cyberbullying; disconnecting us from each other

Photo by Gabriel S. Delgado C. (Flickr) *Changes made

Almost 3 billion people use the internet today- about 40% of the population1.

In 1995, it was less than 1%1

The number of internet users has increased from 1999 to 20131

Because of how easily accessible technology is,

we are always connected.

This allows bullying to happen

7 days a week,

disconnected

than ever.

Making us more

Cyberbullying definition Cyberbullying: The use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature2

“Cyber-bullying is poised to turn into the biggest online concern, already affecting up

to 35% of all children.”- Dr. Martyn Wild

It is easy to say something hurtful over social media

(Flickr)

How is someone

able to defend

themself when they might not know who

is attacking them?

Cyber-bullying

invites the whole world to see, not

just the people who

are physically present.

Does this affect self esteem?

A study done by Justin Patchin and Sameer Hinduja concludes that

“Students who experienced cyberbullying, both as a victim and an

offender, had significantly lowerself-esteem than those who had little

or no experience with cyberbullying.”3

So

whydoes

it happen

One third of children between ages 9-12 are on Facebook, allowing cyberbullying to occur at a

very young age- 4

Photo by Katey (Flickr)

It is important to pay attention to what you say on social media

and how you say it.

The internet allows

messages to be

interpreted in

different ways.

Photo by Lívia Cristina L. C. (Flickr)

Photo by John Wiechecki (Flickr)

from each other.

References 1- http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/

2- http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/

cyberbullying

3- Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem by J. W. PATCHIN and S. HINDUJA (published in the Journal of School Health)

4- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/

9822498/Million-young-children-ignore-rules-to-become-Facebook-user.html

Photo by harold.lloyd (Flickr)