Bullying in Social Media - Research Paper Example

Bullying in social media and the effect it has on people The idea of social media invention was the most innovative social response to the need for convenience in human interactions. Thus, when the social media phenomenon came to be, everyone was excited about it, owing to the fact that it offered the most convenient channel of connecting with family and friends, as well tracing old friends and distant relatives that people had not interacted with for quite a while. However, it was not known that the social media platforms would become the ultimate and most dominant source of frustration and depression in the modern society (MSU, 27). The most recent statistics related to cyber bullying have pointed to a very worrying social trend that is associated with the social media usage. According to the 2014 cyber bullying statistics, 70% of the youths globally are being bullied through social media, while 37% of them are experiencing highly frequent bullying (Bullyingstatistics.org, n.p.). Additionally, according to a recent report released by the joint task force of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), the victims of social media bullying are increasingly showing signs of poor peer relationships, increased anxiety, poor academic performance, psychological instabilities, self-harm tendencies and suicidal thoughts (Gleeson, 5). Nevertheless, it is not only the victims who are negatively affected, since the cyber bullies are increasingly showing behavioral anomalies. The statistics on the effects of social media bullying are even running from alarming to totally terrifying. For example, the recent data on the implications of social media bullying, such as the one reported by the Megan Meier Foundation, indicated that 29% of the social media bullying victims, and 38% of the frequently cyber-bullied victims reported either suicidal thoughts or suicidal attempts (Megan Meier Foundation, n.p.). The stroke that breaks the camel’s back is the evidence that suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death for young people between the age of 15-24 years (Megan Meier Foundation, n.p.). It is when such realities start to dawn on the society that the society finally realizes that a tool that was first meant to enhance social welfare, can turn into a destructive social weapon, which eats the society from within, in a manner that cannot be easily mitigated. At this point it becomes necessary to pause and ask; why is social media bullying such and pandemic for the modern society? The answer to this question is that statistics have indicated that the prevalence and magnitude of social media bullying on the emotions and psychological state of the victim accounts for 23% of all the mental instabilities reported, compared to traditional bullying which only accounts for 4% (Gleeson, 7). Secondly, the truth of the matter has been that; while it is easy for a victim of traditional physical bullying to run away from the oppressor, it is virtually impossible for the victims of social media bullying to run away from it, owing to the fact that the social media bullying almost always translates into physical bullying. In addition, school lasts only a few hours and children are back home again engaging in social media interaction and other forms of information technology tools. This means that the chances of a child, young person or even the adults falling victim of social media bullying is very high, compared to the chances of becoming a victim of physical and other forms of traditional bullying (Goldblum and Espelage, 41). Between the use of social media platforms, gaming websites, phones and computer and video games, children presently seem to have a wide array of interaction through these mediums, compared to the nature of interaction with each other (MSU, 12). The more they engage in the social media and other technological tools, the more such children are becoming withdrawn from the normal social interactions, meaning that they have higher chances of becoming depressed and stressed out, than in the traditional society where most of the child interaction was the direct involvement with each other or with their families and friends. What this means is that even when such children are faced with difficult and very depressing situations, they do not normally turn to their peers or their friends and family, since physical social interaction has been limited by the prevalence of the social media use (Bullyingstatistics.org, n.p.). The effect is that when such children or even adults are bullied on the social media platforms, they immediately turn into taking very drastic measures, such as turning into aggressors themselves as a means of defending themselves, or even contemplating self-harm or suicide (Megan Meier Foundation, n.p.). Thus, the society is increasingly growing towards high anxiety, depression, loneliness and unhappiness, which in turn is increasing other mental and health conditions such as lack of sleep (Gleeson, 22). The reason social media bullying is having such a huge impact on the modern society is that social media bullying comes with a lot of shame. This then requires the victims to enter into a period of self-protection and self-defense, as opposed to the other traditional forms of bullying, where the family, friends or even the law enforces would be called upon to intervene and help defend the victim. Therefore, the victims of social media are largely affected because they have to deal with the bullying on their own, and it is only when the bullying has become runaway that they tend to seek the intervention and help of their closest friends or family members. The problem is that by then, things have already gone terribly wrong and reversing the mental, emotional and psychological states of the victim of the social media bullying back to their normal form is virtually impossible (Goldblum and Espelage, 47). The embarrassment and low-self esteem that is caused by social media bullying does not only make the victims lonely, quieter and reserved, but also affects their other aspects of life such as the confidence levels and courage to deal with hard situations. The overall effect is that social media bullying is increasingly affecting the growth and development of children and young people, since they cannot perform optimally in their social or education life, where such children and young people tend to get more ingredients for personal growth and development. The other question that has always plagued the social media bullying pandemic is; why is this form of bullying so prevalent, yet it is very easy to control it through personal discipline? The major problem with social media, which makes it almost uncontrollable, is the fact that there is an option to hide behind the screen of the internet and do thing anonymously (MSU, 36). Therefore, it does not matter eve if a person would know everyone in their social media page, there are still chances that such a person can be bullied, since there is the option of people posting on their pages or walls anonymously. Gleeson (2014), observes that it would be easier to deal with the real threat of a physical bullies who can be to identify easily, as opposed to dealing with the threat of anonymity, which does not only terrify in the nature of the messages sent, but also in the fathoming of the intent and identity of the threatening person (Gleeson, 12). The anonymous nature of social media and cyber bullying does not only make the life of an individual unsafe when on the streets, but also when in the house, at school, while shopping and even when sleeping. The threat of social media bullying is so much real, that it does not allow the victim a moment to feel a little secure as would happen with traditional physical bullying, where at least an individual would feel safe when in the house. The problem of social media bullying or cyber bullying is relentless and so persistent, such that an individual lives to wonder at all times, whether the problem will ever stop (Megan Meier Foundation, n.p.). Additionally, the threat of social media transcends the emotional and the psychological threats, due to the fact that a victim of social media bullying has higher chances of getting involved in physical confrontations, in the process of trying to defend against more harassment. Therefore, the reporting of the incidences of social media bullying or cyber bullying to the authorities is at its minimum, with statistics showing that it is only 10% of all teenagers who have been cyber-bullied that reported the incidence to their parents, while only 20% of very serious and highly risky social media or cyber bullying incidences have been reported to the law enforcement authorities (bullyingstatistics.org, n.p.). The decision not to report the social media bullying incidences, and rather opt to stay away from further harassment also causes the victims of social media bullying to constantly isolate themselves from the rest of the peer groups, whether at school or at home. However, to the victims, that is the only way through which the effect of the bullying can be dealt with. This becomes even more problematic, since such victims will soon sink down into depression, which then causes them to start having self-harm thoughts or even contemplating suicide (Megan Meier Foundation, n.p.). The depression, isolation and loneliness that comes with depression does not only end at that, but proceeds to generate other secondary vices, such as drug and alcohol abuse for the victims of the social media bullying (Gleeson, 17). This is because; when the social media victims are bullied and harassed to the point of developing high-level stress or depression, they are left with very few options but to seek ways of escaping and forgetting the mental torture and psychological and emotional torment that comes with the bullying. Therefore, it is not surprising that 63% of the cyber and social media bullying have reported being involved in alcohol, drug and substance abuse (bullyingstatistics.org, n.p.). The relationship between cyber or social media bullying and drug and substance abuse is intermediated by the need for isolation of the victim from the rest of the society. Further, the self-image and the self-esteem of a victim of social media bullying is already injured, such that the victims are no longer confident in themselves. Therefore, turning into alcoholism or drug and substance abuse does not always come as an option for the victims of cyber bullying or social media bullying, but as an only option for escaping the reality of the mental and psychological suffering they go through (Goldblum and Espelage, 29). Considering that the victims of social media bullying will almost always experience physical bullying from the friends, classmates or other people who are able to access their social media platforms, such people will often turn into isolation. With the isolation comes loneliness and with loneliness, the urge to overcome the suffering through avenues such as alcohol and drug abuse. Nevertheless, the effect of social media bullying is not uniform for all victims. This is because, the effect of the bullying on the victims depend on several, factors, such as the means of social media bullying and the length of the period of being bullied, or even the frequency with which an individual is bullied. Thus, a study undertaken to evaluate the effect of cyber bullying in Ireland indicated that the victims who were bullied through means such as pictures and videos were more likely to be harmed than those bullied through other means such as text messages (Gleeson, 29). The effect of the social media bullying on the victims who are constantly bullied or those who are bullied through visual forms is likely to be bigger and long-standing, compared to those who are bullied through other non-visual forms or those who are bullied for just a short period of time. The major difficulty however comes in when social media bullying translates and overlaps with physical and other forms of traditional bullying such as verbal insults (MSU, 45). It is such an occurrence that becomes more devastating for the victims of bullying, so much so that there is a high likelihood of self-harm or suicide. Statistics have indicated that the victims of social media bullying, which also translated into physical or other forms of traditional bullying are 50% more likely to contemplate suicide or self-harm than those who are bullied through the social media alone (Gleeson, 30). The effect of social media on the mental health of the victims is also devastating. Another study that was undertaken to establish the difference between the mental health effect caused by traditional bullying and the mental health problems caused by social media bullying indicated that the victims of social media bullying had higher chances of experiencing prolonged anxiety, depression and problems with social relationships (Gleeson, 27). The correlation between social media bullying and high rates of mental health problems certainly draws from the fact that the victims of social media bullying will rarely seek for intervention as would be the likely case for the victims of traditional bullying. Consequently, there is a high likelihood that the victims of social media bullying will experience the stress, depression and frustration that is associated with bullying for extended periods compared to the victims of traditional bullying, resulting in higher chances of suffering from mental health problems (Gleenson, 63). Nevertheless, the study also reported that once the victims reported having many genuine friends, they would not be adversely affected by the mental health problems, as much as would happen with the victims who had few supportive friends. The effectiveness of law is limited in addressing the social media bullying epidemic due to the issue of anonymity. Thus, the support of family and friends to the victims of cyber bullying and social media bullying is paramount, to enable them overcome the negative emotional, psychological and mental consequences of being bullied and harassed. Works Cited Bullyingstatistics.org. “Cyber Bullying Statistics”, 2014. Web February 26, 2015. Accessed: http://nobullying.com/cyberbullying-bullying-statistics-2014-finally/ Gleeson, Helen. Literature Review: The Prevalence and Impact of Bullying Linked To Social Media on the Mental Health and Suicide Behavior of Young People. Department of Education and Skills and the National Office for Suicide Prevention, 2014. 1-84. Print. Goldblum, Peter, and Dorothy L. Espelage. Youth Suicide and Bullying: Challenges and Strategies for Prevention and Intervention. , 2015. Print. Megan Meier Foundation. Bullying, Cyberbullying & Suicide Statistics, 2014. Web February 26, 2015. Accessed: http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/statistics.html Michigan State University (MSU). The New Bullying: How Social Media, Social Exclusion, Laws and Suicide Have Changed Our Definition of Bullying, and What to Do About It. Canton, Mich: Read the Spirit Books, 2012. Print. Read More