Throughout my childhood, I had personally never given too much thought about cyber bullying. I had heard some sad stories about young suicide victims due to cyber bullying in the news, but it had never truly affected me. However, within the past few months, I have found that cyber bullying affected me more than I thought. Casey, a high school classmate of mine, whom I was in band with and knew for three years of my high school career, recently committed suicide. Everyone in my town was distraught, especially my fellow band members, who had grown to know her so well.
After some research was done about her death, her family announced to us that she had committed suicide due to cyber bullying from an ex-best friend of hers. I do not know what the cyber bullying was about, but I do know that the bully messaged her on Facebook, Twitter, and texted her cruel messages at all hours of the day.
I had never thought that I would be affected by a suicide from something that seems so childish, from someone taunting you and trying to mess up your reputation and relationships. Maybe this mindset came from the fact that I have not truly experienced cyber bullying. I have been picked on a few times, but I have not experienced someone that tries persistently to hurt me.
I talked with Dr. Jennifer Solomon, Professor of Sociology at Winthrop University, about the subject of cyber bullying. Click here to see the interview. In this interview process, I learned more about the motivation and causes of cyber bullying. One which stood out to me in particular was that the more education a child receives from his or her parents, the more likely he or she is to not cyber bully others. However, only 7% of parents are aware of their child's online activity.
The sociological impacts of cyber bullying are heightened now due to the rise in suicides over cyber bullying. One such suicide is that of Megan Meier, whose case varies from others of its kind because her cyber bully was not a child, but an adult.
This process of interviewing and researching definitely opened my eyes to the severity of this social issue, and the next time I see cyber bullying on my Facebook or my Twitter, whether to me or someone else, I will not just sit back and watch it happen. Standing up against cyber bullying is the only way to make a change in this society.
