Cyber Bullying

[Paralyzer Z]

So last week we had to watch this Anti-Cyber bullying video online that featured the off screen teen suicide of the main protagonist or victim as I like to call him. Around that same time my teacher said the "Words can hurt more than punches" , it really got me thinking about why plenty of teens commit suicide, or most of all do it because of meaningless comments typed out by rude people. In my opinion getting beat the shit out off in the bathroom is a lot worse than creating a Facebook account and getting messages sent to me about stupid or insulting things that are meant to mentally hurt you. While I have never seen Cyber bullying played out, every time the school gets lectured about bullying and internet bullying is always mentioned along the same level of painfulness as Verbal or even worse Physical bullying. I have never been on the receiving end of any type of Cyber bullying in my life so it raises a lot of questions to me why such drastic and unnecessary measures are taken because of it every year. My best guess would be that this lowers the self esteem levels of many young people around the globe.

Here is a German ad that I think is extremely exaggerated and over exemplifies Cyber bullying it really makes you go WTF!:

[YOUTUBE]amueaVHIZ6A[/YOUTUBE]

Here are my questions:

Do you think that Cyber bullying hurts as much as Physical or Verbal harassment?

Have you ever been a victim or a perpetrator of Cyber bullying?

Why do you think people sometimes take their own life because of it?

 

[#hamler]

Great thread, Zrise.

I'd rather be called stupid then get my ass jumped by 20 big guys. With that said, Cyber Bullying goes beyond what's actually said on the internet. Let's say you've decided to text your friend. You tell him that you have feelings for this really ugly chick at school. Then, all he has to do is click "share" on his phone and your private conversation is now public knowledge. That can apply to various situations.

What if your ex sent an ebarassing picture of you to two friends? Then those friends show two friends then those friends show two more friends. Pretty soon your embarassing picture is being poked at by people you don't even know. That can be some tough shit to get over. You know, being called a f*g or something of that nature is easy to get over. But there are things that you cannot simply brush off and get over instantly. Killing youself without being in serious pain physically is just stupid but I can see why some would. I haven't personally been bullied much over the internet. I don't let anything like that get to me. I also trust most of the people I share my closest thoughts with. Don't ever trust the wrong people so what you doesn't get into the wrong hands.

Overall, I can't imagine why people let stupid shit get to them. More importantly, killing yourself over words is even stupider. But, I guess there are cases where it's understandable. A kid can get his ass kicked everyday for a year but being hurt mentally is much, much worse.

 

[ABMorales787]

If what people write on a screen hurts you, two things become abundantly clear.

1) You spend too much time on the computer. The fact that you go on the look out for whatever detail about you is mentioned on a computer rather than on person should be reason enough to un-glue yourself. A man's word is far stronger than grammar.

2) You are too worried about your self image. Self-confidence can give you the strength to do anything. In the end you giude your own life and you should be able to tell when someone is right about you or not and how you should accept or deny what's being said. If someone writes on my Facebook wall that I'm a lying, deceitful bastard that doesn't care about his loved ones and should just die, my response would be as simple as "Grow the balls to say it to my face". If not, I just ignore it. I know it may be true, but why should I grant some coward that hides behind a computer the satisfaction of me feeling miserable?

Anti-Bullying Campaigns of any sort are utterly stupid and pointless. Why? because they are focusing on the wrong thing. Human beings live in a world where they need superiority over others and bullying is a way of showcasing that. It's our nature. What these campaigns should be focusing on is on how the victims need to face it. That they shouldn't pay attention to what people say to them and that they dictate their own lives. And how to deal when words come to blows.

What happened? Back in the day, bullies got humiliated and humbled, by model uber-heroes. Now we have to beg for them to stop? It might sound wrong or dumb, but society has really lost it's balls lately.

 

[Sinister Shadows]

The Killjoy pretty much nailed it. Hell bullying is more or less encouraged these days. Everyone told that violence leads to more violence, and that it's never the way to solve anything. Fight back, don't let yourself be an easy target for bullying and it will eventually stop.

But in the end, it all comes down to respect, which is dying out in this country.
Hardly anyone is raised to have respect for others. With each generation people are taught less and less to have respect towards other people. Making sure that kids grow up with respect would decrease bullying dramatically, but more importantly it would cut down crime.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Cyber bullying is still bullying. The actions of online bullies are nowhere near as painful. Most of the time. Every single person on this forum has dealt with one type of cyber bully at least once. They are the type of people we call trolls. Trolls attack others with words.

However there are much more severe types of cyber bullies. People who hack into your computer to mess around with a webpage or an email, for instance. Then finally there are those who expose someone's personal private things to the world without that person's permission. Whether it is done for blackmail or just as a joke, that is the worst type of cyber bullying because it can hurt emotionally worse than the levels of physical pain a traditional bully might dish out.

With that being said, cyber bullying is not worth taking your own life over. Nothing is. That is never the answer. Your true friends will respect you no matter what some troll or cyber bully might say online. It's just like in real life, your true friends will be there to help you if a bully causes problems.

If cyber bullying is currently bothering anyone in any way shape or form, talk to someone about it. Never take your life nothing is horrible enough to justify going to that extent. Talk to friends, family, counselors, or even an online friend. Anyone you trust. Don't let them bother you.

 

[Slowdude]

Physical and real life Verbal abuse does hurt (I know I experienced both throughout high school). If you take the shit you read on the internet seriously here is a simple solution, stop looking at what ever is upsetting you, its so fucking easy just press that little X in the corner and your problem is solved. It is extremely hard to stop abuse in the real world, it is extremely easy to avoid it on the internet. Anyone that gets upset over the internet needs to find something else to do in life. If the only shit you are getting in life is over the internet and it upsets you get over yourself. I can understand if someone is getting shit from all points in life (As in family, social etc) fine your life sucks, stop making it worse by letting others into your world on the internet.

The internet is a great way to avoid real life problems, just make sure you don't use your name that way the possible real world threats who make everyday a living hell can't track you down online to make your internet time just as bad.

For things such as a photo you don't want people to see getting leaked, don't give out that photo, don't take that photo. Do not say shit if you don't want others finding out. Keep it private then no one will ever have to know.

 

[JWGunslinger]

It all depends on the mentality of the victim, one guy could get verbally bashed like crazy and not give a shit at all while others might take one comment really hard and let it seriously hurt them. But cyber bullying does have one hurtful edge over just besting someone up, online bullying can include personal shots and embarrassing secrets that can effect ones reputation and how others feel about them, which I would definitely say is worse than just taking some punches.

I've never personally been but my Fiance was a little in high school, thanks to the wonderful use of Formspring. Some anonymous bitch from her school was saying very hurtful things about her appearance and it hurt her. Cyber bullies are even bigger cowards than regular bullies because they can't even mess with people to their faces, they need to do it in the safety of their home and possibly with a hidden identity online if it's someone you know personally.

At the end of the day though the best thing you can do is let that shit roll off of your back, who cares what those fuckers think anyway?

 

[H33LTurn]

I think theres a misconception about cyber bullying. Most of the bullies online are students who will see their victims in person the next day at school. Theres always a possibility that a bully could take physical action if they please. Second, theres no black and white when it comes to bullying. Speaking from personal experience, it all comes down to a general feeling if disrespect and isolation. People dont just write "you suck cock, bye" on your facebook wall. As far as hurting as much as a physical assault, every individual responds to a situation differently. It evidently more difficult to confront someone who comes at you online rather than someone who swings at you. And the reason that people take their lives is because they just lose the will to live. Lets face it, the guy who sits alone in lunch is almost never going to get an opportunity to redeem himself. This isnt Nickelodeon, geeks dont end up going out with the hot chick or win a talent show and obtain friends because of it. If you're constantly told you're worthless eventually you start to believe it. I know its easy to sit back and say that its stupid to take your life over cyber bullying but when you're in a situation like that you could act completely differently. Thats just what it boils down to. I wish I could be more suffisticated about it but its as simple as that.