Technology and Cyber-Bullying Research Assignment

Technology and Cyber-Bullying
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Technology and Cyber-Bullying
Cyber-bullying occurs when children, preteen, teenagers, and at times adults are harassed, threatened, mortified, tortured or targeted by others over the Internet or through digital and interactive technologies using mobile phones or computers (Hinduja& Patchin,2008). Bullies are motivated to their actions on the victims out of peer pressure or need for control with ignorance or without awareness of the effects of their behaviors to targets. Social media technologies and the Internet are rampant in facilitating this type of crime. They allow people to be connected throughout the world, thus offering good channels for evil perpetration. Technologies that are mostly utilized in cyber-bullying include Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
Through Facebook, a person hacks an account of another and may impersonate the target person. This is then followed by making online comments, updating posts, adding unpopular pictures, providing threats to others, as well as disclosing personal information, posting vulgar messages or even denigration (Taylor,Fritsch, & Liederbach, 2015). When this happens, group members change the perception they had about the victim/s, isolates them, commence looking at them in an unusual way, and sometimes end up in trouble with authority. All of these actions instill fear and cause depression, isolation and intimidation. Cyber-bullying is a destructive issue that tends to affect the attitude of an individual, especially when it comes to socializing with their colleagues.
Cyber-bullying on Twitter is carried out when people send expressions that are colloquial via tweets to humiliate and attack the target person. This is known as Twitter pooping. It leads to provocation and often insults the target person by utilizing the “net lingo” to convey the message to the target (Taylor,Fritsch, & Liederbach, 2015). Twitter is utilized mainly due to the fact that it has a fast message dissemination coupled with its disclosure nature and taunting a large number of people within a short time. Twitter is recognized as one of the main social media platforms that have been utilized for cyber-bullying.
On WhatsApp, cyber bullies use this application to send vulgar messages and unpopular posts about other group members in their WhatsApp groups, leading to embarrassments, discrimination and even isolation. They can send graphics and phonographic information that instill fear and stress to the members (Taylor,Fritsch, & Liederbach, 2015). Consequently, members can also receive personal information about their colleagues and immediately disseminate them to other groups thus continuing the spread. Others can post links and websites which once opened, result in mental disturbance and sometimes nightmares. They can also start gossiping about their colleagues in the group as a way of attacking their target recipient. Studies have revealed that messages that ...