cyber bullying (an essay i wrote in high school)

   "you're ugly." "you don't deserve to be alive." "no one likes you." someone comes home from school to these hateful messages, everyday, repeatedly, and they fall into depression. they have low self-esteem and start self-harming. then one day, when it all feels like too much, they take their life away to escape. their parents come home only to find out that their child has hung themselves because of some anonymous bully that had the audacity to say such horrible things. that person's little sister doesn't understand what happened to their older sibling- that they were cyber bullied into taking their own life. cyber bullying should not exist but people do it because it's easy and because they don't think about all the negative effects it could have on others.

   many people engage in cyber bulling and they get away with it. some reasons that people do it are because of unpleasant home environments, exposure to drugs or alcohol, rejection among peers, or even because of media violence: television, video games, or movies. in a Teen Online & Wireless Safety Survey on cyber bullying, 11% of cyber bullies said that they do it just to show off, 14% do it to be mean, 21% to embarrass someone, 28% for fun, 58% to get back at someone or because someone 'deserved it', and 16% for other reasons. over half of teens have been cyber bullied and about the same amount have cyber bullied. what kind of person thinks that they have the right to say anything that would make someone think about taking their own life away? too many people don't do anything about it, when it's happening to them or when they see it happen to someone else. that causes cyber bullies to think that they can say whatever they want and get away with it.

   it's easier to bully people online using electronic devices. even though bullying isn't new, there is more advanced technology now and people are able to bully without being face to face; they can hide behind a screen and/or be anonymous. cyber bullying is when someone is intimidating, harassing, or targeting someone else online, through the Internet or other electronic devices. with everyone today using technology, cyber bullying can range from posting embarrassing pictures of someone, websites/blogs that make fun of people, chat rooms, texts, emails, instants messaging, or even video chatting. people can be anonymous and not show their names or faces, and a lot of them get away with it. cyber bullying can follow people from school or work to home because cyberspace is everywhere. 

   people don't realize all of the effects of cyber bullying when they do it to others. they don't always realize that it can be psychologically detrimental or that it's wrong and causes negativity in peoples' lives. they don't realize that it can lead to depression, anxiety, and sometimes, even suicide. that's what happened to Megan Meier, age 12 when she resorted to suicide. she was just a normal girl on myspace who had a guy named 'Josh Evans' flirting with her until he started sending her mean messages instead. the last message she got from him before hanging herself was, "the world would be a better place without you." Josh Evans was not a real teenage boy, but rather a profile created by a woman named Lori Drew. Lori was the mom of one of Megan's classmates that she had fallen out with. now, a lot of cities in Missouri (where Megan Meier lived) put local ordinances in place that prohibit cyber bullying.

   cyber bullying is an easier and more accessible form of bullying that people think they can get away with, even if it hurts others emotionally and mentally. the victims of cyber bullying don't speak up most of the time and the people who witness cyber bullying don't always report it. cyber bullying needs to be spoken about, needs to be reported, needs to be warned about because it is way too easy to hurt others and ruin their lives with just a keyboard and a screen.