​ LETS STOP: CYBERBULLYING

For those who don’t know what cyberbullying is well cyber bullying is a form of bullying or

harassment using electronic forms of contact. Cyber bullying has been a big issue in teens

nowadays. There are 20 percent of kids that are cyberbullied that think about committing

suicide,and one in 10 attempted it. About 4,500 kids commit suicide every year. I believe that the

better way for cyber bullying to stop is for there ​to be a law preventing cyber bullying because

with a law preventing cyber bullying there would be less teen suicide, less drug abuse in

teens, and there academic performance would be better.

A bullied teen killed herself infront of her family. Vella was an 18-year old girl who

committed suicide by putting a gun to her chest while her family begged her not to. “ people

would make fake Facebook accounts and they would message her and she wouldn’t respond and

they will still come at her,” said Jackie, one of Vella’s sister (Hassen 2016). Vella’s older sister

also said that “they would say really mean things like why you still here?, they would call her fat

and ugly and on the fake accounts they would say that she offered sex for free. She was

beautiful; the only thing people would find to pick on her was her weight” (Hassen 2016).

Because Vella was relentlessly bullied she was just tired of people picking on her. She was hurt

emotionally that led her to taking her own life. The pages of the fake accounts were reported and

deleted it but a few days later they were created again. She could had been alive if there was a

law preventing cyber bullying.

Another example of cyber bullying would be about a tennager who hanged herself I her

home. Amando would use video chat to meet new people online since the seventh grade, when

one day a stranger convinced her to show her breasts on camera. But the stranger attempted to
use the photo to blackmail Amanda, and the pictures began to circulate on the internet, the

stranger even made a Facebook account including the topless pictures as the profile image. “The

internet stalker she flashed kept stalking her,” said Amanda’s mother. She also said that “every

time she moved school he would undercover and become a Facebook friend.” Amanda couldn’t

handle what she was going through and killed herself. These teens shouldn’t go through all of

that. Even bullying in general Causes teens to commit suicide. Many teens decide that the right

way to end their pain and what they going through is through suicide. They don’t know who to

seek or how to ask for help so they make the wrong decision. That’s why there are many teens

committing suicide due to the lack of information about it.

Cyberbullying has even had an academic impact on the victims (Education News). By the

intense physiological stress, particular for more vulnerable children who are most often the

victims of cyberbullying, adversely affects a child’s ability to concentrate on schoolwork, school

lesson or activities. There’s more than 15,000 students that did not go to school because they felt

unsafe ( Education News). “Children who are cyberbullied often suffer from symptoms such as

anxiety, loneliness, and unhappiness. They may have trouble sleeping, focusing, or making

decisions. Their self esteem may seem low, or they may isolate themselves. In school, they may

drop out of extracurricular activities, they may not speak up in class they may not ask questions

due to fear, they may even isolate themselves at school, which can cause the issue to worsen.

Their performance in school also may drop, with many showing a decrease in grades. They may

resist on going to school, either by staying at home, or leaving school grounds after arrival,” said

Michael Nuccitelli ( Education News).

 Not just the ones that are cyberbullied do bad in school. Students who are bullied regularly

do substantially worse in school. “A high level of bullying was consistently associated with

lower grades across the three years of middle school. The students who were rated the

most-bullied performed substantially worse academically than their peers. Projecting the findings

on grade-point average across all three years of middle school, a one-point increase on the

four-point bullying scale was associated with a 1.5-point decrease in GPA for one academic

subject (e.g., math) a very large drop,” said Stuart Wolpert (Education News). “Students who are

repeatedly bullied receive poorer grades and participate less in class discussions. Some students

may get mislabeled as low achievers because they do not want to speak up in class for fear of

getting bullied. Teachers can misinterpret their silence, thinking that these students are not

motivated to learn,” said Jaana Juvonen (Education News). Who’s UCLA professor of

psychology and lead author of the study. “In previous research, Juvonen and her colleagues

found that nearly three in four teenagers were bullied online at least once during a recent

12-month period, and only one in 10 reported such cyberbullying to parents or other adults. The

probability of getting bullied online is substantially higher for those who have been the victims

of school bullying. Victims of bullying do not want to attend school and often do not,” Juvonen

said (Education News). Most of these teens have been struggling in school and home due to the

effects of cyberbullying and bullying in general. There needs to be a law preventing

cyberbullying so those kids do better in school and feel safe whenever they go without being

harassed.
 If there is a law preventing cyberbullying there would be less drug abuse. Bullied teens seek

comfort in alcohol and drugs. It says that the emotional impact of bullying can leave lasting

scars. Sadl, some teens turn to alcohol and drugs as as way to cope. In fact, students (grades 7

through 12) were 1.5 times more likely to abuse alcohol if they have been bullied (promises

2013). The evidence suggests that teens who drink in social settings. A treatment center called

promises said that “alcohol isn't the only substances bullying victims may abuse, smoking

cigarettes and using marihuana are also not uncommon (Promises 2013).” it is also said that 30

percent of high school victims who both bullied others and were bullied themselves smoked pot,

and only 13 percent of students not involved in bullying did so (Promises 2013).

There would also be less bullying in general. Not teens that are cyberbullied are the only

ones who think about committing suicide. There is a story about a teen who was bullied and she

decided to kill herself because she was tired of being bullied. The teen killed herself at a house

party after suffering weeks of abuse from jealous

bullies. Sarah clerkson, 14 year old, was found

unconscious in a bedroom and died shortly

afterwards in the hospital. Sarah moved schools

about six weeks ago after being bullied. She wrote

on facebook about how she was moving after

being hit by another girl, but her family said she

faced further bullying at her new school. When

Sarah went to the new school she was bullied for a week for being the new girl ( Harding 2013)
 In conclusion, with a law preventing cyberbullying and bullying many teens would stop

bullying or teens would not be bullied or cyberbullied. I feel like there's no point in bullying and

harassing other teens because of their looks or because of jealousy, hat has grown over the years.

There needs to be a stop in cyberbullying stand for others and make a difference in society.

There should be more security on the internet so fake account are able to be detected and deleted

before they start affecting a teenager. A law is needed for there to be control and more power to

stop cyberbullying.
 ​ Bibliography

● “Bullied Teen Seeks Comfort In Alcohol, Drugs.”Drug and Addiction Treatment Centers.

Promises , 26 June 2013.

● “Cyber Bullying And Academic Impact.” Education News, 22 Aug.2014

● “Cyberbullying Rampant on The Internet.” Cyberbully.

● Harding, Eleanor. Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 20 Dec.2013.

● Hassen, Carma. “Bullied Teen Kills Herself In Front Of Family.” CNN, Cable News

Network , 1 Dec.2016.