CYBERBULLYING AND INTERNET SAFETY

Cyberbullying is an unfortunate widespread phenomenon among teens. It’s a new form of bullying: bullying online, especially on social media.

The bullies hide behind a fake username so they feel invincible and the insult the weakest using strong and impolite words.

But what is cyberbullying. It’s sending pictures and publishing private information without permission, it’s writing mean comments to someone just to make them suffer.

The reasons are not that clear but one thing’s for sure: words can hurt more than actions.

The victims of cyberbullying are mostly teenagers because they’re the ones who spend the majority of their time surfing online.

People who suffer because of it rarely tell adults what’s going on and the reason isn’t so easy to understand. Maybe they don’t talk about it because they’re scared of the bully so they feel like it’s safer if you don’t reveal the truth, or they’re just ashamed.

I’ve never been a victim this phenomenon but I know some people that have faced the problem. There is a TV series called “13 Reasons Why” that tells the story of a young girl who committed suicide because she was the object of continual insults and evil comments.

It made me think a lot: if you commit suicide it means you have had enough of your life, if you choose death over life it means that you have reached the limit and this is horrible, it’s

really awful.

Nowadays, cyberbullying is getting more widespread because teens pay a lot of attention to social media. It is impossible for us not to use them.

Having many followers and receiving lots of likes are two of the most important things for us teens. Our reputation online is more relevant than the real one because no one wants to be judged by an ugly picture of us so it’s like we must take care of social media and our appearance online.

Unfortunately, we can’t avoid this phenomenon but if we are victims or we know someone who is a victim instead, we must talk with an adult or a person we trust and we should never keep it secret.

We watched this video in one of our English lessons and I'd like to share it with you here. I hope you'll enjoy it. 

Maria D.