At a certain point in our lives we have been bullied or picked on, and I must say it is not a nice feeling being called names, getting your belongings constantly stolen, and being laughed at wherever you go. Today in the 21st century bullying has moved away from the school playgrounds but onto social networking websites.
Bullying on social networking websites or also known as Cyber Bullying is when people come on your personal page and post hateful comments about you constantly, take your photos and inappropriately edit them, or they could even hack into your page and write horrible comments all over your page. There has been a survey in America stating that 39% of teenagers on social networking websites have been bullied online.
Parents use to try and protect their children the best they could from bullying on the school grounds, but today bullying is undergoing a new change and is now involved with technology. When we were bullied at the school playground we could run home and feel secure and safe with our parents and away from the bullies, but now bullying is not only at school but in our homes too. There is no safe place to run to for security and warmth, but instead victims of bullying feel trapped and like they have no one to turn to. This often results in life threatening consequences.
Social networking websites such as Bebo and Facebook have become increasingly popular among teenagers and young adults, and bullies are moving their target from school onto these social networking websites. The reason for this is because you can choose to be anonymous on these websites so the bullies can hide their identity and still bully that person without getting caught. Another reason is that rumours that start at school just go around the school grounds, but online your photo and videos can be passed around onto strangers all over the internet which makes it a lot more devastating for the victim.
Getting bullied on social networking websites is a very serious issue and is constantly happening. Almost every teenager out there is on a social networking website, they join to communicate with their friends and to make new friends, these websites are suppose to be socially enjoyable for young people. Facebook and Bebo in particular have taken the world by storm, teenagers like me often spend hours on these websites after school or whenever we have spare time. It’s addictive and teenagers can’t get enough of it. There has been an estimation that 2/3 of teenagers in New Zealand are on Bebo.
Many teenagers who are on social networking websites are unsupervised, so parents have no idea what their child are posting pictures of and how much of their lives they are exposing to the online world. This makes it much more harder if the child is a victim of bullying and cannot tell their parents about the situation they are in.
Many Social Networking Websites are easy to access and just about anyone can access your page, look at your photos, and write comments to you. Even though you can choose to make your personal page private, one of your “good friends” may choose to invade your photos and page and bully you instead. There is no privacy on these certain websites so the bullying can get around a lot more and a lot faster. The bullying then spreads onto the school and the victim has to deal with bullying online and offline. This makes the situation ten times more unbearable and for that reason the results of bullying on social networking websites have often resulted into teens committing suicide.
Getting bullied on these certain websites can result in the whole school reading the comments. Even people on the internet you don’t even know can read them and that is a lot of humiliation that someone of such a young age cannot handle. A lot of young people don’t know how to deal with bullying so sometimes they feel alone and trapped and some have resulted into crucial acts to escape the bullying such as Abraham K. Biggs who committed suicide live online, where thousands of people witnessed his death live. Another devastating story is Megan Meier who committed suicide inside her own bedroom, because she had been bullied on Myspace.
There has been a number of suicidal deaths caused by bullying on social networking websites. Some teens have hung themselves, or overdosed on pills but in UK there is one 15 year old girl name Holly Grogan who jumped off a 30 feet bridge and got hit by on going vehicles. Holly decided to commit suicide because of all the hateful comments she had received on her Facebook wall.
Also in the UK an 18 year old girl name Keeley Houghton is the first person to go to jail for bullying on a social networking website. She posted death threats to another teenage girl on Facebook, and now has been caught and is facing the consequences.
I mean it is bad enough that children and teenagers get bullied at school but having to come to your own home and still get bullied, can really destroy a young person’s self esteem. We have always been taught since we were young that bullies are people with their own insecurities and choose to pick on people, because they cannot deal with their own problems and are bored of their own lives, but I honestly don’t know why someone would go all out to destroy one innocent person’s lives, it’s just unfair. No one should tolerate bullying, especially bullying online it’s cruel and unacceptable.
References:
BBC News. (2007) Cyber-bullying gathers pace in US. Retrieved September 21, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6245798.stm
Carter, H. (2009) Bullied girl's parents warn of 'huge pressures' of Facebook. Retreived September 21, 2009 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/sep/20/facebook-bullying-holly-grogan-suicide
Cyber Bully Alert. (2008) Stories of Cyber Bullying. Retrieved September 22, 2009 from
http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/10/stories-of-cyber-bullying/
Hutt, R. (2009) Social networking sites can drive teenagers to suicide, says archbishop. Retrieved September 22, 2009 from http://news.scotsman.com/facebook/Social-networking-sites-can-drive.5516363.jp
Bullying on social networking websites or also known as Cyber Bullying is when people come on your personal page and post hateful comments about you constantly, take your photos and inappropriately edit them, or they could even hack into your page and write horrible comments all over your page. There has been a survey in America stating that 39% of teenagers on social networking websites have been bullied online.
Parents use to try and protect their children the best they could from bullying on the school grounds, but today bullying is undergoing a new change and is now involved with technology. When we were bullied at the school playground we could run home and feel secure and safe with our parents and away from the bullies, but now bullying is not only at school but in our homes too. There is no safe place to run to for security and warmth, but instead victims of bullying feel trapped and like they have no one to turn to. This often results in life threatening consequences.
Social networking websites such as Bebo and Facebook have become increasingly popular among teenagers and young adults, and bullies are moving their target from school onto these social networking websites. The reason for this is because you can choose to be anonymous on these websites so the bullies can hide their identity and still bully that person without getting caught. Another reason is that rumours that start at school just go around the school grounds, but online your photo and videos can be passed around onto strangers all over the internet which makes it a lot more devastating for the victim.
Getting bullied on social networking websites is a very serious issue and is constantly happening. Almost every teenager out there is on a social networking website, they join to communicate with their friends and to make new friends, these websites are suppose to be socially enjoyable for young people. Facebook and Bebo in particular have taken the world by storm, teenagers like me often spend hours on these websites after school or whenever we have spare time. It’s addictive and teenagers can’t get enough of it. There has been an estimation that 2/3 of teenagers in New Zealand are on Bebo.
Many teenagers who are on social networking websites are unsupervised, so parents have no idea what their child are posting pictures of and how much of their lives they are exposing to the online world. This makes it much more harder if the child is a victim of bullying and cannot tell their parents about the situation they are in.
Many Social Networking Websites are easy to access and just about anyone can access your page, look at your photos, and write comments to you. Even though you can choose to make your personal page private, one of your “good friends” may choose to invade your photos and page and bully you instead. There is no privacy on these certain websites so the bullying can get around a lot more and a lot faster. The bullying then spreads onto the school and the victim has to deal with bullying online and offline. This makes the situation ten times more unbearable and for that reason the results of bullying on social networking websites have often resulted into teens committing suicide.
Getting bullied on these certain websites can result in the whole school reading the comments. Even people on the internet you don’t even know can read them and that is a lot of humiliation that someone of such a young age cannot handle. A lot of young people don’t know how to deal with bullying so sometimes they feel alone and trapped and some have resulted into crucial acts to escape the bullying such as Abraham K. Biggs who committed suicide live online, where thousands of people witnessed his death live. Another devastating story is Megan Meier who committed suicide inside her own bedroom, because she had been bullied on Myspace.
There has been a number of suicidal deaths caused by bullying on social networking websites. Some teens have hung themselves, or overdosed on pills but in UK there is one 15 year old girl name Holly Grogan who jumped off a 30 feet bridge and got hit by on going vehicles. Holly decided to commit suicide because of all the hateful comments she had received on her Facebook wall.
Also in the UK an 18 year old girl name Keeley Houghton is the first person to go to jail for bullying on a social networking website. She posted death threats to another teenage girl on Facebook, and now has been caught and is facing the consequences.
I mean it is bad enough that children and teenagers get bullied at school but having to come to your own home and still get bullied, can really destroy a young person’s self esteem. We have always been taught since we were young that bullies are people with their own insecurities and choose to pick on people, because they cannot deal with their own problems and are bored of their own lives, but I honestly don’t know why someone would go all out to destroy one innocent person’s lives, it’s just unfair. No one should tolerate bullying, especially bullying online it’s cruel and unacceptable.
References:
BBC News. (2007) Cyber-bullying gathers pace in US. Retrieved September 21, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6245798.stm
Carter, H. (2009) Bullied girl's parents warn of 'huge pressures' of Facebook. Retreived September 21, 2009 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/sep/20/facebook-bullying-holly-grogan-suicide
Cyber Bully Alert. (2008) Stories of Cyber Bullying. Retrieved September 22, 2009 from
http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/10/stories-of-cyber-bullying/
Hutt, R. (2009) Social networking sites can drive teenagers to suicide, says archbishop. Retrieved September 22, 2009 from http://news.scotsman.com/facebook/Social-networking-sites-can-drive.5516363.jp
