Social Media and Cyberbullying
Kendra Cheda
The Paw Print
Sarah Lynn Butler committed suicide after being teased at school and receiving bullying messages on her MySpace page. Jessica Logan committed suicide after a nude photo of herself that she sent to her boyfriend was distributed around the school. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Instagram, and the many other social media sites all have a huge effect on teens. Not only does it affect teenagers, but it also affects their parents and loved ones. According to recent statistics, over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have engaged in cyberbullying. Social media is the cause of suicide among young teens because they want to fit in, they feel like there is no way out, and they just simply feel embarrassed.
Teenagers have a huge number of priorities and being “cool” is at the top of every American adolescent’s list. And when something happens that is embarrassing, it feels like all eyes are on them and the embarrassment will never go away. This is why it is so hard for some adolescents to grasp the idea that everything will be okay and things will get better. People may wonder how this ties into social media causing suicide. Well, it is simple. People get embarrassed on social media that everyone sees, causing a big stir at school. Teens go to school feeling like they are the talk of the town because everybody saw the post that embarrassed them so much. Then they fall into a state of depression, feeling as if they have no purpose in life. All of those events combined will often put ideas in the adolescent’s head like, “I have no purpose here” or “I wish I was dead.” Experts say that bullying victims are two to nine times more likely to consider committing suicide. With no real cry out for help because this was all on the computer or over a phone, so the parents have no idea, these teens commit suicide.
For teenagers going through puberty, life can be very stressful. Everyone wants to fit in and have a boyfriend or girlfriend they can show off at school. Megan Meier was a very shy girl, didn’t fit in with the in crowd, and just wanted to be popular. When a boy messaged her on Myspace she was ecstatic. Nobody knew that a couple months later her mom would be lowering her into the ground and saying good-bye. Teenagers will do anything to feel affection or to fit in, and when it turns sour it ends very badly.
Amanda Todd, a 16-year-old Canadian teen, took her life after cyber bullying didn’t let up, even when she changed schools. Teenagers in most cases feel like what is happening in their life will stay that way forever, and there is no other way than to kill themselves. Not only is this completely wrong, but it is sad. One thing about social media is no matter where teens live or where parents relocate them, adolescents will always be able to cyberbully teens. Even if teens block everyone they know, or all the people that are giving them a hard time, teens are very good at making fake accounts.
People may argue that they shouldn’t be on social media sites if it is causing harm. That is easier said than done. Even if teens aren’t on the sites, things can still be said about them. Adolescents want to fit in and do everything that is “cool.” They post the best pictures on Instagram, and post funny things on Facebook, even if they are offensive. Teens don’t care; they just want attention and to be popular, even if that means hurting another person.
Almost half of all teenagers have been bullied online because there is no parental figure on there to stop it. That’s why cyberbullying is so common among teens. It is their way of bullying without consequences from teachers or parents. Teenagers love to feel rebellious and get away with things, so for these kids cyberbullying gives them a rush. Also, most teenagers are afraid of telling their parents if they are bullied because they are afraid of getting people in trouble. In some cases, telling on the bully will just make their life ten times worse.
Every parent has a different parenting style. Some are very involved and others not so much. Either way a phone or a laptop is a teenager’s diary in this generation. Almost eighty percent of teens said that they either did not have parental rules about internet use or found ways around them. When looking at this statistic it is shocking that parents are so blinded to what is actually happening while their sons and daughters are on the internet. This generation is so consumed by social media that some can’t live without going on every ten minutes. Parents are so blind about how their children’s mental health is doing because most teens are experts at hiding their emotions.
As nighttime approaches, people start updating their last Facebook post of the night or posting a picture of the popcorn and movie they are about to dive into. They disregard the deep issue within that is yet to be brought to the light. Social media and cyberbullying cause suicide. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among 13- to 19-year-olds. Millions of teens across America are tweeting and on Facebook. How many of those are actually doing it for fun and how many people are cyberbullying? As people start to open their eyes to what is really happening on the web, this hopefully will result in more involvement with parents and lower suicide rates. Once social media started to get popular, the suicide rate started rising. Until people open their eyes, this will go unknown and many teens will commit suicide as a result of social media.
What’s Been Said…