Cyber-bullying

Cyber-bullying includes any bullying activity which occurs through the Internet, so it's a digital form of bullying. Some examples of cyber-bullying are sending mean messages or threats to a person you make fun of, spreading rumours online, or posting nasty messages below a post.

Nowadays, this has become a form of violence: facts say that over half of all teens have been bullied online, and the same number of young people don't tell their parents when this kind of bullying occurs. Besides, 59,9 % of teenagers say have been bullied online, especially due to reasons which come from school.

For more information: https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it

Facts about cyber-bullying

This is an orthogram which shows the main reasons of cyber-bullying. As we can see, the appearance is the principal reason why this event occurs, a cyber-bully always acts badly because of an his classmate's appearance. Then there are the academic achievements, but these occurs especially at school. Finally, there are the minor reasons, so we have the race, the sexuality, the financial status, the religion and others. Now we can understand that this event doesn't occur just for reasons which come from school, it could be even due to racial or religious causes.

Then, there's this pie chart which divides the US population in who's been bullied online, who's currently bullied, who has witnessed at this phenomenon, who has no experiences and who's unaware of cyber-bullying's existence. We can say that many people don't even know what is this event, and those few who have experienced it are still trying to make clear how it is painful and encourage us to not understimate the cyber-bullies.

Stories of cyber-bullying's victims

Emma's story

Cyberbullying is an event that unfortunately can affect all of us, regardless of who we are. To prove this, We will now tell you the story of Emma, a 14-year-old girl who found herself a victim of cyberbullying. Before this happened, the girl considered herself completely estranged from this phenomenon, as if this happened in another world. Because of an argument with her best friend, Emma found on Facebook a myriad of insults related to her, albeit implicitly. At first, she felt really hurt, and how to blame her in the end. Imagine that your best friend insults you openly online, that wouldn’t be great, would it? The suffering caused by this event for Emma was really critical. In fact, this caused a very deep wound, which according to her "can never be erased ". Initially, she didn't want to tell her parents, because of her own shame, but later she gathered her strength and did so.

Very often victims of bullying or cyberbullying are afraid to expose themselves to loved ones, and at first glance they aren't all wrong. Imagine having to tell your parents to undergo cyberbullying because of your best friend. Wouldn’t be ideal, would it? Fortunately, Emma managed to overcome it, even though with a gaping wound in her heart! So, there was a happy ending, but very often this does not happen.

In our opinion, cyberbullying is a phenomenon that is expanding too quickly, bringing with it a myriad of victims. The best way to deal with it would be to become aware of it, and avoid remaining passive or completely indifferent if someone is undergoing it, since not everyone can have the same thought as us.Cyberbullying takes away thousands of victims every year who, not bearing the burden created on their shoulders, have abandoned themselves to perform extreme acts. Each of us must do what we can, even the slightest effort, to help those who are suffering, because our indifference is the only reason cyberbullying is expanding so much.

Paris Jackson: the condemnation of fame

Paris Jackson, daughter of pop king Michael Jackson, has repeatedly claimed that she's been verbally abused because of her surname. As a matter of fact, the actress said she even tried to kill herself at 14 and even today there are many videos in which she vents., and her fans are still expressing their solidarity.

For more information: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/paris-jackson-cyberbullying-instagram-video

Ed Sheeran: a red-haired singer bullied at school

The British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has released several interviews in which he talks about his childhood, claiming to have been for years the favourite victim of bullies. There are several reasons for that! Namely, his red hair, his glasses, his shyness, his stutter and a birthmark on his face. However, today he's the most famous red-haired singer of world music and he was even supported by Lady Gaga against cyberbullying.

For more information: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2017/07/05/lady-gaga-sticks-up-ed-sheeran-over-cyberbullying/103433268/

This is a song by Lady Gaga entitled Born this way. It is an hymn to diversity where the singer mentions some categories of people marginalized by society. Actually, she wants to encourage us that we must be proud of our diversity, because we were born this way so there's nothing wrong with us.

How do you stay safe online?

Now I want to talk about my way of dealing with cyberbullying. The first rule is security. So, keep calm, because we fortunately have services, such as the postal police, which are there for helping us and stopping cyberbullying. We should always ask the police for help, because , that's for sure, cops are our friends!

If a person I know well started insulting me online, first I would try to figure out why he was behaving like that! Then, I would try to make up to him somehow or block him. On the other hand, if a stranger sent me mean messages, I would block him without thinking twice.

What would you do if you found yourself in a similiar situation?

Having never experienced cyberbullying I can’t say with certainty how I could behave, since we have to recognize that the weight that it can create on someone’s shoulders can be really heavy. Surely, even if at the beginning hesitant, I would talk to my parents about it and I would have them help me, because this phenomenon can lead each of us to suffer more or less indelible wounds, for which each one of us could suffer a lot.

5 ways to stay safe online

If a stranger sends you a message, don’t answer it, he probably doesn't want to do you any good thing.
If your friend ask you to send him a picture of you, be careful, because if you argue, he'll publish your photos to cyberbully you.
The word is the solution to everything: if someone cyberbullies you, tell someone and you'll be saved.
Beware of fake friends on the web, they often prove not to be what you expected.
If you can’t find a way to save yourself from cyberbullying, don’t worry, because sooner or later bullies get tired, too.

Sitography:

-stopbullying.gov

-youtube

-teenvogue.com

-usatoday.com

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