impact of cyberbullying and social media

1. SOCIAL MEDIA & CYBER
BULLYING
Sagar Rai
1019195
B.com (h)
What is Cyber bullying ?
In simple words, cyber bullying is misuse of information technology to
harass or harm other people. It could be in the form of posting negative
word or rumours about another person on the internet or social
networking sites with an intention to embarrass or humiliate him/her in
public. With the increasing use of internet services and mobile
technologies, cyber bullying has become frequent, especially among
teens. It includes communications that seek to control, defame,
manipulate, harass or falsely discredit an individual. The actions are
frequent, intentional and hostile intended to tarnish reputation of
another individual. These actions are performed in social media, public
forums or other online information sites.
A cyber bully may be online stranger or it can be particularly young
people between age of 12 to 18 spend more time on social networking
sites such as Facebook, Twitter and the like. There are numerous risks
associated with these sites, among which cyber bullying is most
common and widespread. The cyber bully usually posts offensive

2. photos and videos, misleading information or expose secrets about
target on these sites to defame him/her. Cyber bullying activities are so
harmful that sometimes it compel the victim to commit suicide. There
have been a number of cases that involve teenagers committing suicide
because of being mistreated or humiliated over the internet. Many
children are the targets of bullying via the internet or mobile phones
resulting in total confusion on the part of the “target”. Very often,
children are not able to understand that what they are going through is
a form of bullying. As a result the previously safe environment of the
internet is now becoming a source of confusion and anxiety. The
internet holds many dangers such as viruses and programming faults
that could be dangerous for people but also two of the most menacing
problems for young people today; child pornography and cyber-
bullying. I decided to focus on the issue that tends to influence a large
portion of teenagers and not solely, cyber-bullying. It seems that, now,
in 2010 cyber-bullying is increasing dramatically as more and more
children are becoming victims of this type of bullying, though not only
children. I will research this problem in detail as it is saddening me that
a system that makes information flow and communication easy, is
turning into a dangerous “place” to be. I can’t understand why such a
useful system is used in so negative a way where one can cause
psychological harm to others.
Significance of cyber bullying .
How real is the threat of cyber-bullying? Is it such a big issue?
Opinions seem to vary. Adults mostly support the opinion that
cyber-bullying, along with regular bullying, is responsible for many
of the social, anxiety and depression problems kids live with since
this situation mostly influences them. On the other hand, many
teenagers do not agree with this claim, they support the idea that

3. cyber-bullying is not such a problem because nothing is “real” on
the internet and things said or done should not be taken into
consideration so much. In my mind, we, teens, understand better
the evolution of technology than adults and so we are not tricked
by the media as their role is always to report every situation in its
most dramatic way but that cannot explain the rising number of
suicides among young people. I believe that anyone who claims
being bullied knows nearly nothing about how to protect
themselves in the digital world, even when it comes to simple
computer problems. It is true that the internet does not show its
real “face” immediately and cyber-bullying is not the only internet
issue that should be worrying us. Internet is full of dark pits, full of
lies that could trick anyone into confusion. My opinion is that
cyber-bullying is a very big issue that is shocking our society
every day but I also believe and agree that cyber-bullying is not
the last thing that we should consider as a problem. People need
to be educated on how to be immune to internet dangers and of
how to avoid being mocked or cheated through the internet.
How to tackle cyber bullying?
Dealing with cyberbullying is rarely easy, but there are steps you
can take to cope with the problem. To start, it may be a good time
to reassess your technology use. Spending less time on social
media checking texts and emails, for example, and more time
interacting with real people, can help you distance yourself from
online bullies. It can also help to reduce anxiety, depression, and
feelings of loneliness.
Don’t seek revenge on a cyberbully by becoming a cyberbully yourself. Again, it
will only make the problem worse and could result in serious legal consequences
for you. If you wouldn’t say it in person, don’t say it online.

4. Save the evidence of the cyberbullying, keep abusive text messages or a
screenshot of a webpage, for example, and then report them to a trusted adult. If
you don’t report incidents, the cyberbully will often become more aggressive.
Report threats of harm and inappropriate sexual messages to the police. In
many cases, the cyberbully actions can be prosecuted by law.
Prevent communication from the cyberbully, by blocking their email address,
cell phone number, and deleting them from social media contacts. Report their
activities to their Internet service provider (ISP) or to any social media or other
websites they use to target you. The cyberbully actions may constitute a violation
of the website’s terms of service or, depending on the laws in your area, may
even warrant criminal charges.
Prevent cyberbullying before it starts
One of the best ways to stop cyberbullying is to prevent the problem before it
starts. To stay safe with technology, teach your kids to:
• Refuse to pass along cyberbullying messages.
• Tell their friends to stop cyberbullying.
• Block communication with cyberbullies; delete messages without
reading them.
• Never post or share their personal information—or their friends’ personal
information—online.
• Never share their Internet passwords with anyone, except you.
• Talk to you about their life online.
• Not put anything online that they wouldn’t want their classmates to see,
even in email.
• Not send messages when they’re angry or upset.
• Always be as polite online as they are in person