Technology has utterly changed the way of America’s society is and how people interact with others. Since the ever thriving technology was invented, cyber bullying has regularly occurred as a consequence of technology which can recurrently result in suicide or suicidal attempts. Today, people argue whether if technology truly affects the suicide rate for college students. Essentially, everyone who is in college has some type of technology and/ or have at least gone on a social media website previously before.
Because so many college students have some type of technology, the increase of technology causes an ncrease in cyber bullying “It is estimated that between 10% and 21. 9% of college students have been cyberbullied (Dilmac, 2009; Finn, 2004; Schenk, 2011), and 55. 3% of college students have reported being victims of cyberbullying at least once in their lifetime” (Dilmac). That gives the power of cyber bullying to be profoundly high in young adults between 18-24 year old are in jeopardy of being cyber bullied or become a cyber bully throughout their lifetime.
The advancement of technology has created a world of cyber bullying, causing an increase rate of suicide among college students due to the psychological roblems that cyber bullying can cause. , lack of prevention of cyber bullying, and the lack of communication between the university and the bullied. The psychological problems that many college students face is because it is mostly due to college students being on social media or some type of technology.
In one article it states, “Over the last decade, the percentage of young adults ages 18 to 29-years-old who use SNS [social network sites] has dramatically increased from only 9% in 2004 to 89% in 2014″ (Gahagan et al). This argument is significantly important because bullying is a serious topic, especially for oung adults who are the predominant audience of social media and texting. Multiply people who have faced some type of teasing or bullying on different types of technologies has caused deprive of high self-esteem.
Because of the lack of self-esteem, students become stressed and this causes students to doubt who they are as a person. In an article, it explains, “Because victims of cyberbullying are being ignored, disrespected, threatened, picked on, or made fun of, they experience negative emotions such as frustration, anger, hopelessness, and sadness Juvonen & Gross, 2008; Patchin & Hinduja, 2006)” (Na et al). When students feel all of these emotions at once, some college students start to have suicidal thoughts and some even attempt or achieve suicide.
Depression, anxiety, and self-esteem are mainly what psychological problems students face and many students find it hard to deal with it. The lack of suicide prevention talks and therapy in college causes many to deal with the situation on their own hands and it much leads to suffering outcomes. The lack of prevention of cyber bullying is mostly due to the anonymity of technology. Anonymity is when someone is “conducting oneself without revealing one’s ame”(Nissenbaum). While being anonymous, many people believe that being behind the screen cannot get you in trouble for something that you said about someone online or in a text.
According to Cyber bullying in higher education: A literature review, “The anonymity cyber bullying provides gives bullies a sense of power and control that otherwise might not be present if they were face-to-face with their victims” (Watts et al). Watts and the other author explain that bullies are often thought of having a power over someone because of the anonymity of social media. This thinking often causes the problem with a yber bully because it is hard to find exactly who said or did something on the internet.
According to Trulioo, ” Tougher cyberbullying laws help reduce instances, but unfortunately, those laws are usually enacted too late. ” Police and others who try to track down the offenders frequently come up short because many remain anonymous and it is difficult to find the perpetrators. Because of the anonymity, the prevention of future bullies is difficult to control and which it increases the cyber bullying. In addition, the lack of communication between the bullied and the universities causes an increase in suicide and uicide attempts in college students.
People who try to deal with a challenging situations like being cyber bullied can lead to being extremely stressed and sometimes cyber bullying can lead to overwhelming reactions. There is controversy as to whether the university should be involved or if college students are old enough to face the problem on their own. The Huffington Post states that, “The sad reality is that all our efforts are being thwarted by the growing popularity of social media, the proliferation of social networks, and the access teens have to more Internet-connected devices”(Huffington Post).
Well, many eople argue that college students are young adults who should know how to handle a situation regardless of the seriousness of the situation. Often cyber bullies are behind the screen, making fun or saying inappropriate things to upset the bullied. Many can try to ignore it, but often the bullies are encouraged by it and continues to do it. Many people state that the universities or colleges should help and get involved if someone comes to the school on cyber bullying. The responsibility of one taking on the bully themselves often leads to unsettling outcomes and it is often because they did not go talk to someone about it.
If universities are approached by a student who is dealing with cyber bullying, the university should unquestionably tackle the situation until it is resolved. A college student who tried to deal with cyber bullying on his own, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide after he was secretly taped by his roommate kissing another man at Rutgers University. After the tape was posted online, Tyler tried to ignore it, but learned that he was going to be tapped again and days after decided to jump off a bridge killing himself (Tyler Clementi Foundation). Because of the lack of communication and the severity of the situation, it cost Tyler is life.
The life of a person is affected by who should deal with cyber bullying and the university should get involved and take action in stopping the bullying. While cyber bullying is a difficult topic to combat, the responsibility of prevention, communication, and psychological problem needs to be addressed. Our society today is often stuck to our phones, laptops, and cameras which causes an increased chance of cyber bullying. College can be very stressful and with the result of cyber bullying thrown at them during a stressful time can cause difficult problems that are hard to overcome.
Suicide is a evere result of what cyber bullying can do to someone and we need to learn how teasing can turn into suicidal thoughts and even suicide very quickly. Today, we need to teach our children to have respect on and off-screen and learn that just because someone is behind the screen does not mean that there are no consequences of bullying. We need to learn to take action if seen on any type of technology because without action, cyber bullying increases every time someone does not say anything or help to prevent it. It is a time to call for an end to cyber bullying as technology advances every day in this techy world we live in today.