Cyber-Bullying: A Serious Epidemic In The United States

Bullying is a crime that comes in different forms of abuse. It has become a serious epidemic in the United States affecting every sector of society. Bullying, like any other crime, does not discriminate based on a person’s sexual orientation, age, religion, ethnicity and race, physical and mental disability. Many victims of bullying are reluctant to come forward whether it is to family members, friends, school officials, and law enforcement authorities in fear of being further victimized and traumatized by those who are supposed to protect them. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2003), defines bullying as “a person who is habitually cruel and overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people”. Bullying has been …show more content…
Cyber-bullying is used by perpetuators anonymously with little accountability via electronic technology equipment to victimize their victims as they please non-stop. According to Walrave and Heirman (2011), cyberbullying increases slightly with age throughout adolescence and with less computer supervision. Cyber-bullying is a deliberate act an indirect form that a perpetuator uses to feel more powerful in order to inflict severe harm to their victims using a wider audience who can witness their actions. Dictionary.com (2015), defines cyber-bullying as: “actions that use information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group with the intent to harm another or others”. Many perpetrators use the social media (face book, internet, e-mail, twitter and texting) make humiliating derogatory remarks without any provocation from the victim. Many perpetrators use technological devices, because it is an anonymous way to harm their victims psychologically. Perpetrators use technological devices to victimize people as a form of imbalance of power and domination. Friends of cyberbullying victims often are put in no-win situations because they feel pressure to come to the defense of their friends (Weber, Nicole; Pelfrey, William, 2014, p.127). Many students who are victims of cyberbullying refuse to tell their parents or guardians of the situation that they are going through in fear that their parents may be proactive and respond negatively by punishing and restricting them of their technological devices. They refuse to seek the protective measures taken by their parents to protect them from further