image is taken in courtesy of: http://al000148.ferozo.com/20/cyber-bullying-wallpaper
Once
bitten, twice shy. Victims of petty cybercrimes such as online scams, phishing,
spying and information stealing would have probably learnt their lesson to
protect their personal information made available online to prevent themselves
from being targeted victims of criminalized activities again. Unfortunately, the
same cannot be said for victims of cyber bullying. Victims of cyber bullying
are constantly being taunted online, resulting in long-term emotional and
physical impairments. Today, more internet users are victims of cyber bullying in
comparison to a decade ago.
Types of Cyber Bullying
Cyber
bullying comes in various forms. The first group of cyber bully usually engaging
in hate speeches through the internet to illustrate their aversion towards a
particular group of people, or an individual who belongs to a particular
community. This includes directing extremely offensive language to people of a
certain race, gender or class. While this form of cyber bullying is derogatory,
it is easier for victims to dissociate themselves from hate groups because signs
of the bully’s abhorrence are usually obvious and clear from the beginning.
On
the other hand, a second type of cyber bullying is known as flaming or an “electronic
road rage”. Flaming occurs when people exchange malicious and hostile comments over
the internet. In this case, the victim may unknowingly become a perpetrator of
cyber bullying when he/she responds to the hateful comment disparagingly. As a
result, cycles of flaming may occur consecutively whenever the involved parties
respond to each other in a hurtful and hateful manner. Flaming is critical when
the comments are taken too seriously by the victims, resulting in emotional distresses.
How is Cyber Bullying Different from
Physical Bullying?
Due
to the fact that is greater anonymity online, users are more confident and
willing to take bullying onto the internet rather than risk being caught from
face-to-face bullying. More than 81 per cent of youth agree that
bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person. 80
per cent of them also feel that it is easier to hide online bullying from
parents than in-person bullying.
Consequences of Cyber Bullying
As
mentioned previously, unlike trivial cybercrimes, in which the criminal’s objective
is to gather information mainly for monetary gains, cyber bullying has a
profound and long-lasting impact that cost more damage to the victim than his/her
wallet. Victims of cyber bullying often find themselves being physiologically
and emotionally traumatized to a point where they may cause physical harm to
themselves. This includes self-mutilation and having suicidal thoughts.
The Flipside about Cyber Bullying
There are
many assumptions and myths about cyber bullying. The following points are interesting
and less commonly known facts about cyber bullying.
1) Interestingly,
cyber bullies do not just target vulnerable, ordinary students and kids. There
have been multiple cases in which celebrities have become the targets of cyber
bullying. In tech-savvy Seoul especially, an endless list of popular
celebrities like Kim Tae Hee and MC Mong are criticized and bullied for
groundless reasons. There are even reports of celebrities committing suicide
due to the backlash made by cyber bullies.
2) It is
also notable that more girls are cyber bullies than boys. Reasons
for this could include that girls are less physically able than boys;
therefore, cyber bullying would be a more ideal and preferable means of provoking
others in comparison to physical bullying.
3) Cyber bullies are more likely to have engaged in
sexting—the act of sending nude photos
or sexually explicit messages to another person via electronic means. Many infamous
cyber bullying cases in the U.S. like those involving Ryan Patrick Halligan and
Megan Meier.
References:
http://www.internetsafety101.org/cyberbullyingstatistics.htm
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