Cyberbullying: Youth Behavior Surveillance Report

Cyberbullying is when people use social media and technology to spread embarrassing and malicious messages, posts, or photos about other people. This can lead to many psychological problems for the victim of cyberbullying because everything becomes open to the public to see. It has become a major issue in society due to the increase in technology and social networking sites available today. Social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Formspring, and many others, make it easy for people to post these negative comments. There are many aspects of cyberbullying that contribute to the effect it is having on society today. There are many differences between cyberbullying and traditional bullying. Cyberbullying has a stronger

In addition to this, 39% of social network users say they have been cyberbullied in some sort of way. Why do kids cyberbully? Statistics show that 11% of them want to show off to their friends while 14% do it simply to be mean. Some people are out for revenge and want to get back at someone who they think deserve it. National statistics state that 55.2% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students have experienced cyberbullying. It is hard to believe that about 160,000 students stay home from school every day because of bullying. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, girls are more likely than boys to experience cyberbullying. They are also more likely to be the ones who post unsolicited pictures of others online to embarrass them. It also states that members of the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community are twice as likely to commit suicide due to cyberbullying. Some of the children who are bullied are likely new students, underweight or overweight, anti-social, unpopular and seen as weak. On the contrary, kids who bully are likely concerned with being popular, very aggressive, bossy, and view violence as a positive thing. A school in Delaware did a survey in 2015 on random sample of 457 students from the ages of 11-15. The results showed that 34.4% have been cyberbullied, 10.1% have been threatened through a cell phone, and 4.6%

According to Justin W Patchin, the co- author of Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying, believed that many states have made laws to initiate the process of trying to eliminate cyberbullying. There should be a role for the federal and state governments when it comes to educating school districts about cyberbullying and what they can do to prevent or avoid it. He also wants to provide valuable supplies to help them prevent and respond to online violent behavior. In order to stop cyberbullying, the best thing to do is have the school contact a parent/guardian, or take action in suspending students who take part in online bullying. In the movie Cyberbully, directed by Charles Biname, a teen girl named Taylor Hillridge faced cyberbullying. Her little brother made a fake profile talking badly about her because she didn 't make him a profile. Everyone at her high school saw the mean comments and started to make fun of her. Her best friend Samantha, decides to make a fake profile of a boy who Taylor then shares all of her secrets with not even knowing it 's her best friend. Taylor then makes a video reporting she doesn 't have a reason to live anymore and wants to kill herself. Taylor never reported this incident to her mother. Samantha then felt bad for her actions. Samantha called Taylor’s mother warning her she thinks something bad is going to happen. Taylor 's parents then find her in the bathroom having a nervous breakdown trying to overdose.