Summary Of Analyzing Cyberbullying: The Amanda Todd Story
Analyzing Cyberbullying- The Amanda Todd Story
Drubelle Longbottom
Dr. Albus Dumbledore
PSY110- Social Psychology
06/22/14
Analyzing Cyberbullying- The Amanda Todd Story After years of dealing with depression and bullying, a fifteen-year-old girl by the name of Amanda Todd committed suicide by hanging herself just five weeks after posting a video telling her story on YouTube. The video showed Amanda displaying her story about her struggles with bullying, and how it began to progress throughout the years. She wrote about her dealing with stalking, harassment from her peers, and being cyberbullied and publicly humiliated in front of her peers. Bullying is a widespread concern, with studies conducted in a national …show more content…
survey showing that nearly thirty percent of U.S. students are involved in bullying, with thirteen percent being the bullies, eleven percent are the ones being bullied, and six percent said that they do both (Delisi, Regoli & Hewitt, 2014).
Bullying and the Consequences Experienced Amanda was a victim of cyberbullying and cyber stalking by a stranger and amongst her peers at school. In Amanda’s video, she explains that she met a man on an online video chat room and exposed her breasts on camera as a joke. A year had passed and the man contacted Amanda telling her that if refused to put on a sexual webcam show for him that he would send the picture of her exposing her breasts to her friends and family, when she refused to comply with his request he sent her picture out (Todd, YouTube, 2012). Using the social media site known as Facebook, he was able to contact everyone from her school as well as her family members and send them the picture of Amanda topless (Grenoble, 2012). Amanda soon became a victim of bullying by her peers both on and offline and decided to change schools because of the constant bullying. Amanda soon realized that her stalker would find her friends and classmates at each new school and proceeded to send them the nude picture of her. The stalking became so severe and stressful that Amanda soon became depressed and prescribed anti-depression medication (Todd, YouTube, 2012). The medication ended up not being enough and after a while, Amanda turned to cutting herself, attempted suicide, and failed twice at trying to take her own life. Amanda reveals on her video that she had to have her stomach pumped after trying to swallow a bottle of bleach, as well as exposing her arm with scars on them from cutting herself.
Strategies to help Reduce Bullying According to Grenoble (2012), the parents of Amanda Todd focused more on the bullying from her peers rather than getting to the source of the issue and the actual cause of her getting bullied in the first place, which was due to her online stalker. The issue could have been resolved prior to Amanda committing suicide, if the stalker would have been identified and charged with stalking, harassment, and a number of other charges. When the stalker sent Amanda’s nude picture to her classmates is when disciplinary actions should have been taken by the school as well as Amanda’s parents. Teachers and other members of the school staff should have taken more active measures. By banning the use of social media sites on school grounds and requiring student to delete accounts the stalker contacted them through, would have prevented many from viewing and spreading of the nude images. The members of the school staff should have been able to have a meeting with all students of the school, explaining Amanda’s situation and the consequences they would receive if enabling the problem even further. Using stricter punishments against bullying could have helped tremendously in this case (Grenoble, 2012).
Bullying Then and Now The difference between the types of bullying that is taking place today versus bullying 10 years ago is that bullying had not yet taken on a digital form.
Bullying came in the form of physical abuse, verbal, and sexual abuse, before social media became widespread through the use of computers and the Internet. According to Delisi et al. (2014) “Bullying is formally defined as using one’s strength or status to intimidate, injure, or humiliate another person of lesser strength or status” (p.336). Today, if not everyone, almost everyone uses some form of technology to communicate either through email, text message, online chat, or social media. Because of these easier forms of communication from person to person, it has made it easier for bullying to take place outside of public settings. Online bullying allows bullies to harass the victim anywhere at any given time. Cyber-bullies find it easier to say and do mean things online than in person. The popularity of online interaction has led to online predators, which years ago could only happen physically. Predators can now browse the internet looking for victims such as Amanda Todd and use online capabilities to harass …show more content…
victims.
Key Contributing Factors Bullies can target anyone based on something as simple as them just not liking how an individual looks or dresses, or even acts.
In the case of Amanda Todd, Amanda was first targeted by an anonymous online stalker due to their attraction to her age, vulnerability, and physical appearance. In Amanda’s video her flashcards stated that due to her constant bullying and being stalked, she became very anti-social at school which made it hard for her to fit in and make friends (Todd, YouTube, 2012). Many of the students who bullied Amanda did not personally know her, but may have chosen to attack her because of her shyness, not being able to conform, and rumors spread by previous classmates at her other schools. Many students conformed to become accepted into cliques by aiding in Amanda’s bullying (Grenoble, 2012). Bullying Prevention Programs who work with schools and law enforcement departments could be a driving force in enforcing non-bullying amongst children. By the programs coming to schools and ensuring the safety of students who are bullied will help others prevent bullying as well as coming forth to report cases of bullying. Classes should be taught to practice safe and smart online use can prevent teens from exposing personal information, images, or videos to strangers
online.
Conclusion
If Amanda had received the proper protection and reassurance by her family, friends, school officials, and even law enforcement officials, then Amanda could possibly still be here today. Amanda should not have had to handle such a huge burden of guilt, self-regret, and other issues all on her own. Amanda Todd’s story should be a lesson to be learned from when dealing with the safety of others who have been a victim of bullying and hatred. More measures should be in place to ensure the safety of everyone’s life, no matter who they are.
References
Delisi, M., Hewitt, J.D., & Regoli, R. M. (2014). Delinquency in Society (9th ed.). Burlington,
Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Grenoble, R. (2012, October 11). Amanda Todd: Bullied Canadian Teen Commits Suicide After
Prolonged Battle Online and In School. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/amanda-todd-suicide-bullying_n_1959909.html
Todd, A. (2012, October 11). Amanda Todd’s Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide, Self-Harm [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej7afkypUsc.
Drubelle Longbottom
Dr. Albus Dumbledore
PSY110- Social Psychology
06/22/14
Analyzing Cyberbullying- The Amanda Todd Story After years of dealing with depression and bullying, a fifteen-year-old girl by the name of Amanda Todd committed suicide by hanging herself just five weeks after posting a video telling her story on YouTube. The video showed Amanda displaying her story about her struggles with bullying, and how it began to progress throughout the years. She wrote about her dealing with stalking, harassment from her peers, and being cyberbullied and publicly humiliated in front of her peers. Bullying is a widespread concern, with studies conducted in a national …show more content…
survey showing that nearly thirty percent of U.S. students are involved in bullying, with thirteen percent being the bullies, eleven percent are the ones being bullied, and six percent said that they do both (Delisi, Regoli & Hewitt, 2014).
Bullying and the Consequences Experienced Amanda was a victim of cyberbullying and cyber stalking by a stranger and amongst her peers at school. In Amanda’s video, she explains that she met a man on an online video chat room and exposed her breasts on camera as a joke. A year had passed and the man contacted Amanda telling her that if refused to put on a sexual webcam show for him that he would send the picture of her exposing her breasts to her friends and family, when she refused to comply with his request he sent her picture out (Todd, YouTube, 2012). Using the social media site known as Facebook, he was able to contact everyone from her school as well as her family members and send them the picture of Amanda topless (Grenoble, 2012). Amanda soon became a victim of bullying by her peers both on and offline and decided to change schools because of the constant bullying. Amanda soon realized that her stalker would find her friends and classmates at each new school and proceeded to send them the nude picture of her. The stalking became so severe and stressful that Amanda soon became depressed and prescribed anti-depression medication (Todd, YouTube, 2012). The medication ended up not being enough and after a while, Amanda turned to cutting herself, attempted suicide, and failed twice at trying to take her own life. Amanda reveals on her video that she had to have her stomach pumped after trying to swallow a bottle of bleach, as well as exposing her arm with scars on them from cutting herself.
Strategies to help Reduce Bullying According to Grenoble (2012), the parents of Amanda Todd focused more on the bullying from her peers rather than getting to the source of the issue and the actual cause of her getting bullied in the first place, which was due to her online stalker. The issue could have been resolved prior to Amanda committing suicide, if the stalker would have been identified and charged with stalking, harassment, and a number of other charges. When the stalker sent Amanda’s nude picture to her classmates is when disciplinary actions should have been taken by the school as well as Amanda’s parents. Teachers and other members of the school staff should have taken more active measures. By banning the use of social media sites on school grounds and requiring student to delete accounts the stalker contacted them through, would have prevented many from viewing and spreading of the nude images. The members of the school staff should have been able to have a meeting with all students of the school, explaining Amanda’s situation and the consequences they would receive if enabling the problem even further. Using stricter punishments against bullying could have helped tremendously in this case (Grenoble, 2012).
Bullying Then and Now The difference between the types of bullying that is taking place today versus bullying 10 years ago is that bullying had not yet taken on a digital form.
Bullying came in the form of physical abuse, verbal, and sexual abuse, before social media became widespread through the use of computers and the Internet. According to Delisi et al. (2014) “Bullying is formally defined as using one’s strength or status to intimidate, injure, or humiliate another person of lesser strength or status” (p.336). Today, if not everyone, almost everyone uses some form of technology to communicate either through email, text message, online chat, or social media. Because of these easier forms of communication from person to person, it has made it easier for bullying to take place outside of public settings. Online bullying allows bullies to harass the victim anywhere at any given time. Cyber-bullies find it easier to say and do mean things online than in person. The popularity of online interaction has led to online predators, which years ago could only happen physically. Predators can now browse the internet looking for victims such as Amanda Todd and use online capabilities to harass …show more content…
victims.
Key Contributing Factors Bullies can target anyone based on something as simple as them just not liking how an individual looks or dresses, or even acts.
In the case of Amanda Todd, Amanda was first targeted by an anonymous online stalker due to their attraction to her age, vulnerability, and physical appearance. In Amanda’s video her flashcards stated that due to her constant bullying and being stalked, she became very anti-social at school which made it hard for her to fit in and make friends (Todd, YouTube, 2012). Many of the students who bullied Amanda did not personally know her, but may have chosen to attack her because of her shyness, not being able to conform, and rumors spread by previous classmates at her other schools. Many students conformed to become accepted into cliques by aiding in Amanda’s bullying (Grenoble, 2012). Bullying Prevention Programs who work with schools and law enforcement departments could be a driving force in enforcing non-bullying amongst children. By the programs coming to schools and ensuring the safety of students who are bullied will help others prevent bullying as well as coming forth to report cases of bullying. Classes should be taught to practice safe and smart online use can prevent teens from exposing personal information, images, or videos to strangers
online.
Conclusion
If Amanda had received the proper protection and reassurance by her family, friends, school officials, and even law enforcement officials, then Amanda could possibly still be here today. Amanda should not have had to handle such a huge burden of guilt, self-regret, and other issues all on her own. Amanda Todd’s story should be a lesson to be learned from when dealing with the safety of others who have been a victim of bullying and hatred. More measures should be in place to ensure the safety of everyone’s life, no matter who they are.
References
Delisi, M., Hewitt, J.D., & Regoli, R. M. (2014). Delinquency in Society (9th ed.). Burlington,
Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Grenoble, R. (2012, October 11). Amanda Todd: Bullied Canadian Teen Commits Suicide After
Prolonged Battle Online and In School. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/amanda-todd-suicide-bullying_n_1959909.html
Todd, A. (2012, October 11). Amanda Todd’s Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide, Self-Harm [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej7afkypUsc.