

vCyber bullying has become a huge problem in today’s society. There was once a day where cell phones or social networking did not exist and any problem you had with anyone was handled face to face and not behind a computer screen. If you told this to kids today they would probably be surprised. We’ve all been a victim of minor cyber bullying or bullying in general and although I haven’t experienced cyber bullying to its full potential, I’ve sat on the sidelines and watched how cruel my peers can be.

About two weeks ago a fight broke out on Instagram between and friend of mine and her ex-boyfriends best friend. The breakup was bitter and his friends were trying to protect him and fight his battles. The ex-boyfriends friend commented on my friends
Instagram picture and called the boys in it “doofy” not too harsh, but they came back at him ten times worse. I’ve witnessed a lot of people get bullied throughout high school and I myself have had some pretty cruel things said to me and I’ve said some things to people that I shouldn’t have said, but what these kids were saying to this boy was worse than any type of bullying I’ve ever witnessed. They told him that the world would be a better place without him and that he should just go hang himself. They told him to go hang out with Amanda Todd, a young teen who recently within the past few months made the news for committing suicide. They told him to that he should go kill himself to rid one more retard of the world and make the world better. Lastly, they told him to go drink bleach. I don’t even know the boys name that they bullied, yet I felt so sorry for him and felt that I had to stick up for him. Fortunately the boy did not take the advice of the cruel teenagers and he fought back until the Instagram feud was over.

The problem doesn’t only exist in situations that I explained about but in many more ways where maybe the person that was being bullied did nothing wrong to deserve the treatment that they got. Not everyone is cyberbullied because of something they did wrong or because of a fight that they instigated. Some cases of cyber bullying had the cause of just plain jealousy. Approximately seventy-five percent of teenagers today have and are using cell phones. And the ones with cell phones send around three thousand text messages a month. With these cell phones do their parents really know what they are doing? Are they suffering from immense amounts of bullying? Or are they on the other side? The problem is that no one really knows and by the time a teenager takes their own life or starts to self harm, it’s too late because the parents had no clue. Thirty percent of children who are online whether it be
Facebook or Twitter has admitted to being harassed. In the past few years, cyber bullying has gotten much more serious because not only are kids calling each other names, they’re starting to blackmail. If a young girl sends a nude picture through text message to a boy, and that picture gets in the hands of one of his friends or even another girl, the girl that sent the picture has the risk of having her picture sent around the school or even uploaded to social networking sites.

Some might wonder how does a parent stop their children from sending or receiving these harsh texts. It is recommended that the parent sets a time period where the child can and cannot send or receive text messages. There is also an app that can stop sexts, and cyber bullying texts from send to a cell phone. Add your child on Facebook, follow them on Twitter. They may not like it at first but if you can prevent them from being bullied or from facing charges from cyber bullying, they will thank you in the long run.

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