Youth Culture: Cyber Bullying - Essay Example

Youth Culture: Cyber Bullying Problem ment Youth correlates with many subcultures that they often show in the way they dress, their attitude,and even to music. The youth cultures today are extremely exposed to the cyber world, such as using the internet. The internet is one of the ways that prove the evolution of technology. Many people would agree that using the internet makes life easier than before, especially to the youth. The advantages that the Internet provides to the users, whether for school, work and even to leisure times, prove the growth of technology. Despite all the advantages it provides, the growth of the Internet is also the growth of cyber bullying. Cyber Bullying became a social concern when the usage of the Internet is extremely high. There are many ways to use the internet. Hence, it provides people to use it for personal gains and even to bully the person they do not like. Bullying is already known to society even before the internet has become popular. When the usage of the internet booms, bullying gets into another level or term. Those people who want to bully someone do not need to bully them in front, but they get their way of bullying through the internet. Hence, the term “cyber bullying” became known. Literature Review/Discussion According to Hunter (2012), cyber bullying did not exist before 2000 (p. 8) but in the youth generation today, cyber bullying is rampant. The period which gives the technology to develop brought many benefits to the society, but it also brought dangers (Hunter, 2012, p. 8). Bullying is one of the problems that society faces. “Bullying is any activity that uses force or threats to persecute people and make them feel bad” (Hunter, 2012, p. 6). Though it can be traumatic to people who experienced it, they still know that they have a home they can consider a safe place. It is different when it comes to cyber bullying. Hunter (2012) noted that “there is no safe place to get away from it” (p. 56). Cyber Bullying became a social problem because the high rate of suicide and trauma effects to the victims is alarming. Compared to a normal bullying, cyber bullying is easier to do. For those people who want to look for their target, they just easily browse the internet, join any social networks such as facebook, then make terrible stories, and then the victim cannot even recognize or know the source of it. Through cyber bullying, they can bully their target without getting caught since they can use anonymous users. Hence, they can freely sabotage their target. These cyber bullies have their way of bullying by using emails, websites, and even text messages. Through these technological ways, the victims cannot easily escape even to their homes. In contrary, the methods used in bullying before are almost alike to those in cyber bullying. Hunter (2012) added, “In the past, the use of hurtful or threatening messages involved direct, spoken insults. In cyber bullying, harassment usually takes place in the form of electronic messages” (p. 6). Moreover, these cyber bullies affect the society in a way that it deals mostly to young generations. McQuade, Colt, and Meyer (2009) notes that even to some websites, there are lists of real life stories about cyber bullying (p. 1). “Cyber bullying occurs when a person uses IT to embarrass, harass, intimidate, threaten, or otherwise cause harm to individuals targeted for such abuse” (McQuade, Colt, & Meyer, 2009, p. 2). These days when personal computers and accessing websites became the daily hobby of the youth, it causes transformation to the youth culture. Their own personal time became the time to explore the cyber world. Thus, they are prone to cyber bullying. Shariff (2008) stated that there are two types of bullying (p. 19). One is the physical bullying wherein it includes beating, strangling, or shooting to cause harm (Shariff, 2008, p. 19). The other one is psychological bullying. This type of bullying deals with emotions and feelings of the victim (Shariff, 2008, p. 23). The cyber bullying is under the psychological bullying since most of the victims have low self-esteem and sensitive when it comes to their emotions and feelings. The targets of these bullies are mostly “pupils who are considered strange or different by their peers, making the situation harder for them to deal with” (Shariff, 2008, p. 10). These people, who are victims of cyber bullying, usually end up taking away their own lives. Their low self-esteem and experienced of continual embarrassment make them feel that killing themselves would end their sufferings. In relation, there are already professional workshops and presented laws to prevent and stop these cyber bullying. There are also interventions for the kids who experienced this kind of trauma (McQuade, Colt, & Meyer, 2009, p. 1). These are only proofs that society already is aware of such life-threatening practice -- cyber bullying. Conclusion The boom of technology is a sign of the progress of our society. It just happens that not everything it contributes to the society is good. Nevertheless, blaming the technology is pointless. The essential part in the evolution of technology is the users of it. The users should be responsible enough in using the technology wisely and morally. The technology, which became tools in accessing information easily, communicating to people directly such as mobiles, social networks and more, is faced also in online bullying. Society is composed of people who are so diverse that create different ways of using such technology. Hence, government should create awareness to the people, especially to the youth, about cyber bullying. There are already research and even real-life stories about cyber bullying that end up awfully. Making the public aware of this issue could be a start in saving those kids/youths that are experiencing such. Cyber bullying may not sound so dangerous, but it is one of the main reasons why youth today are prone in committing suicide for the past 10 years. This is not just a typical fight between peers when it already causes one to kill her/him. Cyber-bullying must be stopped. References Hunter, N. (2012). Cyber bullying. London: Capstone Global Library Limited. McQuade, S. C., Colt, J. P., & Meyer, N. B. (2009). Cyber bullying: Protecting kids and adults from online bullies. United States of America: British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. Shariff, S. (2008). Cyber-bullying: Issues and solutions for the school, the classroom and the home. New York: Routledge. Read More