Misfortunes of Social Media
Just one click away, being able to express feelings towards anyone or anything, without having to suffer the repercussions of what is written on the internet. A humble post, video or status can cause discomfort and misery to others who see it, and at times slit friendship, families, and even loved ones apart. Cyber insults otherwise known as cyber bulling occurs when a child, preteen, teen, or in rare cases adults become is plagued, exposed, beleaguered, mortified, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen, teen, or adult using the Internet. Other collaborating and digital technologies or mobile devices are commonly used to wreak such havoc. (Stop Cyber Bullying) Most who cyber bully typically have the intent to insult or hurt those they are speaking of. In other cases, cyber bulling may be proxy; this is when a cyber-bully gets another person to do their mischievous deeds. Most of the time however, they are innocent collaborators and do not know that they are being manipulated by the person (Stop Cyber Bulling). Cyber bullying can occur on websites such as Facebook, MySpace, or form spring. Cyber bulling may also occur through the sending of pictures, internet pooling such as whose popular or who’s not, or instant messaging such as aim, oovoo, and other sites along those lines. (Stop Cyber Bullying) With the wide variety of where cyber bullying can occur, it opens the door for many offenders and even more victims. The malicious and hurtful things children say to one another online can cause extreme embarrassment, depression, and unlucky lead to minors committing suicide, changing the lives of everyone that love and knew them. Phoebe Prince a fifteen immigrant from Ireland moved to South Hadley in western Massachusetts in 2009 and committed suicide in 2010, due to the vulgar and hurtful things being said about her online by the “mean girls” of her high school. "Someone told her to go hang herself, and I don't really know who that was," student Jessica Chapdelaine said. "But she was getting bullied by some people, because there were people talking about her and I guess she just didn't like being hated."(Mean Girls: Cyber bullying Blamed for Teen Suicides) Phoebe was said to be a nice, fun, and pretty teenager who succumb and was destroyed by the evil things students had to say about her online. Parents dealing and commenting on her death were outraged and stressed the fact that cyber-bullies are everywhere you go, unlike the old school field bully that could only hurt you when put in the same vicinity. Theses cyber bullies follow you home, to friend’s houses, school, and even at the homes of other family members. ."(Mean Girls: Cyber bullying Blamed for Teen Suicides)
Cyber bullying is usually seen among teens but adults can at times also be victims, and lead to suicide similar to the road many teens take to escape the harassment and mortification. Emma Jones a British school teacher committed suicide after an old boyfriend posted nude photos of her on Facebook. Due to these photos, Emma became very anxious and worried about being jailed due to the strict regime of the Abu Dhabi. After the photos were exposed a colleague accused Jones’ of prostitution. Due to all the embarrassment it caused Jones’ to drink corrosive cleaning fluid which caused her death. Unlucky, Jones's former boyfriend, IT worker Jamie Brayley, denied the accusations, saying that they were a "complete fantasy". As well as stating Jones never sent him any nude photos, it wasn’t her character. (Huffington Post)
While many people abuse the features of social networks such as posting images, videos or status that can harm others, there are many advantages of these sites and techniques that will ensure these people cannot comment, post, or even look at your page. If students were aware of these techniques it could save many families from heartache, as well as allowing students to understand how to deal with