Why does bullying occur?

One may ask them self why does bullying occur in the first place? Bullying is the result of a struggle for power and an outlet for ones emotions.  Some individuals believe that putting others down will somehow make them feel better about themselves or at least let others suffer with them.  Bullying in childhood may be seen as funny and may be encouraged by others in an indirect way. Bullying is a social issue, which is the result of an issue within society and the relationship between individuals.  In modern day society, we live life through technology and our main form of interaction with others is with devices and on the internet.  The introduction of social networking sites has changed the way we interact with others and altered our means of communication.  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/full This article defines social networking sites as web-based services that allow individuals to construct profiles in a system in which they can connect with other users.  With social networking sites comes the ability to establish false identities and target others, both privately and publicly.  However it is important to note that this is not why these sites were developed!  This is where the issue presents itself.  We sit here and blame the internet and social networking sites for allowing individuals to have the means to cyber bully yet the motive lies in the social world.  Individual decisions are what cause bullying, not the internet or social networking sites.  Social networking sites are designed to create a means of communication and interaction between individuals around the world; they are positive creations in which we turn into places to be feared.  Although the issue of privacy does arise when discussing social networking sites, in the sense that we should be careful of things we post online, because as we know everything online remains online and can be accessed by just about anyone, they are not essentially bad places.  The reasons behind bullying, as previously mentioned, have nothing to do with technology.  The only thing that has changed is the platform of bullying, to put this concept in perspective take for example stealing.  When we think of stealing we most often assume it is a product of some sort from any store or shop, however stealing can also be downloading music illegally.  Although some individuals have different perceptions towards these separate situations, they are virtually the same thing, stealing is stealing.  As cyber bullying is still bullying, it has not somehow changed with the introduction of the internet, its roots still lie within social interaction.