Pros And Cons Of Cyberbullying

The growth of technology can be wonderful. New technologies have led to incredible scientific breakthroughs, helped those with disabilities do more than ever thought possible, and allowed people on opposite sides of the world to communicate with just the press of a button. However, technology has many shortcomings as well. Perhaps the most prevalent of these shortcomings, cyberbullying, the bullying or harassment of people using the internet, is becoming difficult to contain. Some may argue that the punishment of those who participate in the cyberbullying violates their First Amendment right, but there should be exceptions to this when the handling of other similar cases, the impact on the victim, and the increase in bullying as a whole because

According to i-SAFE Ventures, “the damage done by cyber bullies is no less real [than in-person bullying], and can be infinitely more painful,” (Cyber). This could be due to the fact that the victim is reading the cyber bully’s words in their own voice, not the bully’s. For many people, things in their own voice seem to hold more truth because it feels as though that is their opinion. The impact of something in one’s own voice also lasts longer. When these two effects are combined, they can have a serious impact on the mental health of an individual. This result can be significant in an individual’s life, and the person that caused it should be held accountable. Cyberbullying is also “all too familiar with students,” with “42% of kids [reporting that they] have been bullied while online” (Cyber). However, “58% [of these victims] have not told their parents” about the cyberbullying they have experienced (Cyber). Due to the fact that there are not significant regulations regarding cyberbullying, victims may not feel that reporting it is necessary because not much can be done anyway. This implies that victims are internalizing their feelings, which can be more harmful to them than if they were to talk about it. Finally, cyberbullying “can cause a variety of reactions in teens”, from “[r]eporting the problem” to “[s]eeking revenge on the bully”

This is demonstrated in the cartoon, “Cyberspace Bullying”, which depicts a teacher talking about preventing cyberbullying as one of her students is running to bully another student in person (Wilcox). The cartoon is a statement that no matter what regulations are put in place, some form of bullying will still occur. However, cyberbullying is generally more common than in-person bullying. A cause of this could be the fact that “cyberbullies… think they are anonymous” (Cyberbullying). When a person thinks they cannot be caught, they are more likely to do worse than they would in person, where they could be seen. If cyberbullying had more regulations, cyberbullies would most likely be more afraid of getting caught and do it less. In addition, what cyberbullies do can be more underhanded than what in-person bullies do. Cyberbullies can “[p]retend they are other people”, “[t]rick people into revealing personal information”, and “[p]ost pictures of [their] victims” (Cyberbullying). In person, those things are very difficult to do but online, they are not hard at all. Things like these could be considered stealing information, which is against the law, so in this case cyberbullying should also be