How to stop Cyber bullying Essay

The use of information technology is currently a more popular social phenomenon than ever before. Thus, most young people are using the Internet for different purposes which may include studies and undertaking research, but mostly for socialization (Ybarra 247). The internet has now become a big source of fun for the majority of young people, with chatting, e-mailing, sharing pictures, videos and other forms of documents and files becoming everyday activities. Nevertheless, just like in many other social situations in life, there are people who take pride in harassing, demeaning and bullying others using the information technology and electronic devices, a practice commonly referred to as cyber bullying (“Prevent Cyber bullying”). Bullying can cause frustrations on the victims, especially those who are bullied constantly, resulting in psychological trauma or even more fatal occurrences such as suicide. Thus, parents should team up with their children to explore and develop safe ways of using technology, while monitoring and controlling their children’s internet use, to protect their children against cyber bullying.
The practice of receiving mean messages, threatening texts, hurtful posts or even negative and damaging rumors is something that is happening with teens and adolescents every single day globally. It is no longer unusual for teens to find sexually explicit and obscene photographs of them or their friends on the internet, even without knowing how pictures ended up there. According to bullyingstatistics.org, 50 of adolescents and teens have experienced cyber bullying, and equally 50 of the teens and adolescents have been involved in cyber bullying (bullyingstatistics.org). Additionally, one in every three adolescents has received threatening messages either through the Internet or over the phone, while 25 of teens have experienced repetitive cyber bullying (bullyingstatistics.org). Consequently, according to statistics from the meganmeierfoundation.org, 2.2 million school children reported having experienced cyber bullying in the USA in 2011 (“Bullying, Cyber bullying & Suicide Statistics”). Most worrying though, is the fact that 38 of frequent bullied-victims in 2013 reported having suicidal thoughts, which sends a shock down the spine, considering that suicide has been identified as the third major cause of death for young people aged between 15 and 24 years (“Bullying, Cyber bullying & Suicide Statistics”).
While the connection between cyber bullying and suicidal thoughts for 38 of the people who have been bullied repetitively can seem to be farfetched, there is no doubt that evidence lies everywhere that cyber bullying is a killer behavior. Alexis Pilkington, a well known and celebrated athlete at her prime age of career committed suicide in her bedroom, following a streak of cyber bullying messages, thus ending her promising life on March 21, 2010 (Long and Gross, n.p.). Why is cyber bulling such a big issue if one may ask? Cyber bullying has the same effects as physical bullying; only that cyber bullying is worse, since there is no running away (Ybarra, 251). It would be easier to escape from physical confrontation, but the psychological trauma arising from cyber bullying is devastating. This is because; the internet is all over, and if an individual being cyber-bullied decided not to access the internet anymore, his/her friends or alternatively enemies, will still make the torture continue. Simply put therefore, cyber bullying can frustrate a victim to death, since there are just very few options of running away from it once it has started (Ybarra, 251). The major problem is that the victim may at times turn out to be the aggressor in an attempt to defend against the cyber bullies, and this can go on until cows come home. However, one thing is certain; psychological trauma, mental illnesses or at worst suicidal thoughts, are not farfetched occurrences on cyber bullying victims.
There is no doubt therefore, that many organizations, both online and on-location have come up to help address the vice of cyber bullying. In every major city or town, every social media site and every community organization running out there, someone is doing something about cyber bullying. Campaigns have been launched on the online platforms and even in the mainstream media through print messages warning against the evil of cyber bullying, while others are advertising professional help for the victims of cyber bullying. The setback associated with online and on-location campaigns against cyber bullying is that they target helping the victims of cyber bullying, and not so much on preventing potential victims from falling into the trap (bullyingstatistics.org). The government on its side is enacting, defining and redefining laws and statutes that can prosecute the perpetrators of cyber bullying once they have been unlucky to be