What is cyber bullying anyways?

Cyber bullying can be defined as an act of harming, threatening, harassing, and/or humiliating another individual or group of individuals intentionally through technological means, including, but not limited to, text messages, social networking sites, emails and blogs.  We live in a world that has become heavily reliant on technology for various uses, a main one being a form of socialization and a platform for broadcasting.  With technology and digital devices comes anonymity, as individuals can create different profiles, accounts and addresses and hide their identity or pretend to be someone they are not.  With this ability to hide one’s identity comes the perfect opportunity for bullies to target victims, while avoiding the consequences of their actions.  Bullying in the past, which involved face-to-face interaction, was also an issue, but could most times be dealt with easily, as victims could identify the bully and the bully was punished for their wrong doing.  In a world of anonymity comes the challenge of punishing those who target others, as in most cases they are not identified.  When individuals are not punished for their wrong doings, they will continue doing the same things over and over, creating an ongoing issue.  In the past, bullying was able to be monitored by others as it usually occurred in a public place, such as a schoolyard, with teachers or other students around to witness it.  In today’s society cyber bullying can be confidential and may only involve the bully and victim, this poses a problem as the victim may be afraid to come forward with the incidence(s) and tell others what is going on, this leaves individuals at risk of being targeted again.  Cyber bullying is an example of an issue or negative that comes along with the technological society; with constant access to digital technologies and the Internet comes the ability to fall a victim to someone else using something designed to benefit the lives of individuals in attempt to ruin their lives.  Cyber bullying has become a growing concern and is a great social issue in our society.  Many individuals have developed strategies in attempt to put an end to cyber bullying and raise awareness of its implications on the lives of innocent individuals.  Read more about what cyber bullying is at: http://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/index.html