By Kyla Laquian
Courier Staff Writer
With a couple of clicks and a rapid flick of the wrist, the damage was done. Another hurtful comment had been posted. Statistically, more than 1 out of 3 teens have experienced cyberthreats online (Cyberbullying Statistics), and over 42% with tech access have reported being cyberbullied (Cyberbullying Rampant on the Internet). From cyberbullying, teens face a number of psychologically damaging self esteem issues, which have lead to many teen suicides, which is the third leading cause of death in the US. There is a possible correlation between the current upshoot of cyberbullying, and the sudden escalation of social media startups post recession. Cyberbullying has increased from 5% in 2003, to an upshoot of 31.7% in 2007,and to 54% of facebook users in 2014. At the same time, technology from laptops to smartphones are becoming more refined and advanced, allowing for more instantaneous virtual communication which gives bullies a quicker outlet to post hurtful comments.
In the past year, start ups are increasing because their value is reaching its highest point post recession, and nowadays, every 25 to 40 startups are worth 1 billion dollars or more. Social media start ups in particular, are preferable. “Social media is a boon for entrepreneurs and startups. With the key social media platforms today, an entrepreneur can tune a product, build a brand, and grow the business with very low cost and a high interactivity never before possible.” (A New Era for Entrepeneurship). The world online is a limitless world, the possibilities for innovations from apps to websites are endless, and social media is preferable because its popularity among people grows extremely fast, as virtual communication is more personal and instantaneous nowadays. Unfortunately, though the incentive for startups is good, to create innovation online, unintentionally, the growth of social media apps in particular have spurred a number of cyberbullying issues.
According to New York Times article “Name- Calling in the Virtual Playground,” apps like Yik Yak, allows teens to post anonymous comments to their friends under pseudonyms; ask.fm allows people to ask questions to friends also with an option of anonymity and facefeed allows people to post photos but discuss them in private messages. So far, Ask. fm has been linked to nine teen suicides and Yik Yak has been inappropriately used to name call and even make bomb threats. Reportedly in 2003 according to “Cyberbullying Linked Suicides, A Rising Study” stated that 48% of teen suicides are linked to social media sites, and 27% of those teen suicides are linked to facebook. In one teen suicide, a girl had taken her own life after a group of girls bullying her had made a fake facebook account in her name, posting stuff like“I am so ugly” or “I am so fat.” Teens now have an outlet for bullying that is not as time and energy consuming, without physically approaching a person to taunt them, but by merely typing a comment in a sedentary position which still inflicts the same amount of damage. Teens have more access to technology, over 69% of teens own a cell phone and over 80% are active on social media sites cyberbullying rampant on the internet. When teens post a hurtful comment, the comment remains online forever and causes perpetual torment. It stays there whenever a person returns to their laptop or phone, and is parallel to the endless cycle of a bullied student returning to school every day just to receive more taunts.
Also because of anonymity on social media sites, teens can post countless negative comments about somebody and are unlikely to be held accountable for the sole reason that comments can be so numerous, it is impossible to pinpoint a single culprit. According to cyberbullying statistics, 81% of teens find that cyberbullying is easier to get away with. Because of anonymity, teens can then cyberbully with their identities cloaked in disguise and are unlikely to face the repercussions of their actions.
Moreover, it is scientifically proven that teens are unable to synthesize the impact of their actions. “Teens can act this way (cyberbully) because, brain-development wise, the parts of a teen’s brain that control cognitive decision-making are not as well-formed as the emotional areas of the brain. On a social and emotional level they haven’t dealt with these types of issues and don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions.” (Professor Hazler on cyberbullying) This specific part of the brain that controls cognitive decision making is a part of the frontal lobe, and also synthesizes rewards and consequences (CalTech research) Teens are less likely to understand the enormity of the impact their actions online cause, such as possibly leading to suicides. Teens lack the ability to envision the possible consequences to their actions, thus the reason why cyberbullying holds a lot of appeal and why teens are more prone to doing it. Culturally too just like in high school, there is a mob mentality when bullying somebody. If somebody posts hurtful comments about somebody, the fad of doing so spreads like wildfire and soon everybody is pitching in their negativity. So far, facebook has experienced a huge jump in their cyberbullying rate to 52%. On facebook, people have the freedom to post whatever they like and empty their “dirty laundry” online. In comparison to instagram, which has many options in filtering photos, a person strives to create the perfect image of themselves and brush up on their minor flaws and insecurities, so a person’s “dirty laundry” is hidden. Cyberbullying would be more prevalent on social media sites that encourages people to post lots of comments.
The growth of social media apps has created an upscale in bullying, and many teens are not as cautious of what they post online, believing that since interaction is not face to face, than their comments do not have consequences. Virtual communication though is now a parallel universe to the actual world, so the hurtful comments still have the same effects and consequences as if in real life. The world online is still quite a new invention, and people are still figuring out how to handle it. By being cautious of what one posts so it doesn’t shift into a downward spiral of negative comments, one is already taking the next in controlling cyberbullying.