Negative comments can hurt everyone
By Forest Lassman
Photo illustration by
Anya Ivantseva
A single hurtful comment or picture posted on Facebook can ruin a life. What may seem like an inauspicious line can cause untold stress on the person on the receiving end.
Cyberbullying affects millions of people across the world. According to the Health & Human Services, cyberbullying can lead to a variety of problems for the recipients, from anxiety and depression to a decrease in academics. Cyberbullying can cause increases in alcohol or drug abuse.
One thing that makes cyberbullying different than regular bullying is the medium. The internet can bring out very different responses than talking in person, according to Jim Pettitt, associate professor of psychology.
“[The internet is] more autonomous. Even if the person knows who that person is, they’re not confronting them face -to-face, so they can’t react,” Pettitt said. “They can’t get mad at you or hit you back or punch you in the face. You don’t really see them react until what you hear about later on, so it’s kind of a displaced type of interaction that happens over a period of time rather than an immediate interaction that happens between two people.”
Pettitt also feels that this is part of a larger trend.
“One of the things I think we’re losing the abilty to do is being able to read the person’s nonverbal responses,” Pettitt said. “How they look, how their face changes [or] how their eyes change … you don’t see that on cyberbullying, so you can’t read it. You might not even be aware of the fact that what you said hurt them as bad as it did because you can’t see them and you can’t see their reaction.”
Student Kalcert Crager agrees that distance is one of the causes.
“[People perform cyberbullying] because of the distance between each other; they don’t have to face any real repercussions, so they feel like they can just get away with it more online than in real life.”
Student Lauren Baer feels that these problems are an effect of the freedom we have.
“[Cyberbullies] take advantage of the first amendment I think. They take advantage of the freedom they have, and it sucks,” Baer said.
While almost anyone can be the victim of cyberbullying, some are more at risk. Those that are viewed as being weak, depressed or different in any other way are more likely to be bullied. Those with low self-esteem are are more likely to be affected, the HHS said.
If you suffer from cyberbullying or want to find out more about the effects and how to stop it, visit the HHS website at www.stopbullying.gov.