Cyberbullying And Sexting: Technology Abuse Of The 21st Century

Cyberbullying is a growing issue around the world and can lead to emotional distress among students. Students that are bullied online are often more moody and have social anxiety, that can sometimes lead to suicide. Christopher Davison and Carl Stein discuss the issues of cyberbullying in their article, “The Dangers of Cyberbullying.” According to Katzer, Fetchenhauer, and Belschak, “75% of school-age minors experienced cyberbullying aggression at least once in the last year” (qtd. in Davison and Stein). Cyberbullying is a severe issue that can be reduced among school-aged minors. There are many different definitions of cyberbullying. Del Siegle explains what cyberbullying is in his article, “Cyberbullying and Sexting: Technology Abuses of the 21st Century.” According to Willard, cyberbullying is “being cruel to others by sending or posting harmful material or engaging in other forms of social aggression using the internet or other digital technologies” (qtd. in

Cyberbullying is also known as electronic bullying because bullying occurs digitally through electronics. Cyberbullying can also include cyberstalking and sexting. In Robin Kowalski’s article, “Recognizing and Treating Victim and Aggressor,” sexting is defined as “the distribution of sexually explicit images via cellular phones.” According to Siegle, “nearly one in five who receive sext messages pass them along to someone else.” Forwarding sexts falls under cyberbullying because “the snowballing effect of forwarded sexting can be dire” (Siegle). Forwarding sexts is cyberbullying because both, sexting and cyberbullying have the same effects. The reason why students cyberbully is unknown. Craig Offman suggests that “some kids deliberately set out to do harm, though