With advances in technology and the recent explosion in popularity of social media sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, and Google+, cyberbullying is becoming more prevalent in today’s society. Cyberbullying on social media is increasing day by day, according to increasing to the Internet.
Despite all the positives that come from a more connected society and the world, cyberbullying has quickly become a major concern for schools and law enforcement agencies.
A cyberbully is a person who willfully and intentionally causes stress on another person via the internet. A cyberbully can reach the person in many ways, such as email, social media sites, or text messages.
Bullying can include personal threats, sexual remarks, insulting comments, or hateful speech. The bully may also post private information about their victim online.
This trend of cyberbullying is relatively new and therefore has not been researched as much as traditional bullying.
However, it’s safe to say that person who is bullies in the traditional sense are likely to engage in cyberbullying as well. What exactly makes a person become a cyberbully will vary from person to person.
Traditional bullying and cyberbullying
One common factor is traditional bullying and cyberbullying because the instigator experiences low self-esteem and can be quite insecure. They want to hurt someone else to feel good about themselves. Another common factor is naivety. A lot of kids bully other kids online because they think that it’s funny. They don’t think in terms of what they are truly putting their victims through.
Most cyberbullies do not realize the harm that they cause in their role as cyberbully. There have been many adolescents and young adults who have committed or attempted suicide because of this dangerous trend.
A lot of the victims who have taken this measure have been young girls who were bullied relentlessly online by other girls and young men who were wrongly accused of being homosexual.
These bullies use the internet to say and do things that they would never do in person; hence the attacks tend to be more vicious in their nature. In a lot of ways, this may be more dangerous than traditional bullying.
My personal experience with cyberbullying on social media
One would think that at my age (I’m 29), I would not have to deal with cyberbullies, and I had wrongfully believed that cyberbullies were just young kids and teenagers making fun of their peers online up until a couple of years ago when I began developing and managing various websites.
One of the more recent websites I have managed provides users with news and current events from multiple authors who are all United States, military veterans.
After the website had gone live, the authors had begun to receive many compliments for the quality of content they were producing. However, it did not take long before adult cyberbullies (also known as trolls) began to rear their foul-mouthed heads.
At first, I was horrified. And I could not believe the nastiness written in the comments section of many of the articles.
I was forced to choose: Should I argue with them and feed their egos, or should I ignore them? I can’t lie — It was a tough choice.
As much as I wanted to rip apart their illogical arguments (along with a few arms, legs, and ears), I knew that I would be playing right into their hands, so I chose to ignore them.
A smart choice
After a couple of weeks of not responding to their taunts, the trolls began to fade away. Not that their activity has stopped completely, but the regular visiting trolls seem to have focused their energy on other endeavors for a while.
As an adult, I knew not to take those comments personally, but I remember being so frustrated for a while.
It wasn’t until this all happened that I realized how tough it would be growing up as a child today where the Internet and easy anonymity is pervasive in society.
I think I was eight when my family bought its first computer and took my first taste of the Internet. But back then, there was no Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or texting, so I never thought twice about being bullied online. I can only imagine what kids today have to deal with.
That’s why it is important to realize that even adults are capable of cyberbullying, and just like children, many adults might not even realize that their actions constitute bullying.
Bad habits like smoking, unhealthy eating, and spitting can be easily passed on from parent to child. Try to make sure that cyberbullying isn’t one of those bad habits you pass on to yours. This is the time to take preventative measures of cyberbullying on social media.