Cyberbullying worse than traditional bullying?
The verbal, physical and social aspects of bullying are very much present, however with the development of the internet comes a change in the environment. Bullying doesn’t stay in the school yard anymore, it can leave school and enter the safety of their homes (Running, 2012). Cyber-bullying has become a large problem in today’s society because bullies feel much freer to say what they want because they can hide behind a screen, creating an emotional disconnect. The person sending the messages tend to feel disconnected from the impact they have on others, but that doesn’t lessen the affect on the people on the receiving end.
The example of what happened to fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd shows why cyberbullying is worse than traditional bullying. She could not get away from a mistake and blackmailer because once put out on the internet, it never went away. He created a Facebook profile which used the topless photograph as the profile image, and contacted classmates at her new school, causing more grief and bullying. She moved schools several times and her tormentors still came after her. She was physically assaulted at a new school by 15 others from another school, which worsened her depression. She took her life after the endless bullying she endured (No Bullying, 2014). A tragic ending to a horrible situation for the poor girl.
According to Boyd (2014) the persistence and visibility of bullying in networked publics adds a new dimension to how bullying is constructed and understood. Engaging in cyberbullying leaves ‘evidence’ of what is being said so others can see what’s happening. However this can lead to enabling others to amplify the attacks therefore increasing the emotional duress of a bullying incident (Boyd, 2014). Technology makes bullying more damaging and hurtful because it lets people inflict continuous harm.
I remember seeing the movie Mean Girls when it came out, I was 12 at the time. I loved that movie- the plotting, scandal, attitude and revenge. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched it and would say it had an influence on me in a positive way because it has a good moral in the end. Being mean isn’t the way to go about things and that everyone is human and public humiliation is cruel. There were definitely incidents of bullying throughout high-school, but my school had a 0 tolerance policy and took it very seriously, with major consequences for those who bullied. Being “older” and looking back I’m glad I went to a school that took it seriously and did something about it. I hear of incidents in private Swedish high schools that disgust me, and teachers do nothing about the bullying and ABUSE. A good movie that highlights this problem is ‘Evil’, I highly recommend watching it.
I do think though with the increasing awareness of bullying, people are standing up for people in need and coming to their defence, especially when it is done in a public forum such as Facebook or Instagram. Reading the comments on posts where someone says something mean about someone, and random people who don’t personally know either party come to the defence of the person being attacked. Maybe we’re moving into the right direction? Let’s just hope so..
References:
Running, K. (2012). Cyber-bullying and popular culture. The Observer. [online] Available at: http://www.carlyleobserver.com/news/localnews/ cyber-bullying-and-popular-culture-1.1482627 [Accessed 5 Feb. 2016].
No Bullying, (2014). The Top 6 Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases of the Decade. [online] Available at: http://nobullying.com/six-unforgettablecyber- bullying-cases/ [Accessed 5 Feb. 2016].
Boyd, D 2014, 'Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?’, in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp 128-52.
Mean Girls is a great example of showing how being a bully is “cool” in the eyes of other immature people. Even though it does have a really good message at the end, so the whole bullying aspect can be ignored... a little bit.
