(Andrea.l) #Cyberbullying

Art 3170 Civic Engagement Action Project Blog No. 2

Welcome to the ART 3170 blog created as part of the civic engagement requirement of this course. In this blog, students will identify and discuss a major social issue that affects them and their communities. After conducting brief research on the issue and sharing their personal feelings. Blog #2

By Andrea Lopez

Thursday, April 1, 2021

    

Emotional Effect of Cyberbullying 

 Teens and kids who are taunted by cyberbullies are more likely to develop  negative emotional problems. -Getty image 

      

What is Cyberbullying?

Unfortunately, nowadays electronic devices and the internet have opened a new context in  which bullying can occur. Therefore this new context that the internet has provided is known   as "cyberbullying". For that reason cyberbullying  is also known as the nontraditional form of  bullying.  Hence, according to "Stop Bullying.gov" it states that cyberbullying is a way in  which an individual can harm another person by simply "sending, posting or sharing negative and false content about someone else" online. In addition, it is also said that cyberbullying can take place on social media, forums and even gaming where people can view, engage and share content.

     

 Where does Cyberbullying commonly occur?

  

Not only adults are accessible to technology and social media, there are many teenagers that use  technology and its platforms for entertainment purposes.  For instance, some of the platforms that technology offers are: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Tiktok e.t.c. Even though technology has created many platforms for individuals to communicate with such ease it has also created a negative social environment. Although, these social media platforms are not intended to cause harm or to even bully anyone there are situations and people that take advantage of these platforms and used them for such acts. As mentioned before cyberbullying occurs through the internet and its social media platforms where teenagers tend to congregate.

Cyberbullying emotional effects

The same way that traditional bullying can affect a children, teenager or a young adults life so can cyberbullying. For that reason, it is said that cyberbullying can cause emotional distress and lead to negative solutions. Therefore, empirical studies have also examined the harm that non- traditional bullying like "Cyberbullying" can cause and its relation to suicide. For instance, in the "Bullying, Cyberbullying and Suicide" article it explained the results of a survey that was giving to "middle schoolers" to see how many students were experiencing or had experience some type of "peer aggression" and its effect. The article also demonstrated that those who experienced "cyberbullying" or bullying in general as either a victim or an offender were more likely to have suicidal thoughts and were actually attempt suicide than those that had not experience such forms. Therefore, in the table below it explains the results that they gathered from the survey provided to the middle schoolers in regards of cyberbullying and the different ways that they have experience it.

TABLE 3. Descriptive Statistics—Cyberbullying (Previous 30 days)

	Mean	Std. dev.	Range/percent
Cyberbullying Offending (α = .76)	1.18	2.59	0–20
Posted something online about another person to make others laugh			23.1%
Sent someone a computer text message to make them angry or to make fun of them			13.7%
Took a picture of someone and posted it online without their permission			12.1%
Posted something on MySpace or similar site to make them angry or to make fun of them			11.3%
Sent someone an email to make them angry or to make fun of them			9.1%
One or more of the above, two or more times			21.8%
Cyberbullying Victimization (α = .74)	1.59	3.05	0–30
Received an upsetting email from someone you know			18.3%
Received an instant message that made you upset			16.0%
Had something posted on your MySpace that made you upset			14.2%
Been made fun of in a chat room			10.0%
Received an upsetting email from someone you didn't know (not spam)			9.7%
Had something posted about you on another web page that made you upset			9.5%
Something has been posted about you online that you didn't want others to see			9.2%
Been picked on or bullied online			9.0%
Been afraid to go on the computer			5.7%
One or more of the above, two or more times			29.4%

 In the table above it showed the results of how many students have been part of "cyberbullying offending" and "cyberbullying victimization".  Therefore, this table demonstrates that traditional bullying  measures are similar to "cyberbullying victimization" measures which included a variety of behaviors ranging from relatively low to more severe. Therefore, as a result they found that majority had experience as a cyberbullying victim. For "cyberbullying offending" it showed the online participation of cyberbullying behavior. Overall, It is really important to talk about this because nowadays technology and its platforms are rapidly growing. Therefore, there are many youth and young adults that have become victims of cyberbullying especially during the covid-19 pandemic. According to "Risk of Cyberbully Increases during Pandemic" explains that due to the pandemic youth have been more exposed to electronics as well as an increase  of screen time and more prone to cyberbullying. In addition, it also states that, "Children have higher levels of anxiety, higher levels of depression as a result of dealing with cyberbullying which can then have an impact on their behaviors as they continue to age". Therefore, it said that since in class person have moved to online classes and also following the social distancing guidelines the only alternatives that they have in order to communicate is through social media platforms or other internet platforms. Therefore, cyberbullying can occur simply by using any social platform where they threat or humiliate a person. 

The importance of the issue:

I think that this issue is really important to share because it bring awareness to what exactly can cyberbully do to someone and especially to young children and teenagers. It is really important to share this information and to remind and look out for  our children, teenage brother or sisters about the consequences that cyberbullying can have whether as a victim or offender. In addition, it also important because as an adult we can help them navigate with this entire change that has happened due to covid-19 and other social issues that have unfortunately created hate and divided cultures and people. However, as an older sister, brother, aunt, or parents we need to make sure that children and teenagers are involved in more positive activities that can lower the risk of stress, anxiety, depression and many other behavior problems. 

References

Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA). “What Is Cyberbullying.” StopBullying.gov, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 15 Sept. 2020, www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it.

 

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 14(3), 206-221. https://cyberbullying.org/cyberbullying_and_suicide_research_fact_sheet.pdf

“Increase in Cyberbullying During COVID-19.” MIBluesPerspectives, 17 Mar. 2021, www.mibluesperspectives.com/2020/10/12/increase-in-cyberbullying-during-covid-19/.

Staff, CBS2 News. “Risk of Cyberbullying Increases during Pandemic.” KBOI, KBOI, 25 Mar. 2021, idahonews.com/news/local/risk-of-cyberbullying-increases-during-pandemic.