Online Bullying
Introduction
We all live in a world that has technology that advances as the years go by. Because of this technology, children and young children are using social media networks to interact with each other. For example, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc… With all these interactions we can choose from, they affect our behaviors and thoughts. With social media, it is easy for issues to arise and cause social issues. For instance, online bullying or better known as Cyberbullying. In this paper I will be proposing a solution to this social issue by applying the cognitive social learning personality theory to explain human behavior that is related to this social issue of online bullying. Bullying is when a person decides to harm, belittled, or intimidate another person due to either how the person looks, acts or because the person is vulnerable.
Description
The issue that I wanted to propose a solution for is Online bullying or better known as Cyberbullying, it has advanced ever since social media platforms have formed with technology into the social focal point in young children’s lives. Like for instance Myspace, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, etc. Bullying has been around for a long time and a lot of children are losing their lives over getting bullied and nothing being done about it. Nowadays technology is way more advanced then it was back in the 1999s and the 2000s compared to today in 2019. The social media networks have come to surface and make online bullying easy for anyone to do. The issue is that children are using social media networks to bully and put down their peers at school and the people they know. To basically socially embarrass others to make their-self look better or feel better.
And the people who are getting bullied online are the ones who are suffering and committing suicide all over the world. Technology makes it easy for children to be able to bully anyone and say whatever they want in the computer world for any and for everyone to see (Olweus, & Limber, 2018). Anyone can use Technology (Social media networks) at any time of the day and no matter what they say it can be posted for millions of people to see it and comment on the post and give their opinion. Social media networks are not monitored on a daily and anyone can say anything on them no matter if it hurts someone or takes a life of a human being. This social issue is a huge issue in my book and I’m sure to other people as well. cyberbullying is a part of the student life nowadays; Students live in a world where technology is the main form of communication. Technology is a place where cyberbullying is more anonymous and insidious than the original bullying.
Technology has contributed to this issue’s development by schools not being able to control or monitor cyberbullying when it is being done at the children’s home and out of school bounds. A lot of this cyberbullying is happening on children’s own devices. With all these children having computers, tablets, smartphones etc. all these resources can get onto these different social media networks where all the cyberbullying is happening. Children nowadays are capable to multitask with various technology devices outside school and inside school and at home.
Explanation
The human behavior that is related to the online social engagement and learning to online bullying is most of the people who do cyberbullying are doing it because they have a need of a behavior in a bad manner. People that bully others have reactions to their environments by their own emotions, thoughts and mental processes. They tend to feel as though it is fun to bully others online and it may make them popular at school. Bullying someone can also make them feel powerful. The people who get bullied feel angry, sad and start to be depressed due to the online bullying. There are a lot of children that get bullied at school and online and all have different behaviors to why they bully their peers online and after children get bullied online or at school, they start to show behaviors that may reflect that something is going on at school or at home on the online world. About 49.5% of students said that they have been bullied online and 33.7% of students said that they have bullied someone online. People who bully others show that the reason why they choose to do this behavior is coming from an issue with in themselves.
They have learned to observe the person they are bullying to see what bothers them and the things they like or dislike. They observe the person and bully them based off on the things that will embarrass or hurt the victim. They also show behaviors of imitating the bully victim by copying others who have bullied this person before. By imitating past bullies to bully the victim in a worse or the same way they got bullied before. The person bullying people engages in social media and gives other people the chance to add their input on bullying the victim (Wolke, Lee, & Guy, 2017). By socially embarrassing the victim, the bully soon figures out what behaviors they can act out to make the victim feel down and the person bullying the victim learns things about the victim and knows how to make them feel embarrassed and not wanted or a feeling of worthiness.
Due to children getting bullied inside and outside the classroom, some children don’t tell a parent or a teacher and that can lead to behaviors that cause a child to committing suicide. The reason why people commit suicide due to these behaviors of being bullied is because children feel alone, and they feel the need to let the bully get the upper hand, because if they feel like the bully cannot be stopped, they resort to depression, anxiety and even worse killing their self. The behaviors of the person being an online bully is if they don’t get caught, their behavior is to do it. Because they have not got caught and they feel like if they can get away with it once, they can continue to do it and not get caught. But once the bully learns that they have got caught they stop bullying people, because they know the consequences of being caught for committing behaviors of being an online bully or a bully in general.
Reasons
This social issue is so big in society because there are so many people being bullied or being bullies (Campbell, 2015). Especially in elementary school through middle school. Social influences of bullying are due to attitudes and behaviors of the people who choose to be bullies. Their environment and the people they are around can influence this kind of behavior. Like for instance, A young child in elementary school that is around mean and people who are bullies, they tend to do the same behavior as the people around them. Society has two choices to either choose to ignore it or do something about it, in which means to stop it. There are many reasons on why people bully others. Either the person is being bullied about their age, race, appearance, sexual orientation, and their religion affiliation (p. 4). A huge reason on why bullying is such a big issue in society is because half the time it happens it is either ignored or not handled in the right manner, for it to not happen again.
I think that society does not know how to prevent it, because some people don’t know how to identify bullying. Another reason for this social issue in society is that bullies are strong and them being bullies means that they are psychologically weak, because they are desperate and a coward because of their behavior they show when they are being a bully (Lee, & Shin, 2017). I think that society needs to figure out a solution to permanently change the influences that spark the behaviors of a bully that cause people to perceive death on themselves. A big factor in the influences of being a bully are the persons society and their parents. If a person is taught to hate a certain race or religion that person will be influenced to hate and treat others with bad behaviors.
Application
I am proposing possible solutions for this issue and the solutions that I have decided to incorporate in this issue is stemming from cognitive factors that shape how people react to their environmental forces. Like for example, if a child is around an environment that shows children how to deal with bullying or the consequences of being a bully. A person’s goals and personal standards play a huge role in one’s personality and someone who has decided to be a bully based on their environmental factors. Instead of pushing online or Cyberbullying under the rug I am proposing solutions to prevent online or Cyberbullying by creating a cyber safe online course that students and people can take to be able to identify online or Cyberbullying.
Students and people need to learn the importance of using their own devices in the right manner and making sure parents and teachers are monitoring children when they are using their own devices inside and outside school. Someone with authority also needs to make it well known to young children that are using technology about the ethical behaviors that are a part of the cyber world. Ethical behaviors are effective and let’s one know of all the attributes of being honest, fair, equality, dignity, diversity and individual rights. All students need to learn about how to prevent bullying and educate themselves on bullying. Also, to show students the laws on the state and policies on bullying. Another way schools can prevent online bullying is restricting certain websites on student devices. Meaning creating a safe environment for children at school. Because the only way one can stop online bullying is by showing that this behavior can have serious consequences for the person who is being a bully.
References
Campbell, M. A. (2015). Cyber bullying: An old problem in a new guise? Australian journal of Guidance and Counselling, 15(1), 68-76.
Olweus, D., & Limber, S. P. (2018). Some problems with cyberbullying research. Current opinion in psychology, 19, 139-143.
Lee, C., & Shin, N. (2017). Prevalence of cyberbullying and predictors of cyberbullying perpetration among Korean adolescents. Computers in human behavior, 68, 352-358.
Wolke, D., Lee, K., & Guy, A. (2017). Cyberbullying: a storm in a teacup?. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 26(8), 899-908.