Cyberbullying is Happening Amongst Students Everywhere
By Yamileth Manriquez
Cyberbullying emotionally damages students in schools throughout the country.
According to the Stop cyberbullying website cyberbullying is when a child, preteen or teen is being embarrassed, tormented, threatened, harassed, and humiliated by another using the Internet, mobile phones, and other digital devices. There are two kinds of cyberbullying. One is a direct attack and the other is cyberbullying by proxy.
A direct attack is when messages are being sent directly to the victim. Cyberbullying by proxy is when others help to cyberbully the victim. Many students have become a victim of cyberbullying and, that might lead up to devastating results such as suicide.
Diana Covarrubias, a senior at South East High School, says, “The people who cyberbully might do it because they have low self-esteem. And, they want to make their victim feel the same way they do or try to make themselves feel better about their problem. These types of people don’t have morals.” In some cases, the cyberbully might not even know what they are doing. They take it as a joke not thinking about the victim’s feelings or how sensitive they might be. Others do it because they are bored and they want to start some kind of drama or reaction to entertain themselves.
Jennifer Carbajal, a senior at SEHS, says, “From the stories I’ve heard, cyberbullying happens mostly between girls. For example, some girls get MySpace messages or even text messages from another girl claiming that she took her man and that she better watch out, calling the victim inappropriate names any chance they get.”
Some girls in high school think their “social standing” is everything and will do anything to protect it. Like publicizing rumors about a victim not realizing the harm it can do to another person. In the end, these girls should realize high school is going to be over soon, and their “social stature” won’t even matter once they graduate.
Victims can change their personalities; they could have been the nicest and happiest person you could have ever met, to becoming someone full of anger and frustration. Cyberbullying can really scar someone’s life. The emotional damage this can cause a person might take years to heal or they might go through life with that pain deep inside. Some can’t even control their pain like others can, and it might cause them to commit suicide.
According to the National Crime Prevention Center, over 40% of all teenagers with Internet access has reported being bullied. Cyberbullying is not something to be taken lightly. It's something serious and the results it causes can be tragic.
