Cyberbullying and the First Amendment Matthew Trotti Grand Canyon University: POS 500 2/23/16 Cyberbullying and the First Amendment In todays world and the 21st century technology is everywhere and access to that technology is at everyone’s fingertips. Due to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter things like cyberbullying have become a new way of bullying. The definition of cyberbullying is “bullying that takes place using electronic technology” (What is Cyberbullying). This paper will talk about the topic of cyberbullying and the steps that I am required to take if I hear from a student that they are being bullied on Facebook. This paper will also talk about any First Amendment arguments that the student with the Facebook page might raise and my responses. Cyberbullying and the steps I am required to take Cyberbullying is a big issue in todays age with all the access to technology. Almost everyone you see adults and students have some type of social media page on either Facebook or Twitter or even both. If a student notifies me that they are being bullied via another students Facebook page there is not much that my state requires me to do as a teacher, but the state does say “students and staff are required to report to designated staff any incidents of cyberbullying about which they are aware” (Cyberbullying and School Policy, 2008, August). In Virginia they don’t really give us much other than what they recommend that school boards put in their own
Author and editor of two magazines, Lauren Tarshis in the essay, Is Facebook Making You Mean?, published on September 5, 2011 in a classroom magazine addresses the topic of online bullying through the popular social networking site, Facebook, and argues that these sites should be used responsibly to ensure the safety of all users. Tarshis supports her claim first by providing incidents and facts that prove the immense effects rude comments and thoughtless jokes have on the person receiving them. Second by, making an emotional appeal to her audience which creates a unity between the reader and writer. Finally by, establishing her credibility as a writer by providing an extensive amount of educated assertions supported by scientific studies.
In the article “High-Tech Bullies”, Ingrid Sturgis claims that people should do something about cyberbullying not only because it demeans people, but also because too many students are either committing or attempting suicide, and it is something that needs to be addressed immediately. Sturgis starts out her article by making readers aware of the staggering amounts of cyberbullying arising over the past decade. The article is filled with images and informational side notes that help describe the cyberbullying motives and programs that go against cyberbullying. Throughout the article, Sturgis writes about the ways that some cyberbullies may try to humiliate or harass distinct types of people (including members of the LGBTQ community or people
Posting status’s, sharing pictures, and direct messaging are just a few ways in which social media is used amongst people. In an article written by Helen Kennedy titled “Phoebe Prince, South Hadley High School’s ‘new girl,’ driven to suicide by teenage cyber bullies,” discusses the story of a high school girl who was bullied physically and via social media and drove her to her suicide. Phoebe Prince was just an average teenager from Ireland who was driven to suicide by her classmates. She received several unpleasant comments on her social media sites, such as “Irish slut” and “whore.”
There are real dangers when students use social media. In source 2 paragraph 9, it states “Cyberbullying is deliberately using digital false, embarrassing or hostel information about another person.” This shows that people online show or text embarrassing or hostel information about one another, which can lead to danger. This also shows that students are getting bullied. Also, in source 2 paragraph 10, it also states, “Cyberbullying is quite common, can occur to
Technology has advanced so quickly that the way we communicate with people has changed hugely, particularly in the last few decades. As computers and mobile devices became more acceptable and necessary in our everyday life it was not only businesses that relied on needing internet access. Personal use also increased and schools became increasingly reliant on computers and internet access for education, therefore, it is little wonder that some people see this as a medium for which to communicate with others in a way they probably would not do if they had to make these comments face to face to the recipient. With this in mind, I will discuss what the internet is, what cyberbullying involves, who is involved, why it has become a concern and what is being done about it.
Social media is now a major outlet for bullying. Bullying has always been a problem, but not until the twenty-first century has it been on something that isn’t reality: the internet. Bullies can do things online like name calling, gossiping, or posting embarrassing or personal pictures. This is easier for bullies because it is behind a screen, they don’t have to see what harm they are causing by bullying online. It is the main form of bullying in 2016.
Social media accounts have been used excessively for cyberbullying. According to the given sources, studies show that cyberbullying over social media has been a problem, and was needed to be fixed. However, people have the right of privacy and invading a person’s social media account isn’t fair. Schools shouldn’t monitor students’ social media accounts because it would invade one’s privacy, and the trustworthy from others wouldn’t be present anymore.
While this kind of incident happens through the web that provides anonymity to these people, they create fake profiles for the purpose of being hidden to the people in order to bully people in social websites like Facebook or post videos on YouTube with no worry of getting caught. In reality, is there anybody we can put blame on for these incidents? Our digital media, most of the times shows violence and this include showing uncensored materials on the news television while some kids might be watching it and this does not help to overcome this problem. Because of this example or how they see the world right now, children and teens become so familiar with the idea of violence and they might think of it as the normal doing. Some parents on the whole are not familiar with the idea of cyber-bullying and this reason they are not able to protect their kids from this risk of being cyber bullied.
The article compares the amount of social media use middle and high school students have with the likelihood of being cyberbullied. In the article, they surveyed students in grades 7-12, ranging from ages 11-20. Students were selected at random, they were asked about cyberbullying victimization and how many hours a day they used social media. They found that females were more likely to use social media and younger students were less likely to use social media. They also found that gender played no role in the relationship between social media and cyberbullying.
One of the biggest issues of online communication is cyber bullying. It is defined as, ‘‘the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others” (Baas, de Jong, and Drossaert, 1). There is so much anonymity online which makes it difficult for cyberbullying to stop. From personal experience, I have been cyberbullied on social media websites like Youtube. People commented hurtful things on my videos, I was fifteen at the time, so I did not tell my parents.
parents that if the victim experiences any problem with the actions that happen, the parents can inform the vice principal. The vice principal should inform the cops incase the harasser/ bully tries to threaten the victim again out of school. If it occurs again than the victim should inform the vice principal to inform the cops. The cops should take the bully/ harasser in because it can lead the victim to have a bad ending. If a student is being harassed on social media and the harasser also attends the same school, then the staff member should tell the harasser to stop.
Teachers should care enough, and be allowed to, check students online profiles to make sure no one is being bullied. The more that is put into stopping cyber bullying the less it will
Fast innovations, such as the Internet, are constantly changing how people interact. Although this development has been approved human beings to make great progress in many areas, they have also allowed the form of violation to become more widespread. This is evident when looking at how traditional bullying has grown became today's issue known as cyberbullying. Although bullying and cyberbullying are often similar in shape and their technique also has a lot of difference. Unlike traditional bullying, cyberbullying allows offenders to close his identity behind the computer.
Benjamin Franklin in a letter to the New England Courant said, “Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or control the Right of another. ” Many people argue that another reason the government should not be allowed to monitor the internet is because that could lead to abuse of our first amendment rights of free speech. However, as Benjamin Franklin point out, there clearly is a point when individuals violate their own rights, by harming the lives of others. The Megan Meier Foundation reports that over 1 million children are bullied on Facebook alone every year, with cyberbullying being a main cause in the 4, 400 suicide deaths in teens. It is clearly time someone, especially local governments, monitor this content and stops this needless loss of
Jacob Mandella Ms. Gommermann English 11 12 January, 2018 Cyberbullying Waking up, seeing rude and mean comments posted about a person 24 hours a day, and feeling like there is no way out of this; this is a the new form of bullying which can be constant via social media. According to Merriam Webster, cyberbullying is “the electronic posting of mean spirited messages about a person (such as a student) often done anonymously”. Cyberbullying is harassment using electronic forms of contact such as text, photos or videos. The term cyberbullying refers specifically to the harassment when it is directed directly towards minors (“11 Facts About CyberBullying”).