The definition of cyberbullying according to the Oxford Dictionary is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or of a threatening nature. This can be done by a child or teenager however when it comes to an adult this is classed as stalking and other extreme measures. Using digital devices to bully someone it said to be an easier form of bullying which is said by 81% of teenagers, this is because usually the person that is bullying someone is timid or found out before it is late.
Facts of cyberbullying
It is believed that 43% of children have ONCE been bullied online in their lives with this high percentage only 10% of these children will confide in their parents/carers about the ordeal that they have been through. The case of cyberbullying has increased as the years have gone on, in this modern society it is easy to find people that you are looking for through websites such as FaceBook, Twitter and Skype. FaceBook allows individuals to communicate by posting on others walls, sending others messages and through FaceBook chat which allows individuals to communicate without being requested as friends. Twitter allows individuals to communicating by 'tweeting' others which publicly allows those that are your 'followers' to view what you're saying to others and also messages can be sent by direct messages for any private conversations. By bullying someone this can affect their emotional and mental state as this affects their welfare as it occurs on a daily basis.
Negative effects of cyberbullying
As said in the definition of what cyberbullying is, it is also when a child or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child or teen using the internet, digital technologies or mobile phones. A negative effect of cyberbullying is suicide. Suicide is the THIRD leading death among young people, it is estimated that 4,400 deaths per year are from suicide and it is due to the effects of cyberbullying. Children between the ages of 10-14 years old are said to be at a high risk of committing suicide as the consequence of a negative effects of cyberbullying.
Laws
At the moment, there are NO laws against cyberbullying however, it can be categorised under these laws- Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and The Malicious Communications Act 1988. This type of bullying can never be deemed as correct however in some cases there is a condition called Xenophobia which means that someone has an unreasonable distrust or hatred of strangers, foreigners or anything that is perceived to be foreign or different. Personally, I think that this 'condition' gives others the advantage to abuse this and torment others. This being said I have never met someone that has this condition so I cannot take full judgement on what I have read until I have seen a person that has this condition and how they behave around others.
Overall, in this modern age the amount of victim towards cyberbullying is vastly increasing and it seems like the government are not doing anything to help this. I think that a law should come out to stop this behaviour carrying on because it not only affects one person, it infests in their mind. They are constantly paranoid thinking that each person that they pass on the street could be the person that is bullying them or that one of their loved ones could be doing it. As this paranoia grows it begins to feed off the person almost like it possess them because it is ALL they think about, the just want a simple way out and for the person this may well be by ending their life which for them seems like it is over but in fact it is letting the bully win. The best way to deal with it is to TALK to someone. It doesn't have to be a professional but someone you trust, I'd like to believe that no matter how hard life gets you'll always have someone there for you.
For more information about cyberbullying visit- http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/
