Reflection on The Rise of Cyber Bullying

Cyber bullying is another example of how people have been misusing or abusing the internet. The term cyber bullying is defined as the involvement of the usage of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others and from that we would know that it is like normal playground bullying except the consequences are much worst. It is present everywhere, and our country is not an exception, there have been several cases already and there is no denying the fact that the number of such cases is rising. If nothing is done to prevent the escalating rise of cyber bullying and we allow it to continue, then not only will things get out of hand, it may result in more innocent teenagers’ death.

I feel that not only should prevention of such occurrences be taught, counsellors or teachers should also touch on topics such as how to handle such situations or perhaps who they can turn to in an event of such. I believe that with the internet becoming an essential of everyday life, people, especially teenagers have the rights and the need to know these important points like how to prevent, handle and report about cyber bullying. Knowing these would allow them to be mentally prepared, if they become the next victim of those cyber bullies. At least they would not choose death as an answer but approach someone for help instead. Ryan Halligan, Gail Jones, Jeong Da-Bin and Yuni all had something in common; they were victims of cyber bullying. They were under immense mental pressure and tremendous mental stress, when they could not take it anymore, they lost all faith and chose to end their lives there, to end their misery. At this point, I feel that there is a need to point out that death will never be the answer to your problems, in fact, it causes more problems instead. Those poor innocent victims thought that by ending their lives, they also end their pain and misery but instead it caused their loved ones to lose someone important to them and show the culprit that they have given up and lost the war.
As cyber bullying is relentless, there is no escape and after reading the article, readers would know that not only are normal average people the targets of these bullies but even the celebrities are not spared from such.

These bullies do not target on a specific group, be it teenagers, adults or celebrities, the status of others is not a factor that decides who they would target, no matter who it may be it does not matter to them. Many of these bullies treat this as a “game” or a “war” which may be due to over-exposure to violent games; they bring their gaming mentality to the chat rooms and threaten their helpless victims. They think that those words that they typed are merely harmless as it is nothing physical, so no harm can be done to the other party. The actual fact is that even without physically bullying, the victim is still bruised by it on cyber space, only mentally. As this continues, the victim feels the pressure uprising and awfully stressed out too. I feel that some of these cyber bullies may be students who are constantly being bullied by older students in their school, so they turn to the virtual world to get even on someone else. But there are some who are in the business purely for the kicks and I think that is just disgusting. Those bullies feel empty when they are unable to bully but feel satisfied once they have bullied someone and regardless whether it is physical or cyber bullying. By doing so they prove to the others around them that they are not to be meddled with, but I honestly think it is nothing more than a fake front these people put up, to attract attention by hurting someone.

I feel really sorry for those parents who have lost their children to a bunch of cowards who use some username to represent them and misuse it by bullying others while they hide behind a screen and manage get away scott-free. They ought to be taught a lesson and remember it well because their actions on the internet have caused someone to lose a person so dear to his or her heart. Laws being passed and talks about cyber bullying for schools are signs that something is being done to reduce the rise of more cases, but I hope that with the help of modern technology, we will be able to find the real culprit for each of such cases and use something these bullies believed, could hide them forever, against them. I feel by punishing those culprits harshly, it would serve as a strong warning to others that cyber bullying will not be taken lightly and that if you commit the crime, you serve the time. Only then will the virtual world be much safer and a more friendlier place for everyone. We need to learn to use the internet wisely and not abuse it.

By: Sherilynn Loh (11)