Hailea Gentry
Professor Young
Period 2
February 16th, 2015
No Escape
How do you define a bully? There is no doubt that the answer to this timeless question is different now than it would have been 50 years ago. It is just the same for technology. Today’s technology has changed everything! From communication, to teaching, to spending quality time with family; but most importantly technology has changed bullying. When my parents were in high school the bullying stopped after the bell rang and that was the end of it. Fast forward 30 years and bullying is not something that happens in the hallways its something that happens on a cell phone or computer screen. We call this cyberbullying. Most think that this whole cyberbullying thing is a myth, you know, a thing kind like Santa Claus that your parents tell you about just to trick you into being good. Little do most know it’s no myth it’s out there and it can be worse than face to face confrontation. Additionally, through texting and other social media, a student can remain anonymous while bullying, eliminating accountability and giving the bully extra power over the victim. The reason bullying statistics have risen is that people believe that hiding behind a screen and saying something bad about someone is a whole lot easier than saying it in person. They don’t have to confront them that way, they don’t have to see the destruction they are causing to a real live person. They don’t see the pain they are causing, that every single word they type is a dagger to the chest of their victim. This “victim” I keep talking about sometimes can just brush it off; sometimes each word sticks to the victim like glue. The victims that can’t brush it off often feel trapped in a jail cell of words. According to Department of Sociology & Political Science, Tennessee Technological University, United States “Although some cyberbullied youth are unfazed by such occurrences, the youth who are affected may experience emotions like anger, depression, embarrassment, and sadness, which, in turn, can lead to other negative consequences”(Selier). In extreme cases which usually happen to the most vulnerable the victim can go to self-harm and even worse suicide
Through cell phones and social media, a student can bully another from outside the classroom. A computer has made the emotional and social torture that bullying is so much easier for the bully and has developed itself so it never stops. Some cyberbullies have been caught but the majority are still sitting behind their computer screen. Most cyberbullies remain anonymous, making the tourture even worse.. Keeping this in mind you might wonder why nobody is doing anything about this. There are currently thousands of agencies working to end this cyberbullying. But there is the simple fact that kids are cruel to each other and no matter what they are going to be bullied. Even if they do stop cyberbullying what about the thousands of adolescents that have already been bullied and emotionally scared? Because bullying doesn't seem to get much media attention until bullying results serious injury, a student suicide, or the prosecution of a child as an adult on a murder charge. My bullying story has not made the presses and I hope it never will. It all started when I began to receive anonymous messages on Facebook tell me I was ugly, fat, and that I should just die. At first I could just brush it off I didn’t let them get to me, but as it went on for 3 years it got hard. It sent me into deep depression making me hate myself. I began to start worrying about what others thought about me, everywhere I went I felt like all eyes were on me. Anxiety had already been a problem for me but now it was even worse. All of these feelings trapped inside led to me being diagnosed with a rare non-epileptic seizure disorder. If you haven’t noticed that the root of most of my problems was because of one person’s ability to make others feel weak. In many cyberbullying cases