Cyberbullying Prevention

            Cyberbullying can be painful; it can even harm physically and mentally. A cyberbully victim can end up harming themselves to get away from the pain that the cyberbully has caused. “A 2010 study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that technology access among children has skyrocketed since 1999”, with this being said, it is not surprising that bullying has modified itself to be on social media sites.

            This topic is serious to me because my friend was cyberbullied to the point she started cutting herself and went to a rehabilitation center. I was her only friend after the harassment started on Facebook; she talked to me often about killing herself to get away from the pain. Seeing the damage I was causing by keeping the secret from her parents, I sent them an anonymous note that she was being cyberbullied, cutting, and thinking of suicide. Her parents sent her straight to the rehabilitation center. At first she was angry that her parents found out, but she now thanks me for helping her. She is now better, but the cyberbully left a mark on her like a tag on a cow, the pain will be there for life.

            What do we do to discipline these bullies? It is time for this to stop. It is time for us to stand up. It is time for people to see the damage cyberbullying causes. It is time for the laws set ageist cyberbullying to become stronger. Cyberbullying is a problem, but the laws are not strong enough and they need to be strengthened.

            Many people do not understand exactly what cyberbullying is. Cyberbullying is a repeated use of harassment, humiliation, and threats on social media devices (Holladay, 1). This form of bullying is uses technology that is in our everyday lives therefore the harassment follows the victims where ever they go. “Students can experience bullying wherever they have access to their phones or a computer” (Feinberg and Robey, 1). This statement further explains that the pain will follow the victims. Many features have been added to networking sites and these changes may lead to miscommunications and conflicts (Kelly, 2&3). Social Networking sites are not doing much to help with the problem of cyberbullying.

            Does it matter where the harassment happens? Because the harassment did not happen on school grounds, the police told 14-year-old Alex Boston that they could not do much to solve her problems with the cyberbullies (Associated Press, 1&2). We cannot be truly safe from the harmful words of a cyberbully if the police can not even do much to prevent it. “…lawyers and other experts say many of the laws aren’t strong enough…” (Associated press, 3). “Almost every state has a law or other policy prohibiting cyberbullying, but very few cover intimidation outside of school property” (Associated press, 5). “…lawyers and other experts say many of the laws aren’t strong enough…” (Associated press, 3) These laws are too vague and need to be strengthened.

            There are many ways to strengthen these laws. We can use Seattle’s curriculum by solving the problem with the 4 most promising practices: debunking misperceptions about digital behavior, build empathy and understanding, teach online safety skills, and equipping young people with strategies to reject digital abuse (Holladay, 4). These can help us improve the laws and policies by showing that we do really care about the online safety of the children of America and other countries with cyberbullying problems. Seattle’s curriculum should become a law in every state because it provides a support that these cyberbully victims will need to get through the suffering the bully has caused on them. We could also extend the laws to be able to punish students that harass their peers outside of school grounds on social media sites.

            In the end the three points I was trying to capture were the following: what cyberbullying truly is, what we are doing to help, and how we can improve the laws we have placed on cyberbullying. I have personally seen the damage cyberbullying can cause to a person. My friend’s life was severely altered by the effects of cyberbullying. This can be prevented in a way to stop it completely. We need to stand up against cyberbullying. We need to stand up and fight. We need to stand up and save the people that are suffering. This has gone on for too long and it is time we finally do something worthwhile. These laws we have in place are far too weak and it is time we strengthen them.

work cited

"Cyberbully Victims Turning to Lawsuits," Education Week 31.30 (2012): 12 MasterFILE Premier. web.18 Sept. 2012

HOLLADAY, JENNIFER. "cyberbullying" education digest 76.5 (2011): 4. MasterFILE Premier. web. 18 sept. 2012

Kelly, Heather. "Facebook Fuses Emotion to its Anti-bullying Efforts." CNN. N.p., 12 July 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://articles.cnn.com/2012-07-12/tech/tech_facebook-cyberbullying-update_1_facebook-account-facebook-employee-facebook>.

Feinberg, TedRobey, Nicole. "Cyberbullying." Education Digest 74.7 (2009): 26. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 18 Sept. 2012