Cyber Bullying
Ethics303 Reseach Done by Nouf AlJumie & Daniah Alsharif
Abstract
Bullying has been engrained in societies since ancient times. It has remained a relevant issue through the years. With the advent of the Internet bullying evolved into cyber bullying through technological devices. Cyber bullying, has allowed the problem to expand, become incomprehensible, and even harder to define. With the analysis of, statistics, laws, articles and researches that was conducted before we will try to understand and define the issue of cyber bullying, and to find effective preventative measures that can help solve this problem
Methodology
Our research methodology will include identifying and using trusted data from the internet/library researches, books, periodicals, newspapers and journals to define the objectives and to support our result. Our research will be based on already existed information, and we will gather, interrupt and analyze the existed information.
Introduction
Cyber bullying is the use of technological devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites to harass, threaten and intimidate someone (What is Cyberbullying, 2013). Cyber bullying acts include sending provocative messages or ethnic and racial insults. Moreover, stalking, spreading rumor through social media sites and stealing personal information such as email accounts and password. And last but not least, sexting, or circulating sexually suggestive pictures or messages about a person considered an act of cyber bullying too (Cyber Bullying Statistics, 2013).
This problem is mostly common between teenagers as they are not quite old enough to consider the consequence of this aggressive behavior. But in most cases cyber bullying occur with persons whom suffer from physiological and mental problems, and persons who lack education about the criminality of cyber bullying. Anger, hatred, jealousy, fun and the desire to impose a sense of power and control could be reasons behind cyber bullying.
Traditional Bullying Vs. Cyber Bullying
Traditional bullies always had to let their victims see them and could only gain the support of friends who were around. Cyber bullies can humiliate, threaten, and belittle their victims without their identity being known, or they can have an audience of thousands.
Cyber bullying Statistics
In February 2013, Liam Hackett launched the largest cyber bullying survey in the world entitled “ Annual Bullying Survey 2013”. 2,000 British teenagers took this survey. According to the survey, 7 in 10 people are victimize of cyber bullying. The survey suggests that males and females are equally at risk of cyber bullying. 37% of young people experienced cyber bullying on a daily basis. Moreover, an estimated 5.43 million young people in the U.K have experienced cyber bullying, with 1.26 million subjected to extreme cyber bullying on a daily basis (Hackett, 2013). And most common social media used for cyber bullying are Facebook, Twitter and Ask.fm.
Case Law and penalties of Cyber Bullying in Saudi Arabia
In the 26 of March 2007, the council of ministries has enforced new laws to reduce the incident of cyber bullying crimes. Moreover, to provide an environmental justice for the country’s citizen that protects and saves the individual and the public rights and interests.
Preventing Cyber Bullying
Victims of cyber bullying should be careful about how they react. It may be tempting to seek revenge, become angry, feed into the bullying, ignore the problem or become cyber bullies themselves. These methods are not helpful or healthy.
Rather than answering a message, block the cyber bully and refuse to respond. If the messages are not too serious and will not require intervention from an adult, school official, or law enforcement officer, delete the messages and try to forget about them. Cyber bullies want to see a reaction and feed off of a negative response. By not giving them that satisfaction, it is possible to prevent future bullying and keep from being their target.
Report the problem to a trustworthy adult, such as a parent, teacher, or principal. If the bullying is happening on a website, report the bully to the Internet service provider or the site's moderator.
Rather than answering a message, block the cyber bully and refuse to respond. If the messages are not too serious and will not require intervention from an adult, school official, or law enforcement officer, delete the messages and try to forget about them. Cyber bullies want to see a reaction and feed off of a negative response. By not giving them that satisfaction, it is possible to prevent future bullying and keep from being their target.
Report the problem to a trustworthy adult, such as a parent, teacher, or principal. If the bullying is happening on a website, report the bully to the Internet service provider or the site's moderator.
Conclusion
Cyber bullying is growing issue worldwide. People should understand the severity of cyber bullying and the level of damage that it can be cause. We always advocate people to be open and report to the authorities and to your family members once they encounter cyber bullying. Moreover, education is the key to reduce cyber bullying crimes by educating people about its dangers consequences and about the laws and penalties of such crime. The government in Saudi Arabia acted to this problem, which is positive step, but they need to spread the awareness and educated the citizens about their rights and the laws that were made to protect them.
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