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Cyberbullying Amongst Teens a Public Service Announcement

By: Allyssa Hutchings, Ana Valle, Fatima Baher, Jason Atwood, Kara Peterson,

April 22, 2015

Kiley Webster, and Trevor Glad

Cyberbullying is on the rise amongst our youth. There is new

technology everyday and with this new technology it has gotten
easier for teens to target other teens and bully them in an online
setting. In this article we will go over what cyberbullying is, who is
aected by it, statistics, a true story of a victim of cyberbullying,
what we can do as adults to prevent cyberbullying among teens
and where teens can seek help if they are being victimized.
Bullying is not a new concept, but thanks to the internet there are
now more ways in which someone can be bullied. Cyberbullying is
any type of harassment that occurs via electronic technology. This
could be in chat rooms, on Facebook, or even texting is considered
a means of cyberbullying. This kind of harassment may be the worst of all because there is no escape. It can
happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can even reach someone when they are alone. A teen can open up
his/her laptop and nd hate mail or receive vicious texts from anonymous numbers. Messages and images can
also be distributed quickly to a very large audience which makes the bullying that much more degrading. It is
dicult to trace the source and the inappropriate content can sometimes be dicult to delete o of the internet.
Cyberbullying is something that aects people of every race and every age but it
has grown to be one of the greatest problems especially in the adolescent
community. A study done by the Cyberbullying research center shows that about
50% of teens have been victims of cyber bullying. The same study also shows that
girls are somewhat more likely than boys to be involved in the issue. One of the
main reasons why Cyberbullying has grown to be such a tremendous problem is
because of the growth and advancement of Technology. Now a day 80% of teens
have cell phones and or have easy access to a computer or internet capable
device, In comparison with past generations, these were things that were not
available or even ever imagined to exists. Another reason why Cyberbullying
threatens teens is because adolescents today are extremely caught up with social
media that they have without realizing made it another grounds for cyber bullying
to grown in. In these sites other people can create accounts and target whomever
they wish to bully without a problem.
Bullying is a huge problem and many people do not realize that is can happen in more than one way. A study from
1998-2010 shows that most of the bullying happens between sixth grade and tenth grade. In 1998 the percent of
kids getting bullied in 6th-8th grade was 17.8% of kids whereas 9th-10th grade was 14.5% of teens were being
bullied. The percentage of bullying went down in 2010, showing that teens in 6th-8th grade was only 7% and for
9th-10th it was 8.2%. Bullying is a huge issue and as it appears to look that bullying is getting better the truth is
that it is not. Cyberbullying is the biggest way that teens and young adults bully people. Cyberbullying has not
been going on long enough that anyone has done statistics but I guarantee that as the face to face bullying has
gone down that cyber bullying has gone up, because it is a lot easier to be mean to someone when you do not

have to face them.

Not many people have heard the story of Brandon Turely, 20, of Oregon.
Cyberbullying was not considered an issue at the time he was harassed. When he
was a timid shy student in the sixth grade, someone created a Myspace post
saying he was a fag. Students he had never spoken to commented on it,
agreeing with the post. He posted to the same thread asking why they would say
this and the response was awful, leading to a group of kids wanting to beat him
up. "It was just crazy, and such a shock to my self-esteem that people didn't like
me without even knowing me," said Turley, "I didn't understand how that could
be."

Avatargeneration.com oers a this free

printable poster with eective guidlines
for safe surng.

Our only way to prevent or stop cyber bullying is by communicating, rst the
school should make a stop bulling week in a year to address bullying and online
safety for kids and send yers and give online resources to parents about the
subject. Parents should take charge and set rules and establish basic guidelines
for their kids, and most importantly the parent should be involved in their kids'
lives and that would be through talking to their kids and asking questions,

participating with them online, respect their interest and beliefs. In return they would gain their kids respect. If the
parent noticed something that their kids are doing and he doesn't approve it; they should talk to them calmly and
explain to the kids your opinion before taking any harsh actions without any explanation.
Now that we know what cyberbullying is and who it can aect, we need to know what to do in the event that we
are a victim of cyberbullying. The Delete Cyberbullying Project gives some dos and donts if you ever nd yourself a
victim of cyberbullying. A lot of cyberbullying is just smart remarks or being called names, and the easiest way to
deal with these are to simply ignore them. If these names become more persistent, you should nd a way to keep
a hard copy record of them to show to an adult. Make sure you reach out to a trusted adult like your parents or a
school teacher and let them know whats happening, but whatever you do, dont sink to the bullys level. Doing so
will hurt you more than it helps you. The last thing you should know is that you should never believe what a bully
says whether its online or in person. Typically bullying is due to the bullys problems not yours, so dont let a
bullys words get to you.
This is such a serious and scary subject. Some may think they are playing harmless pranks, but we are seeing more
and more in that bullying is taking lives. There is so much heart ache that doesn't need to be. Parents and teachers
be attentive, and teach safety and responsibility. We urge all especially adolescents to"Have courage, and be
kind."-Cinderella 2015

Resources:
Elizabeth Landau. cnn.com . Version: 1. along with westophate.org, April 15, 2013. web. April 21,
2015. http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/27/health/cyberbullying-online-bully-victims/index.html
Perius, Jessamyn G., et al. "Trends In Bullying, Physical Fighting, And Weapon Carrying Among 6ThThrough 10Th-Grade Students From 1998 To 2010: Findings From A National Study." American
Journal Of Public Health 104.6 (2014): 1100-1106. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Cinderella. Walt Disney Home Entertainment :, 2015. Film.
"Free Cyber Bullying Safety Poster." Learning Games and Apps for Kids. 4 Nov. 2012. Web. 23 Apr.
2015. <http://www.avatargeneration.com/2012/11/free-cyber-bullying-safety-poster/>.

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