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CYBERBULLYING: VIRTUAL ACTIONS THAT CAUSE REAL PAIN

Does the name Amanda Todd ring a bell? In 2011, Amanda sent a nude picture to someone

she had met online. The man posted the picture on Facebook and it went viral, creating an

uncontrollable mass of bullying and teasing. Amanda was 15 when after a whole year of

endless humiliation she decided to kill herself. Just like Amanda, thousands of teens and

kids suffer from the horrible effects of constant bullying through social media. It is true that

bullies have always been around, but social media has given them a whole new platform for

their actions: cyberbullying. Social media has “echoed and amplified” bullying thanks to

the possibility of anonymity and the possibility of sharing a harmful action with a

worldwide audience.

One of the aspects of social media that has favored the spread of bullying is the possibility

of anonymity, because bullies feel free to hurt and think they cannot get caught. Since

Internet came up, people have been able to communicate from the safety of anonymity

behind a screen. Anonymity has allowed unscrupulous cyberbullies to be detached from the

statements they make and from the people whose lives they ruin, making it easier for

bullies to harm and harass their victims. As reported by

HidingBehindtheScreens.wordpress.com, “It is unfortunate that social media sites have

become a platform for bullies to harass, manipulate and humiliate. In fact, the entire

Internet has become a haven for bullies because anonymity makes them unaccountable for

their actions and virtually impossible to confront face-to-face.” Cyberbullies do not face the

tension or the empathy that sometimes appear in face-to-face interactions and can limit

bullying. Behind the screen there is no shame, no limits. They can be as cruel and hurting

as they wish. As stated in NoBullying.com, “Hiding behind an Internet screen can give

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users a power they didn’t have before. It is too easy to say something you wouldn’t say to

someone else if they were standing right in front of you.” Facebook’s marketing director

Randi Zuckerberg expressed: “I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away. People

behave a lot better when they have their real names down… People hide behind anonymity

and feel like they can say whatever they want behind closed doors.” Through social media,

it has turned easier for treacherous cyberbullies to aggravate and distress their victims.

Another aspect of social media that has benefited the spread of bullying is that the public

humiliation can be witnessed and shared by a worldwide audience. Face-to-face bullying

was limited to the bully, the victim and the onlookers only. Now, with social media, cruel

messages, rumors posted on social networking sites, embarrassing pictures and videos can

be shared hastily with an unlimited number of persons that can also take part in the

harassment, outing, stalking or flaming. Cyberbullying can start as one person hurting

another and turn into a whole group of spiteful people deliberately attacking someone else.

According to Kidshelp.com, cyberbullying “has the potential to involve public humiliation

or embarrassment across a wide viral audience and it is enduring in nature.” In addition,

Kidshelp.com states that the bullying behavior can be “invasive. Cyberbullies can infiltrate

the victim's home and privacy through the use of the internet and mobile phone.”

Psychologytoday.com claims that “people can quickly spread a rumor through texting,

taping an embarrassing incident and posting it on YouTube, or uploading pictures or

unkind comments on social networking sites. One wrong click has the power to change

someone's life forever.” Social media has made it possible for bullies to take humiliation

and embarrassment to an astronomical level in no time at all.

All in all, we could see how the anonymity and the possibility of humiliating someone at an

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international level- something that social media makes possible-, have made it easier for

bullies to hurt people. Cyberbullies transcend the geographical, physical and temporal

limits that face-to-face interactions can enforce. Massive, constant cyberbullying can have

disturbing implications for the victims. It is pivotal that we prevent both face-to-face and

online bullying, rising awareness, developing policies and programs, and educating

children on the disastrous effects that their actions and words can have on their peers.