The Growing Problem of Cyberbullying-It Must Stop!

The Growing Problem of Cyberbullying--It Must Stop!

By Alexandra M. Richard

Since the early 1990’s when we were introduced to the World Wide Web,

cyberbullying has been a major issue when it comes to young adolescents’ safety and

web usage. The numbers for suicide based upon cyberbullying is a high number and is

continuously growing everyday. Many parents wish that they knew how to help their kids

when it was happening, but sadly they didn’t know what was happening on their

computers and phones until it was too late. Our society needs to address this growing

issue while also finding ways to help the victims taking their own lives because of words

on a screen.

In order to stop cyber bullying, we first need to know the signs to look for when it

comes to something like this. Cyber bullying doesn't just cause mental damage to a

person, physical changes occur as well. Such as a change in sleep patterns, eating

habits, and less physical activities. You just have to take the time out to recognize and

truly see these changes in victims of cyberbullying. Helping the victim right away can

make a big difference when it comes to any form of bullying. It would also help if social

media would pay attention more closely to what goes on with their users and portals.

Making sure your users are safe should be your main priority.

Another way to help victims of cyberbullying and to help prevent it from

happening in the first place would be to raise awareness and educate teens about this

issue. Another way to help victims of cyberbullying should talk about this growing

problem in classes and seminars. Now, more and more schools try to avoid things that

involve conflict until it’s too late. Even then, they don’t really get into the subject at hand.

We should have victims who have overcome cyberbullying talk to kids on how to stop it

before it goes too far, resulting in a young person taking their own life. The survivors

who have overcome this issue need a chance to share the following tips and advice:

Don't respond, Remember that bullies feed off of reactions, Don't retaliate, Save the

evidence, Talk to a trusted adult, Block the bully, Always be careful, Don’t be a bully, Be

a friend, not a bystander. If you know someone is being bullied help them. A lot of

people become bystanders because they're afraid the same might happen to them.When you talk to the victims, tell them that it’s not their fault. Let them know to reach out

to somebody they trust, ideally an adult, when the behaviors become problematic.

No one truly understands how bad cyberbullying is except the victim and the

ones around the victim--those directly affected by it. Cyber bullying doesn’t just affect

the victim, it affects everyone around them, and friends and family are often caught in

the crossfire. You have to remember this is a person and someone’s child. No parent

should feel like it’s their fault for their child's death. I’ve done research on how it has

personally affected a victim. An anonymous user told his story about how it never got

too far because their accounts were monitored to the point their accounts were deleted.

Another user states that she has a cousin who was instituted because of physical harm

caused by cyberbullying that wasn’t contained until it was too late. She now refuses to

use any form of social media.

Many say that it’s just words and that people should ignore it and not let it get to

them, but that still doesn’t make it okay for these bullies to hide behind a computer

screen and destroy another person

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