I plan to do a digital story on the effects of cyber
bullying on people especially teens. This is a major problem in our society
today and needs to remain in the spotlight no matter how much publicity it may
get from time to time. I plan on using a multimedia source but am unsure as to
which I wish to use for they are all very good. However I am doing the final
steps in finalizing my decision for the best source. Bullying, ignorance, hatred,
and discrimination over various things have been issues faced by people
forever. While these problems are not new, they have never been appropriate.
However there have been times in history when people tend to turn a blind eye
to it or feel that they can get away with it in an easier fashion due to
certain circumstances. Because of ideas similar to these, man has entered a new
age of discriminating one another. Through technology people can harass, humiliate,
demean, and drive people to the point of no return. No longer do people even
need to be face to face to in order to say rude things or harass them. Now
people can do this with a few clicks on the keyboard of their very own home
computer or cellular device. This has caused much havoc for many people especially
those in their teens (including myself.) There is nothing worse than have
hateful and rude things said to you and not having any way to stop it especially
since those who are saying these things are not even around to take
accountability. Sure sometimes they make an effort to let you know who it is so
at least there is a face to the comments. But in so many instances people will
do it anonymously in order to preserve their own identity while making
their victims life hell. This issue has become an epidemic. According to
bullying statistics (.org) approximately at least half of all teens have
experienced bullying of some sort via technology with one in three getting actual
threats of violence. In another study by do something (.org) the majority of teens
said they felt that they couldn’t get in trouble or could get out of trouble in
an easier fashion than if the bully bullied the victim in real life. And since
bullies feel this sense of safety they do it all the more in the most rude and repulsive
manners possible and for them any issue is fair game. Gender, Race, ethnicity,
body type, sexual orientation, income, and looks amongst other things are all
acceptable to bully about. In some instances, it may be true that the children
were raised but parents with similar ideas therefore they reflect those
opinions in school; however this ignorance is only partially to blame and only
true in some situations. If children and teens continue these ideas and actions
they may very well continue to act as bullies in their adult lives which can
start the cycle all over again if they ever have kids. Another sad issue with
bullying is when the victims feel they are totally alone and have no ulterior
purpose in life than to get bullied. This unfortunately drives many young victims
to commit suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people
and was shown in a studies done by Yale and England that the majority of
suicides were related to bullying and victims of bullying were more likely to
commit suicide. This is the final point as to why I think this is a critical
issue that deals with digital media and social justice, because the point at
which a person can drive another to feel they are insignificant enough to take
their own life then there is a major problem going on.
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