ESL117A Writing Assignment: How To Reduce Cyber Bulling?

Manyi Wong
Jill Rogers
ESL117A
11/5/17
How to Reduce Cyber Bullying
Cyber bullying is understood as any bullying that occurs over digital devices such as tablets, computers and mobile phones. It could take place via apps, text, short message service (SMS), or online in social media and forums. This type of bullying consists of sharing, posting or sending mean, false, harmful or negative content regarding another person. It could include sharing someone’s private or personal information leading to humiliation and/or embarrassment (qtd. in Washington). The most common places in which this sort of bullying takes place are email; instant message through social media messaging features, apps, email provider services and devices; SMS or text messages sent via devices; and social media, for instance Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook (qtd. in Chisholm). Cyber bullying takes place amongst children and young people, mainly teenagers. Frequent, long-term or severe cyber bullying could leave both the bully and the victim at a higher risk for developing stress-related disorders such as depression and anxiety. In some cases, victims have even considered committing suicide (qtd. in Washington). This paper looks into ways of reducing cyber bullying. It examines three particular ways that can be used as the solution to this problem: blocking the cyber bully and not responding to him/her, reporting the problem to the school authorities; and saving the evidence.
One method that can be used to reduce cyber bullying is to block the bully and not responding to him/her. Blocking the individual who is doing the bullying is certainly the most effectual way of reducing the bullying and stopping the bullying before it escalates. It is of note that if the cyber bully’s messages cannot get to the child being targeted for the bullying, the bully would soon realize that his or her cyber bullying efforts are futile. This would make him/her stop (qtd. in Scales). In essence, the victim should stop all communication with the person who is bullying them. Most devices these days have settings which allow the owner to be able to electronically block text, instant messages, and emails from certain individuals. The victim can simply block the bully’s phone number so that they can no longer get text messages or calls from them. If this is impossible, the victim may consider changing his/her phone number. If the harassment is coming in the form of profile comments, texts, or instant messages, the person being bullied can easily utilize privacy or preferences tools in blocking the bully (qtd. in Applegate). Instant messenger and Facebook providers allow users to block those individuals who are bullying them so that they are not able to continue interacting with them. However, if for some reason the victim is unable to block the cyber bully, the individual can simply screen their calls and delete any messages from them without opening and reading them. If the cyber bullying is taking place in chat, the individual should get out of the chat room (qtd. in Applegate).
Also, the youngster should be encouraged not to respond to the cyber bullying. This is important considering that responding only serves to fuel the fire, worsening the situation. At times bullies are encouraged to continue with the online bullying when they see a reaction from their victim (qtd. in Chisholm). The child should be informed that cyber bullies usually crave attention and replying to them, in fact, serves to give them more power. Chisholm noted that if the youngster gets a cyber bullying message, they should be taught not to engage. They should also be taught not to openly show their emotions with the bully in person if the bully is a person that the child sees in real life.
Applegate stated that if a person is cyber bullied, the victim’s reactions are often precisely what the cyber bully wants. The victim’s reactions serve to give the bully power over the victim; the bully is empowered. As such, not responding to the bully ensures that he/she does not have power over the victim. Not responding to the bully also means that the victim should not retaliate in any way. Getting back at the bully will generally turn the child who is being bullied into a bully as well, and this will reinforce the behavior of the bully that bullying is acceptable. Not retaliating is important in helping to avert a whole cycle...