Is Cyberbullying Cyberpunk?
Technology in our recent past has amplified inhumanity with the increase in cyberbullying. In the past, if someone was bullied at school, going home would be a sanctuary, away from the bullying. Today however, bullying follows a student home due to the accessibility of technology and how invincible people feel behind it. This new type of bullying is harder to control and stop because it can occur over several media sites: Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and text messaging. These are all mediums by which these kids can be attacked.
Personally, my age demographic is a little older than the normal age of cyberbullies. There were still bullies on the playground but in my own personal experience, none of that bullying followed me home. My brother however, has more experience with cyberbullying. Even though he’s only three years younger than me, the stories he would tell me about the kids in his grade sending or posting inappropriate pictures of others, girls specifically, made me sick. This to me proves that the level of inhumanity skyrocketed at the hands of technology. In an intimate moment between two people, a girl’s trust is betrayed and suddenly everyone sees her in a bad light. Not the boy who betrayed her trust. While there are definitely scenarios when boys are cyberbullied, this was a situation which immediately came to mind after thinking about the increased level of inhumanity within the digital era.
The blame of cyberbullying can easily be placed on the individual doing the act, and while I believe that we should continue to discipline those who violate people such as the boys I addressed in the anecdote above; the blame should additionally be placed on technology and how people feel powerful behind it. Apps, such as snapchat, are made where a message can disappear within 10 seconds of the receiver opening it, which is extremely conducive to cyberbullying. These sites are preying on the vulnerability and the foolishness of our youth and they’re profiting off situations which put kids in danger.
