Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying
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Abstract
Cyberbullying is the intentional harassment by a group or an individual by the aid of the internet and technological devices that are invasive, for example, mobile phones. Bullying in the traditional form of the term has been around as long as capitalism and competition have existed in this world. In the belief that success and wealth are one and the same thing, capitalism advances bullying as a survival tactic among the citizens. Of worry, is the reason governments have waited for so long to realize that cyberbullying is just as harmful as traditional bullying. Prevalence of the cyberbullying problem is at an elevated level for the teens. In major studies concerning cyberbullying, school going children are the majority of victims. In this age, it is possible to create anonymous accounts on the internet where bullying takes place but the perpetrator is not known. The impossibility of curbing cyberbullying becomes a possibility each day as technology advances. Cyberbullying prevalence remains high and continues to soar among the youth.

Cyberbullying
Bullying has been around for a long time now, but, cyberbullying is a relatively new concept. The term cyberbullying was first used in by Bill Belsey in 2004 to describe the nature of intimidation and harassment conducted through communication technologies (Mehari & Farrell, 2016). Cyberbullying is the intentional harassment by a group or an individual by the aid of the internet and technological devices that are invasive, for example, mobile phones.

Technology and internet access are the basis for cyberbullying. Hence, the existence of cyberbullying came after the establishment of the internet. The term cyber refers to virtual space created by the internet. Many victims of cyberbullying are young people; this is partly because they form the bulk of internet users (Mehari & Farrell, 2016). Even researchers concern themselves with the effects of cyberbullying among the youth and the spin-off effects of the happenings. Then, it could get argued that cyberbullying is prevalent among the youth when compared to adults (Weber & Pelfrey, 2014).
Bullying in the traditional form of the term has been around as long as capitalism and competition have existed in this world. In the belief that success and wealth are one and the same thing, capitalism advances bullying as a survival tactic among the citizens. However, the virtual but also harmful form of bullying, that is cyberbullying came to being with the advent of affordable personal computers towards the end of the 20th century (Donegan, 2012). The levels of cyberbullying today are relatively high than they were when a couple of computers were in use in the 90s (Caffrey, 2013). Technological advancement in recent years has fuelled the growth of cyberbullying. It is sad that advancement of technology gets related to crop up of cyberbullying when the same technology is also equated to the advancement of human social life.
Governments all around the world struggle each day to legislate on effective laws that can curb cyberbullying. Of worry, is the reason governments have waited for so long to realize that cyberbullying is just as harmful as traditional bullying (Mehari & Farrell, 2016). Today, many nations have the right to free speech entrenched in their constitutions. In the United States of America, the First Amendment protects the rights of free expression of opinions. Cyberbullying occurs through utterances and statements made via the internet. When it comes to the formulation of laws to govern conduct in the cyberspace, it is likely and often it is the case that activists and citizens would invoke their rights to free expression of opinions.
Since the youth, more specifically those in the school going age are the victim of cyberbullying schools are left with the duty of ensuring bullying does not occur either on or off campus. In J.S. v. Bethlehem Area School (2000) a student got expelled from school for posting derogatory comments about the school administration on a page created on the internet. The case did progress to the Supreme Court of the United States where the court ruled in favor of the school for taking drastic actions against the student. From this case, schools are allowed to control what happens off campus about cyberbullying since the school going children form the bulk of cyberbullying victims. In this age, it is possible to create anonymous accounts on the internet where bullying takes place but the perpetrator is not known. The impossibility of curbing cyberbullying becomes a possibility each day as technology advances. However, the solution to cyberbullyig is far off the horizon.
Prevalence of the cyberbullying problem is at an elevated level for the teens. In major studies concerning cyberbullying, school going children are the majority of victims. The prevalence rates vary when considering offending, victimization, and gender. A third of students that get sampled report being victims of cyberbullying in their lifetime. Some of the forms of bullying reported by the sampled students include hurtful and mean comments, rumors. Strangely, 15% of sampled students agree to have bullied their peers in their lifetime; with the spread of rumors as the most practiced form in the last 30 days. Adolescent girls suffer the consequences of cyberbullying at the rate of 40% (Donegan, 2012). Girls are prone to the posting of mean comments online while boys prefer posting hurtful pictures or videos. The percentages given in this analysis are those of a middle school from in the Midwestern United States.
In a 2015 study where 16000 students were the subjects of a study, cyberbullying indicated an upward trend. From the survey, girls are victims of cyberbullying while boys are the perpetrators. The study happened for six years, where the percentage of cyberbullying rose from 14% to 21%. Cyberbullying continues to increase due to the increasing audience courtesy of cheap smartphones in the market. Bullying occurs on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter; 93% of persons between the ages of 12 and 17 use those two sites (Donegan, 2012). Cyberbullying occurs on the internet and it is through social sites that this gets orchestrated. The severity of cyberbullying rises with the availability of more avenues online such as Facebook, Twitter, and the several instant messaging applications. The prevalence of cyberbullying covers only the youth and teenagers since that is the literature presented by most scholars on the topic.
Continued cyberbullying leads to low self-esteem on the victims. From low self-esteem, depression may result and in extreme cases, depression does lead to suicide. In recent times, the suicide of Ryan Halligan and Megan Meier were as a result of cyberbullying. Bullying results into emotional damage and whatever that comes along as a consequence of the damaged emotional wellbeing (Donegan, 2012). Continued cyberbullying may result in a broken society when bullies take charge. Personality changes, anger, depression, and withdrawal are all predicates of a broken race. The consequences of traditional bullying are the same as those of cyberspace bullying (Donegan, 2012). What creates the difference is the anonymity presented by the cyberspace, but all other factors are the same. Cyberbullying is a transformation of the ancient bullying that has existed over the ages. Bullying today is done by the weak and the strong in equal measure. The youth and teenagers are the most affected segment of society since they are the majority of internet users. Technological abuse has continued to flourish as an epidemic in the 21st century. Effects of cyberbullying are not any different from those of schoolyard bullies.
The first amendment grants rights to individuals who in turn abuse the freedom, hence engage in acts of harassment, teasing, and mistreatment. A principle in law enforcement is that law officers should only step in when a threat to personal safety and life are at risk (Donegan, 2012). The real principle makes it hard for legal officers to curb cyberbullying where threats to personal safety and life are not apparent.
Literature available on cyberbullying suggests that the youth and teenagers are the victims and aggressors. This is not conclusive as they studies are only limited to the young. It may be a possibility that adults are perpetrators and victims as well, but the available literature focuses more on the teens and youth. Limited studies on the topic may be a consequence of not reporting cyberbullying by the victims. The intangible nature of cyberbullying makes conducting of studies on the subject problematic. However, it is not entirely impossible to determine the effects of cyberbullying when enough literature gets presented (Barlett et al., 2017).
Cyberbullying is an epidemic in the 21st century where embracing of technology is the all-time high, and there is a likelihood of increasing in adoption. The victims of anything have always been the biggest beneficiaries of the same (Donegan, 2012). In the case of cyberbullying, the young are the victims of the epidemic as well as they are their oppressors. It is not entirely a child affair when it comes to cyberbullying; the existing literature suggests so, but, there is a possibility of having adults as victims too. Cyberspace allows the weak to hide behind keyboards and do what they could not do physically to their victim. Governments try each day to protect their people through legislation, but the continued advocacy on human rights makes it impossible to track what people do in the cyberspace. In the USA, the First Amendment has become an impediment to realizing secure cyberspace free of cyberbullying. Schools have been left with the responsibility of curbing cyberbullying but with no resources. Cyberbullying repercussions are not any different from those of traditional schoolyard bullying; depression, anger, withdrawal, and suicide occur to cyberbullying victims (Mehari & Farrell, 2016). Cyberbullying prevalence remains high and continues to soar among the youth.

References
Barlett, C. P., Prot, S., Anderson, C. A., & Gentile, D. A. (2017). An empirical examination of the strength differential hypothesis in cyberbullying behavior. Psychology of violence, 7(1), 22.
Caffrey, C. (2013). Cyberbullying. Salem Press Encyclopedia.
Donegan, R. (2012). Bullying and cyberbullying: History, statistics, law, prevention and analysis. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 3(1), 33-42.
Mehari, K. R., & Farrell, A. D. (2016). Where Does Cyberbullying Fit? A Comparison of Competing Models of Adolescent Aggression.
Weber, N. L., & Pelfrey, W. V. (2014). Cyberbullying: Causes, consequences, and coping strategies. Lfb Scholarly Pub Llc.