Cyberbullying: A Norm In The Physical World

Bullying is a norm in the physical world, but has crawled its way into cyberspace and coined the term “Cyberbullying”. Young teens are using the Internet more than ever. Teens view the Internet and technology as a positive aspect in their lives. Even though technology has great opportunities, it can be misused and painful to those who are targets of cyberbullying. With these effects, cyberbullying can be inevitable and inescapable. Online posting and electronic distribution is another common factor of mocking and tormenting the individual and the post can never be removed from the Internet. Students creating online polls to vote for the “ugliest” or “fattest,” latter can haunt the individual and follow them in their journey of adulthood. Cyber

Cyber bullying can have a series of effects in many different aspects of victim’s lives but the principal effect is on the victim’s mental health. “93% of cyber victims reported negative effects, with the majority of victims reporting feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and powerlessness” (Nixon). This validates that cyberbullying is extremely harmful and arises many negative thoughts in almost all its victim’s lives. These negative thoughts can build up and turn into more serious mental illnesses. The most common mental illnesses of cyber victims and cyberbullies are anxiety and depression. Over 50% of cyber victims and cyberbullies are reported to have clinically high anxiety and depression scores (qtd. in Edwards, Kontostathis, and Fisher). This further demonstrates that cyberbullying has a massive emotional influence by instigating and advancing several mental health diseases that could potentially alter the sufferer's entire way of life. The buildup