Cyber bullying And Our Youth

In the modern world, bullies have shifted from their old forms of bullying. Today, society is being faced with a new form of bullying. The cyberbullying has replaced the old form of bullying where bullies could confront their targets face by face and at a specific location. Cyberbullying is an aggressive action that is taken by individuals repeatedly through the use of electronic devices. The trend continues to a point where the attacked persons can no longer defend themselves against the bullies. Bullying could only occur in social places like schools, and it could not occur beyond the school borders. However, in the modern world, bullying is occurring online, which means that bullies can get reach their targets even when they are far away. The new form of bullying has affected the youths as well as the adults, with the youths being the easiest targets. The advancements in technology, as well as the growing popularity of the internet among the youth, are some of the factors that have made them simple targets. With the serious advancements in social media as well as communication technology, it has become easy for bullies, to bully their targets without fear.

They can engage their targets in destructive communication while they are far away. The cyberbullying has become very popular in society due to social media and other outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The youths are easy to get targets since they are on these media platforms. While social media is for socialization, it has now become a tool for cyberbullying. This paper lays an explicit focus on the problem of cyberbullying among the youth.

The worst hit victims are youths from the LGBTQ population. These youths cannot speak openly because they are certain that they will receive a lot of criticism. Cyberbullying raises a lot of questions for both the victims as well as the perpetrators. One wonders whether cyberbullies suffer from homophobia, and respond by abusing people. The only thing that is attributable to bullying is that the bullies are determined to bully others because they are ignorant of other people’s humanity as well as their orienting choices (Schneider et al, 2012).

While retaliation is considerable, it is unfortunate that the victims cannot transform into a rogue and defend themselves (Ramanathan, 2013). Children do not have the maturity or the knowledge to handle such crises. Cyberbullying has had very significant impacts on children. Some of them have suffered from depression, substance abuse, and self-mutilation, and others even commit suicide (Patchin, 2010). Also, cyberbullying has been found to be closely related to other symptoms such as somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, low self-confidence as well as low self-esteem. It does not only affect the youths socially, but it also affects the youths in other ways. Cyberbullying has also affected the youth’s performance in schools. Victims of cyberbullying have faced a decline in school performance (Patchin, 2010). School attendance has also been a problem, and family relationships have also been destroyed. Victims of cyberbullying do not want to attend schools because they feel embarrassed to face their bullies (Mustanski, Garofalo, & Emerson, 2007). They feel humiliated because they know that others will perceive them negatively because of the messages that the bullies have shared with them. These children are much stressed, and they cannot even concentrate in the classroom. As a result, some of the children decide to drop out of school since they cannot keep up with the humiliation and embarrassment (Schneider et al, 2012).

In addition to poor school performance, cyberbullying is also causing other problems. For example, cyberbullying causes stress-related problems. Children, who get bullied, experience symptoms such as a headache. Some of them may get stressed to the point where they will develop ulcers (Patchin, 2010).

On the other hand, cyberbullying leads to suicidal thoughts among youths. Children who constantly experience bullying often lose hope in their lives (Mustanski, Garofalo, & Emerson, 2007). They are so worried, and they have a perception that no one loves them. These children begin to develop a strong feeling that the only way that they can escape from their perpetrators is through committing suicide. There are many documented cases of suicides related to cyberbullying. A case example is the case of Jessica Logan, who committed suicide because her boyfriend leaked her nude photos online. This is just a single case, and many other cases have not been documented (Mustanski, Garofalo, & Emerson, 2007).

Cyberbullying is a serious epidemic that is affecting many children all over the world. The impacts of cyberbullying are far-reaching, and they have resulted in serious health concerns as well as low performance among the youth. Cyberbullying has posed as a serious threat to the lives of youths (Patchin, 2010). It has impacted their; lives negatively. The most unfortunate things are that the cyberbullying epidemic is continuing to spread rapidly, and it is unstoppable. It has become a developing threat to the whole society, and adolescents are the worst hit. The impacts of cyberbullying can be comparable to the impacts of bullying among members of the LGBT (Ramanathan, 2013).

The internet is a useful resource for all people. The youths as well as the adults, find their interests as an important resource for entertainment as well as learning. Parents should have confidence when their children are using internet sources. It would be odd if the parents limited the access of the intent to the children especially at this age when the internet is a useful resource (Vreeman & Carroll, 2007). However, it has been found that there is a lot of malicious use of the internet. The same has made the Internet a dangerous place for youth. The experiences that have occurred to children whether they are online or offline have been so undesirable. The main problems with cyberbullying are that the victim is exposed to a very large number of people (Schneider et al, 2012). Cyberbullying is different from the class bullying which may be embarrassing, but it is only confined to the students in the class. Furthermore, cyberbullying becomes so dangerous when a group of bullies comes together, and attack single person (Schneider et al, 2012). Unlike the old form of bullying, cyberbullying has many forms. It can include the use of texts; negative images r video clips that may be embarrassing to the child. It can also spread very fast because it is revisited every second and some of the viewers may also have a copy of the clip or the video. The same makes it easy to spread cyberbullying (Patchin, 2010).

Cyberbullying can also take other serious forms such as texting. Bullies are known to send harassing messages to their victims. They use this tactic most often, especially when they want to engage the victim fully. The messages are either abusive, or are meant to portray the victims negatively (Vreeman & Carroll, 2007). Unfortunately, they also send messages to other people who also extend their bullying to the victim. A victim can, therefore, receive very many negative messages from bullies. On the other hand, cyberbullying is also taking the form of stalking.

In this case, the bullies issue threats to the victims. They intimidate them a lot as a way of instilling fear (Schneider et al, 2012). These are the reasons the victims of cyberbullying commit suicide or are absent from school. The bullies are also spreading negative rumors. The bullies spread cooked lies to other people so that the victims can be perceived negatively in the public limelight (Patchin, 2010). Another common strategy that the bullies have been using is by pretending to be someone else. They steal the identity of the victim, and they share information that could have an impact on the reputation of the individual. It mainly occurs when cyberbullies steal the online details of the victim. In some cases, bullies have also been known to use outings, where they reveal the public information s shared confidential.

Form of bullying has become a common phenomenon especially when there are relationship problems. It is also often occurring when people envy others because of their success. The most serious problem with cyberbullying is that it is even hard for one to identify the bully (Patchin, 2010). The bully can be within but since he is using a hidden or fake identity, it becomes so hard for one to identify them. Cyberbullying has turned out to me a dangerous form of bullying because; the victims are portrayed negatively to the whole world. It is very impossible to remove something that has circulated on the internet. The rapid pace of the spreading of information is also another challenge that makes it hard for cyberbullying to be controlled (Patchin, 2010).

On the side of the LGBT, the LGBT has been found to be very prone to cyberbullying. They are three times more likely to be harassed online than their counterparts who are non-LGBT (Mustanski, Garofalo, & Emerson, 2007). The high level of bullying among the LGBT population can only be attributed to their frequent use of the internet their counterparts (Ramanathan, 2013). According to the study that was carried out by Kumar, it was evident that LGBT youths spend more than 5 hours of their time on the Internet. The same explains why LGBT youths have a high risk of being bullied by their fellow youths in the online systems (Ramanathan, 2013).

It is unfortunate that LGBT youths mainly use online systems so that they can get support and information on their different gender orientation, but on the other hand, they are bullied. The study also revealed that more than 40 of LGBT youths have experienced cyberbullying (Ramanathan, 2013). A significant proportion of the youths also reported that they have experienced threats online, and they no longer feel the internet is a safe place. The case of LGBT youths is worse when compared to the cases of non-LGBT youths. One in five of the youths reported that they have received abusive messages from bullies (Ramanathan, 2013). This proportion is a bit high when compared with youths who are non-LGBT. On the other hand, a third of the LGBT youths claimed that they have experienced sexual harassment online (Ramanathan, 2013).

The number is more than four times the cases of bullying that have been reported by non-LGBT youths. It is, therefore, notable that the LGBT population is an endangered group (Ramanathan, 2013). They are at a very high risk of cyberbullying than their counterparts. The most unfortunate thing is that the LGBT cases have been ignored, and the responsible people have only focused on the issues of cyberbullying among the non-LGBT population since it’s a large group (Ramanathan, 2013). However, this should not be the case; the LGBT group is suffering a lot more than their counterparts.

The constant harassment among LGBT youths have had serious effects on their lives as well as on their mental health (Ramanathan, 2013). Most of these youths have been bullied badly, and they have developed serious psychological problems (Mustanski, Garofalo, & Emerson, 2007). The fact that these people are a minority, they have become a vulnerable population that is very prone to cyberbullying. Other researchers have argued that the intent has reinforced the offline perceptions that exist in society about LGBT people (Ramanathan, 2013).

The effects of cyberbullying are not in any case different from the impacts of bullying among the LGBT population (Ramanathan, 2013). The LGBT population is at a high risk of being bullied than others. The worst problem is that the LGBT population is also likely to experience a lot of harm from bullying than other people (Mustanski, Garofalo, & Emerson, 2007).

In the case of LGBT, they are two times more likely to engage in drug abuse as a result of cyberbullying than other people. These people engage in these risky behaviors because they are very prone to cyberbullying, and the only way of coping is by taking drugs. The same explains why there are very many drug addicts who are LGBT. These people have suffered from negative criticism, and they have suffered a lot (Mustanski, Garofalo, & Emerson, 2007).

The most unfortunate thing is that only a small proportion of LGBT youths claim that they are happy with their sexual orientation. The larger proportion is seriously frustrated by their sexual orientation. These youths experience constant attacks, and they are bullied continuously (Mustanski, Garofalo, & Emerson, 2007). Many of them argue that they can only get happy when they are away from their township. While other people who do not lie under the LGBT claim that they are facing the effects of cyberbullying, the LGBT population is facing more serious harm (Ramanathan, 2013). They are not fully accepted in society, and thus they have become targets of everyone who is against LGBT. Although there are US laws that protect the right of everyone, it has been eminent that these rules are not effective in fighting cyberbullying among vulnerable groups such as the LGBT.

In the education sector, the LGBT population is bullied a lot to a point that they do not even feel it is worth pursuing their education (Ramanathan, 2013). Many of them drop from school because they cannot tolerate the bullying. Most of them feel that they are not safe in school. They are more likely to be intimidated by others than their counterparts who have a normal sexual orientation. Suicide cases have also been reported among the LGBT population. Kenneth Weishuhn is an example of LGBT person who has committed suicide due to cyberbullying. He was seriously attacked online by his classmates, and he was threatened with death (Ramanathan, 2013).

It is also important to address the impacts of cyberbullying on bullies. Cyberbullies are also affected by their acts. Although they do not suffer physically, they suffer psychologically. These people are likely to experience a lot of frustrations in their lives. They are likely to engage in alcohol abuse when they are at a very young age. Their behavior may also progress as they grow into adulthood.

On the other hand, cyberbullies also experience an academic decline. These students are likely to perform poorly because they cannot concentrate. Their main aim is to intimidate other students and therefore, it becomes so hard for them to pursue education well. In most cases, these are likely to drop out of school, when they are at a very young age.

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The bullies are also likely to experience social deviance issues (Patchin, 2010). For example, they are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors very young age. In the case of girls, they get unwanted pregnancies and other diseases. Some researchers argue that bullies do not stop their behaviors even when they grow up. These people extend their dangerous behaviors to their spouses (Schneider et al, 2012). It has been noted that these people are more likely to harm their partners in a relationship.

Conclusion

Cyberbullying is the modern form of bullying that has replaced the old form of bullying. Cyberbullying has been facilitated by the internet and social media. Cyberbullying has become a serious epidemic that is affecting the youths today. A large number of youths have fallen victim to cyberbullying either through harmful messages or bad exposure. The worst thing is that it is not easy to stop cyberbullying. Once it has occurred, it becomes so hard to control it since the contents that have been posted online cannot be removed with ease. The youths have suffered a lot due to cyberbullying. Their education performance has been impacted negatively. Some of them have suffered from serious depression while others have even committed suicide. The effects of cyberbullying on the youth are not any different from the impacts of the same on the LGBT population. The LGBT population has a very high risk of being bullied than their counterparts. They are twice likely to be intimidated and harassed. Finally, the impacts of cyberbullying are not only limited to victims the perpetrators are also affected.