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Bullies, Teenagers, and Technology
How Your Hurtful Words Get Amplified Online
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” simply does not apply in a world where those words can be amplified. When your words can be sent instantly to 1,000 people with the push of a button, the potential virality of any given post makes them exponentially worse.
Bullying is not something new, but the technology used to proliferate emotionally damaging words at an exponential rate is. Unlike bullying of yesteryear, the imbalance of power created by technology between the victim, the bully, and now enablers allows the bully to hide behind a screen, to escape any possibility of adverse consequences resulting from their behavior, and to multiply the assault through a variety of methods created by any individual social media platform.
In a high school environment, it is a parent’s worst nightmare. It’s beyond frustrating to see children treat each other so callously and to know that there is no way to put a stop to it. I have lived this experience a few times with my teenage daughter and I have seen it on numerous occasions. Cyberbullying is ubiquitous, but it happens on such a small scale that those in positions of power choose not to address it. The current cultural attitude towards cyberbullying is one of acceptance (e.g. “it comes…
