We can surely say that technology plays a significant part in our everyday life. Many modern technologies are designed to facilitate communication between people. However, besides allowing us easy communication with our family and friends, technology also allows us to meet tons of new people. Many websites, apps, or chat rooms offer us that opportunity with simply just instant messages. Basically, young people have the world at their hands, and they can create friendships and relationships with people they have never met in real life and get the opportunity to express themselves by sharing their ideas and thoughts, which can be especially good for young adults that live in rural areas, where there is a smaller community.
That opportunity can be truly great. However, technology also has many negatives, and one of the most common problems between students would be cyberbullying. Some essay examples about information science and technology state that technology “gives birth” to this problem and that it can become a real danger to some. Almost every college essays on information technology explains that cyberbullying happens when someone uses a computing device to humiliate, threaten or harass a person. However, it can happen in various ways, from hacking someone’s profile, negative comments, sharing pictures to constantly humiliating with messages, and even some people pretend that they are someone else, and use pictures from other people as a way to get to somebody, which can lead do dangerous online dating.
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From Cyberbullying to Cybercrime
There are always bullies that simply make fun of people, however in the earlier days, if that happened in educational facilities such as schools or colleges, the students had the opportunity to talk to their teachers and were able to get some help. Although getting protection against cyberbullying can be more difficult, particularly because it is hard to trace. Some people use computers or devices that are not their own or simply claim that they are not the source. However, in many cases, when a person is committing cyberbullying, that same person is also committing a criminal offense. Some of those crimes include posting explicit photos from someone, stalking, computer trespassing, etc. There are many cases of cyberbullying worldwide that become cybercrime by violating the existing laws.
The Danger of Cyber Bullying
This is a multi-faced issue, but the intention of the activity has the same purpose, to bring harm to people and hurt them. Therefore, this is not a light problem because it has many dangerous consequences for the victims.
First of all, it disturbs someone’s peace of mind. Some people start to feel inferior from the comments made about them and even experience depression and self-harm. It also causes many complexes and insecurities, and the person who is being bullied starts to have many self-doubts because when someone points out your insecurities, they start to enhance. And last but not least, Cyberbullying tarnishes the person’s image. It destroys their reputation by spreading false rumors about them. And even one false rumor can destroy a person’s life.
What Can You Do About Cyberbullying?
In many cases, people are afraid to talk about it or are not sure if they are being bullied or not. So they decide not do anything about it. But that needs to be changed. If you are bullied, teased, or harassed in any kind of hurtful way, or you know someone who is, then you should stop suffering in silence, and you should do something about it. You can start by simply reporting some of the upsetting messages, emails, posts, and texts to the police to teach the bully a lesson. Or do some of the following:
Tell Someone
The first thing you can do is to talk and open up to an adult that you trust. This may be hard because people who are bullied most of the time feel embarrassed to report the bully. But bullying can become worse as the days pass, so you need to speak up to be able to stop it. Sometimes adults are trying to protect their kids so much that they end up taking away their electronics such as phones or computers, so kids are afraid that if they say something, they may end up losing their privileges. So to make sure that doesn’t happen, explain to your parents that staying connected is very important and try to find a different solution that will not leave you bullied and punished at the same time.
Walk Away
Walking away and ignoring the bullies takes away their power, but it is not always easy to do it.
If something starts to upset you, you should try and turn off the computer or phone for a while, don’t respond, and don’t forward the message to someone else. Instead, find a distraction, do something you love, like playing music, watching a movie, or going for a run. That will take your mind of the things that happened. Taking this kind of break will allow you to focus on the good things in life, and it will give you time to think about how you can handle the problem.
Don’t Respond
Walking away will help you resist the urge to fire back or engage with the bullies. Responding when you are fired up can make things even worse. Not responding gives the power back to you. However, it is a good idea to save some of the evidence or all of them, so you can prove your case if needed. You don’t have to save copies where you can see them constantly. You can simply add them on a flash drive. And once you have your copies, you can simply block the bully from sending you messages.
Be Safe Online
Security while using technology can be the most important thing. Make sure to change your passwords often, and don’t share them with anyone. You also need to be wise and think about what kind of information, videos, or pictures you share and with whom. Because sometimes, the bully can be close to you or even a friend. Also Read – What Are Agents of Socialization?
Conclusion
Young people are spending more time online than ever. And in this complex world, they need help to embrace the positive things from technologies, and they also need support and help to be able to manage the negatives. So if you witness someone being Cyberbullied, make sure to offer them your full support, and if you are experiencing cyberbullying on yourself, then don’t be afraid to speak up.
