Cyberbulling is an issue I have heard of increasingly for a long time now. How traditional bulling morphed into what we now know as Cyberbulling starting in the 1990’s is a story of how humans have “evolved” in a really wrong direction. What I see becoming a unnerving narrative.

Cyberbullying slowly began seeping into the mainstream news at the beginning of the 2000’s with the case of Megan Meier’s suicide in 2007 being one of the most publized. Megan was a 13 year old who’s neighbor created a fake Myspace acount (wow, MySpace, that tells you how long its been) to harras her. This was one of the first recognized incredibly sad cases that started to come to light about the use of the internet and specially of social media for bullying and harrasement purposes. But, what exactly qualifies as “Cyberbullying” nowadays?

A quick search in Google provided the follwing definition: “the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.” The official goverment Website StopBullying.com also mentiones ” Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation.” Now, with this definition in mind, how many of us have been bullied online? And for that matter, how many of us have participated in cyberbullying someone else?

October is the National Bullying Awareness month and I thought to myself, this is such a very important issue. Such one that has trully seeped into our lives, all of our lives, with no effective solution in sight. Even now, per the information i was able to find online, there are no currently any Federal laws against bullying or cyberbullying. Different states have created laws, regulations and policies depending on the current awareness of the issue by state. If you are curious about your state anti-bullying laws, regulations and policies , check out this map you can find here to see the different laws applicable per state.

Reading about this was both concerning and sad to me. And to be honest, it made me think of several aspects, among them: what can constitute cyberbulling in one place versus another, how is the impact of this being measured, is this issue been looked at from the different victims angles? Meaning, this is not a problem been faced by our youth only, although they represent the majority of the victims and in reality they are the most vulnerable to this kind of attack. Its hard enough to be a small creature in this giants world or a creature going through all these changes ( changes most adults dont even want to talk them about, for starters) to also have to now worry about ill intended humans deflecting the worst of them on to you. Because that’s all that it is, an ugly part of someone being thrown in someone else’s direction. Bullying says a lot about the bully. But also, this is something that has become normal and even socially acceptable by adults too. Very often we see people bullying others online and we stand there, doing nothing. We think about the words been shared and think, hmm, well everyone is free to say whatever they want to, its a free country. Or maybe we agree with the person and feel a sense of justice happening. Or maybe, we think how aweful it is that those words have been shared online, we may even know they are not true or fair, but we still go about our day, having no additional thoughts on the subject. Even continuing to “like” later posts from that same person we just saw commiting such an ugly act. We accept it. We forget about the victim. We even allow some of those people to stay in leadership roles in our community. We feel, it is not our problem. And we move on. So, here are some interesting statistics that may change your mind about it.

• Cyberbullying can have multiple adverse effects on victims, including social anxiety (37%), depression (36%), suicidal thoughts (24%), self-harm (23%), and skipping classes (21%). Others include developing antisocial behaviors (12%), developing eating disorders (10%), and running away from home (10%).
• 59% of victims experience mental health problems.
• Interestingly, 63% of cyberbullying victims report it, whereas the rest (37%) remain mum about the horrifying ordeal.
• Interestingly, only 28% of teen victims dare to report cyberbullying.
•  87% of cyberbullies think it’s easier to get away with the act.

This last statistic (provided by comparecamp.com) shows a very important yet eluded piece on this issue. Why do people easily become Cyberbullies? Why is this happening so often? People see the online space as a place to dish on others without reprecusions and not considering whatsoever the consecquences of their acts. The same way the rest of us do not consider the victim, the consequences to that person, to their family, the impact that words that are forever perpetuated into the online world has on people now and in the future. We do not care, and we should care, in my opinion. We should care because we are the example for future generations. It would be unfair and unrealistic of us to pretend to have the next generations deal with this issue alone. On their own. And for every parent and every person who cares about others who are growing up in this environment, their nieces, their nephews, their friends, their neighbors and neighbors children, the next round of adults. We need to protect them, we need to care, we need to learn to recognize bullying and do something about it. We need to inform ourselves enough so we can teach our kids how. And I do not mean your own kids as a parent, I mean, our society’s kids, all of us. Our hope for a better world. Otherwise we are leaving them to fend for themselves, ignorant and easy pray to both becoming the victim or the bully. Because if they do not underatand the different roles and how they interact, it will be easier for them to fall into the bystander or bully category. The category inflicting and allowing hurt to others.

A shoutout to everyone who has ever stand up for a victim of cyberbullying, bullying, or any type of harrasment. It is not an easy thing to do and it does speaks volumes. Bullies are sad, scared, or ignorant, sometimes a combination of those. They show us about themselves with their words more than they do about others. If anything, lets practice empathy. I am not saying we should go against them and return them the favor, but to learn to recognize what is happening and to think about protecting the victim. Our words can also be as powerful as theirs. Is up to us how we decide to use them. Think before you post.

Note** I realize this is a heavy topic with a lot of more important topics to touch and explore but I wanted to come by and share a bit of information and share what its on my mind. My purpose on this blog is always to share and when possible initiate a conversation. Hopefully one that ignates deep meaningful thinking that may help future generations. I would love to explore more in depth in the future. If anyone is interested please reach out and share your area of interest.

Happy rest of October everyone!