SUICIDE. It catches your eye, doesn’t it? Suicide is one of the most leading causes of cyberbullying, along with depression. There are many types of bullying, but cyberbullying is one of the most concerning. The power the bully has over the victim is repeated over time; the victim cannot do much about it since it is over the Internet. The effects for the victim and even the bully are serious, lasting problems. Sometimes the victims do not leave room in their life for problems; they just look towards suicide.

Cyberbullying is one of the most often types of bullying. It is harrassing, tormenting, threatening, and/or embarrassing another person by using technology. This means that anyone can say anything to anybody without saying it to their face; this makes it easier to talk to someone in a rude way because it is easier to say what you feel to the computer screen instead of someone’s face. Some sites that kids get bullied on are: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, ask.fm, Snapchat, Vine, ect. On August 13th, 2013, a 14-year-old girl named Hannah Smith commited suicide because she was being cyberbullied on the app ask.fm. She was recieving cruel comments and was being bullied for her weight and a family death. Bullies told her to drink bleach and cut herself. As all of this was happening, her father never knew because she convinced him she went on ask.fm for advice on the skin condition eczema, and she ended up never telling her dad. As a result of the cyberbullying, she was found hanging by a rope in her bedroom. According to dosomething.org, the difference between real-life bullying and cyberbullying is real-life bullying usually ends when school ends. On the other hand, cyberbullying happens everyday, and there is no escape, especially since kids use the Internet everyday.

Some teens think that celebrities have never been cyberbullied before. Truth is, most of them have. Even the reality star Kim Kardashian says, “People always have something negative to say,” and says that she sometimes goes online only to see that people call her mean things like fat. The same thing happened with Demi Lovato. She would always get bullied for supposedly being fat. Because of the mean names, she developed an eating disorder. Even in school people made a petition stating, ‘We all hate Demi Lovato’. Today, Demi is a supporter of Teens Against Bullying and has been featured in STOMP Out bullying videos, along with some of Disney’s anti-bullying messages. According to thecelebritycafe.com, the cast of Pretty Little Liars was featured in a 2011 public service announcment (PSA) for a network site that works with print, broadcast, and news sources to bring people powerful stories that build support for equality (GLAAD); according to www.glaad.org . The PSA set off an ‘Amplify Your Voice’ series of PSA’s to show their support for the National Bullying Prevention Month. Along with other celebrities, real kids who have been bullied were featured in the PSA.
Do teens who bully realize the effects of what they do to other people are life threatening? Only 1 in 10 victims of cyberbullying tell a trusted adult or a parent about their abuse. This means that the rest of those people probably go into depression and have suicidal thoughts. When people go into depression, they usually turn into a different person and do bad things like drugs, alcohol, not doing very well in school, they are too scared to go to school, ect. Victims of cyberbullying are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider committing suicide. Ninety percent of teens who have seen cyberbullying say they have ignored it. Over 81% of kids think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person. The reason they do this is so they do not have to see the expressions on the victims face and so they do not realize how much it hurts to hear those things bullies say. It is really sad to think that people have the nerve to say all these mean things to people online. If you have something to say to someone, at least say it to their face.

How many more people need to commit suicide in order for people to realize that cyberbullying is a world-wide problem, and it needs to stop? There are many solutions to stop cyberbullying. Although cyberbullying is online and not in school, people who cyberbully other people probably go to school together. Even if they don’t, teachers can still show awareness in school and watch out for the people that get cyberbullied, and make sure they are not getting bullied in school. In school, kids could come in who have experienced being a victim and a bully of cyberbullying and talk with students about the negative effects of it. It is very important to tell a trusted adult. Parents, teachers, celebrities, experts, and/or therapists can encourage young people to join leadership camps and become a leader and try to make a difference. It is very easy to cyberbully someone, even without knowing it; but it is also very easy to help prevent it.

Cyberbullying is a huge problem in society and it really needs to stop. The reason why people cyberbully is usually because they have problems at home or they have insecurities themselves that they just take out on other people online. Don’t be afraid to stick up for someone and take a stand; afterall, everyone has the power to make a difference in the world.