Putting an End to Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is bullying that occurs over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying often takes place through SMS, Text, and apps. It commonly occurs through social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, partake in, or share content that is negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. Cyberbullying can harm the online reputation of everyone involved. The StopBullying.gov website lists how Cyberbullying is unique compared to other forms of bullying. Cyberbullying is persistent, permanent, and hard to notice. It is persistent because "digital devices offer an ability to immediately and continuously communicate 24 hours a day, so it can be difficult for children experiencing cyberbullying to find relief." It is permanent because "most information communicated electronically is permanent and public and a negative online reputation, including for those who bully, can impact college admissions, employment, and other areas of life." It is hard to notice because "teachers and parents may not overhear or see cyberbullying taking place, it is harder to recognize."  The statistics on how many children experience cyberbullying are astonishing. The Security.org website highlights the statistic studying the parents of children between the ages of 10 to 18, 21 percent of children have been cyberbullied, and 44 percent of all internet users in the U.S. said they have experienced online harassment. Cyberbullying is unacceptable and needs to be put to an end. 

Cartoon Image of a girl sitting on a laptop
 on her knees, with her hands covering her face. On the laptop
with her is an orange cat, and a phone with scrambled
 words coming out of it in a text message bubble.
 Coming out of the computer screen is five arms,
pointing a finger at the girl. A boy in an orange sweatshirt
 and sunglasses is also coming out of the screen, pointing
 his finger at her, with a speech bubble coming from the
 boy with scrambled letters. Surrounding the girl
is chat bubbles with a thumbs down, sad face and
heartbreak emoticon. 

Cyberbullying can be hard to detect but it is not impossible. Working in Education, Teachers and administrators should be familiar with warning signs of a child being cyberbullied or who is cyberbullying others. Some of the signs include noticeable increases or decreases in device use, including texting, a child exhibiting emotional responses (laughter, anger, upset) to what is happening on their device, a child hiding their screen or device when others are near, and avoids discussion about what they are doing on their device, social media accounts are shut down or new ones appear, a child starts to avoid social situations, even those that were enjoyed in the past, and a child becomes withdrawn or depressed, or loses interest in people and activities. I have experienced an indirect form of cyberbullying. While I was playing on the softball team at The University of Tennessee, a forum was brought to my attention by another teammate, and its only purpose is to talk badly about The University's athletes. There are forums about every sport. I am speaking directly about the softball forum and how unnecessary comments about body weight, appearances, and personal lives, that had nothing to do with performance were often said on the site. The comments were also filled with negative and hateful comments whenever we lost, made errors, not had our best games, and had any way to pick and tear us apart, they would. It was always so surprising to me because the people who are hiding behind these screens tearing girls who are 18-22 years apart are supposedly our biggest fans.  It directly affected me because I found myself going through the forum after every game, praying that my name was not mentioned.  However, I was reading all of the negative about my teammates and best friends. I was consistently checking it in an unhealthy way. Another way cyberbullying has affected me is receiving hate comments on my TikToks. I posted a video that went viral, which got 1.8 million views. That video alone got me from 100 followers to 12.1 thousand followers on TikTok. While it was exciting that I was receiving attention with likes and follows, the number of hate comments I got was absurd. That same video had 885 comments on it and probably 600 of those were negative and hurtful things. After a while, I had to stop reading the comments because it was altering my days. I would want to know what people were saying about me and it was starting to affect me in every way. Over time with posting more videos, I had to realize that people are cowards who hide behind a screen and will say anything to try and bring a human being down to make themselves feel better. Cyberbullying hurts and can tear people apart. Technology and social media are going to continue to grow, we need to find a way to spread more awareness and put an end to cyberbullying for everyone's sake.