Cyber bullying

I'm sure you've known at least one person in your life - maybe even yourself - who was bullied when they were younger. I wasn’t alive before the Internet and social media emerged the way we know it now, but from what I’ve seen in movies, I can tell you bullying has changed over time. When our parents were our age, they were more likely to be bullied physically by kids they knew. This still occurs, but kids our age are much more likely to be victims of what we know as cyberbullying.

Even though having an anonymous person insult or harass you sounds better than having an actual person threaten to punch you in the face, I can assure you it isn’t true.

Cyberbullying isn’t just something that happens in school or at recess, it’s an awful way to harass a person all the time, no matter when or where.

One of the main factors in the increase in cyberbullying is the fact that bullying someone face-to-face can be harder than attacking the victim online: everyone knows about it, people judge you, and you might even feel afraid of possible consequences. On the other hand, when you're behind a screen you feel stronger and safer. Studies show that 90% of the time the victim knows who the bully is, but they can’t prove it since trolls tend to use fake accounts or message anonymously. This allows the bully to feel less worried about getting caught.

I remember a friend of mine crying in class because she was being cyberbullied big time. The bully was using the disappearing snapchat pictures to send her threats and harass her simply for fun. If that wasn't enough, the troll also located where she lived thanks to the SnapMap and threatened to meet her in front of her house to apparently beat her up. Luckily it didn't happen, since many cyberbullies tend to be tough and intimidating only when hiding behind a screen, but it was still very upsetting.