Cyber bullying

[Catzsy]

There has been many postive outcomes with the growth of the world wide web with global communication being vastly improved, mobile phones, portable devices etc. Unfortunately it also seems to have a very negative side. I was reading about the suicide at 13 of a girl not too far away from me and she left a letter saying it as because of bullying via the internet & mobile phones.

There are organisations online that are there to support so there must be a recognised problem.
Link:
http://bullyonline.org/related/cyber.htm

Do you think though that it is over publicised and encourages others to
basically 'join in'? Or is too much just made of this? Also why does a cyber bully do it?

[Mathew]

Cyber Bullying doesn't really bother me. It's all letters on a screen.

It can't hurt you unless you LET it hurt you. If you take it as an insult, it's GOING to insult you. If you take it with a pinch of salt and ignore it, why should it bother you?

Once the "bully" tracks me down I'd be cautious, but until then - its pointless.
I do think once someone sees a group of "bullies", they would feel safer and more at ease if they joined them rather than went against them. Stupidly, why should there be sides anyway?

Interesting topic.

[efq]

Anybody who cyberbullying has broke the law. It is now illegal to cyberbully and if you are getting cyberbullied then you give them chatlogs and who it is and they will come to you and go to them. You say 'It's all letters on a screen' but if you get that for weeks/months on end, constantly getting laughed at, insulted it will take its toll.

I was shown this a few years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNumIY9D7uY Watch it ALL because it does send a message.

[FlyingJesus]

It's quite funny and sometimes I think it's necessary to let people know what they're really like instead of sugarcoating everything and making the weak and ugly think they're great and pretty - they won't survive in the real world with false opinions of themselves

[Immenseman]

Some people genuinely deserve it though, it's harsh but it's the truth. We live in a society where we're pushed into thinking there are "winners and losers". That's a western mentality and unless you change wider society you aren't ever going to eradicate cyber bullying.

Also, people who take it to heart, really shouldn't. For example, you're getting abused on MSN - you have the option to block the person. A social networking site, you have the option to remove the person from viewing your page. Mobile phone, you can block their number. Email, you can block their email.

I'm not really sure how to define bullying either. I argue with people which may lead to me insulting them, is that bullying? Maybe it is but I think the stereotypical bully is some hardened villain, something which I certainly am not, even if I wanted to be, I couldn't.

Supposedly insulting someone is bullying. Then surely 90% of people on the internet have bullied someone else and have thus broken the law. Yes, cyber bullying does happen but if people take it to heart then it's their own fault really. They have the power to remove the bullies away from their cyber world and if they don't decide to do this and let the bullying continue and let it drag them down then the finger of blame is pointing directly at them in my opinion.

People are always going to say things on the internet - people have said things to me they wouldn't dare say in real life in a serious manner. Does that mean I've been cyber bullied? Technically, yes. Almost everyone has been insulted on the internet, does that mean we've all been bullied... :eusa_wall if you take it to heart, you deserve it. End of.

[efq]

It's not ALL about just over the internet. It's mainly people near you or around you who are cyberbullying you, say as in college or school.

It's different when someone says to you over the internet who you don't know goes 'I will kill you/beat you up' than where someone you know has a bad reputation for stuff like that goes 'I will kill you/beat you up'.

People don't kill themselves so easily but it gets to much at times, threatening to kill someone (with proof, so chatlogs etc) can and likely will get you arrested, there ain't so many because people don't tell people or just ignore it.

I have never been properly cyberbullied. Yeah people swear at me online whatever but thats nothing when its someone you know doing it. If someone I knew did, I would just take the proof right to the police and see how much they laugh then.

A common statement: 'Laugh at it and your part of it'

[Immenseman]

It's not ALL about just over the internet. It's mainly people near you or around you who are cyberbullying you, say as in college or school.

It's different when someone says to you over the internet who you don't know goes 'I will kill you/beat you up' than where someone you know has a bad reputation for stuff like that goes 'I will kill you/beat you up'.

People don't kill themselves so easily but it gets to much at times, threatening to kill someone (with proof, so chatlogs etc) can and likely will get you arrested, there ain't so many because people don't tell people or just ignore it.

I have never been properly cyberbullied. Yeah people swear at me online whatever but thats nothing when its someone you know doing it. If someone I knew did, I would just take the proof right to the police and see how much they laugh then.

A common statement: 'Laugh at it and your part of it'

If that was true and the majority of people who get cyber bullied are by people who they actually know in real life than that person is obviously scared about doing it face to face so resorts to the internet. If that was the case then surely everyone would realise it was nothing sincere because they're a crap bully, lol.

If it was someone at college doing it, they'd be ripped to shreds anyway, bullying is one thing but cyber bullying someone you actually know in real life is something else. Regardless of who they were, and their popularity if everyone found out they cyber bullied other people from college they'd soon be getting criticised by everyone around them.

[AlexOC]

I think it's strange how people get all worked up about it, Like when im playing on Fifa and someone wins me and they send a message like "hahaha your ****" it dosent make me bat and eyelid, let alone become really upset about it.

Like most people, ive had lots of people swear at me and try to insult me, luckily i just laugh it off.

[lBlue]

i get bullied in the sports section by plastics.

[e5]

Some people see it and find it a joke, therfore join in after hearing about cyber bullying. Generally, there is just arse holes out who do things without thinking of the consequences, or do, but not the right ones, and I've never actually seen someone take not of anti-cyber bullying websites if I am totally honest ;/ - Bullies don't like to lose street cred or whatever so won't listen to sites and do it more to act even cool - Fact.