Cyber Bullying

Each year, cyber bullying affects one-half of the children ranging from ages 6-18. According to most studies, girls are the main cause of the bullying. In 2008, middle school students were surveyed and the majority of the students that had been cyber bullied were also bullied in school. Cyber bullying can consist of many different things. The most common thing is sending mean, vulgar, or threatening messages to other people to hurt them. A lot of time, other students will post mean, sensitive things or lies about a person on a public website.

Facebook is only one of the few places where cyber bullying occurs. Cyber bullying can also happen through emails, instant messaging, blogs, chat rooms, text messages and phone calls, and also even video chatting. A lot of times, teens and children will make up fake people and harass the other person. Because the children being bullied actually might think that the made up person is actually real, the affect of the bullying may make kids feel that they don’t want to go to school andmake them very upset.                                                                            

A survey on the affects of cyber bully/victims showed that these kids had the highest rate of anxiety, depression, and school absences. The kids that were not the victims of the bullying were shown to have the highest self-esteem, good grades, and the fewest symptoms of health problems.

A lot of times the kids that are doing the bullying don’t get away with it. 75% of the time, the people get caught. If you’re being cyber-bullied the best thing to do is to save everything and tell the school immediately. Hopefully, the school will be able to figure out who did it and they will stop the child from continuing. Also, just because people do it to you doesn’t mean you can do it to other kids. Stop the bullying!