When we hear “bullying,” an image of shoving, yelling, and crying usually comes to mind. This may have been the case years ago, but for teenagers today, bullying comes in cyber form. According to a 2016 report from the Cyberbully Research Center, 33.8% of students between the ages of 12 and 17 were victims of cyberbullying. Conversely, 11.5% of students between the ages of 12 and 17 indicated that they had engaged in cyberbullying at some point. These statistics indicate that cyberbullying has grown as a prevalent issue that teens face today.
While bullying used to occur in the hallways or on the sidewalk, it’s not so simple anymore. Online bullies are people that victims cannot just walk away from or ignore, because they have the ability to harass victims in an unconfined space. There is no escape; since social media has become the new social interaction, walking away from the media seems to be the equivalent of giving up a social life entirely. When a teen makes the decision to continue to be cyberbullied, they are unknowingly making a very dangerous choice.
The consequences of cyberbullying can be detrimental to a teen’s emotional health, and can negatively impact the choices made by a victim on a day to day basis. Perpetrators can exploit the youth, influence them to make bad decisions, or simply make them feel vulnerable and insecure. Often, if an adolescent is being cyberbullied, it leads to emotional and psychological distress that can cause mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression. This build up of frustration can lead to self harm, which allows the brain to release dopamine, a “happy” chemical that blocks away emotional pain for a short while, but ultimately buries anger and depression deeper within. For many, cyberbullying derails them in their educational paths and can lead to self destructive behavior. Additionally, many that are victims go on to be perpetrators of cyberbullying later in life.
As technology continues to develop, cyberbullies will find new ways to harass and be emotionally destructive towards their victims. However, methods of combating those bullies are developing as well. Different apps and plug-ins can be utilized to immediately block online threats and messages from potential predators. Some examples include the “Find Help” application on Facebook, an app called “Destructive Issues” that guides parents and teens to avoid online predators, and even an app called “Professor Garfield Cyberbullying” that teaches young children to be able to identify threatening online behavior and stay out of harm’s way.
The best thing that we can do as a community of teens is talk about it. Considering that almost one in two teens engage in cyberbullying as either the victim or the perpetrator, it should be a widely discussed topic; yet, cyberbullying is ignored and continues to go undealt with while it grows as an obstacle for teens. Encouraging and demonstrating healthy discussion will open doors for the teens that are hiding their stories and their pain. Here, you can find a safe place to discuss the topic anonymously and amongst peers.
