Cyber Bullying

Throughout the decades, everyone has heard of bullying. It has become a serious issue in our culture today, and a lot of people are working hard to make sure that upcoming generations are educated about the seriousness of bullying. This is wonderful, but a new kind of bullying has come to light in the last decade or so, cyber-bullying. In our culture today, technology has become more than just a convenience or something we CAN use, it's become something that we MUST use. Especially young adults who are growing up in a time where they don't know a world without a smartphone in their hand at every waking moment. In addition to the common use of cellular devices and laptops,  social media is playing a huge and important role in the lives of children. They are beginning to sign up for Facebook accounts and use twitter much younger than website developers have anticipated. Due to this, they do not understand how to use social media properly, and they do not understand the impact that their cyber actions are having on others. Bullying is never a good thing, but in the past it had to be conducted face-to-face and it took a strong person to hurt another, now it has become so easy for anyone to hide behind the words on a computer screen, and torment others without having to recognize facial expressions or the full impact of their actions. Now is the time to rise up and educate even more the importance of treating others the way you want to be treated, and how your actions can affect others. It is important to teach students how to use social media and the cyber world in an appropriate way, and it is important to show students the impact that ANY kind of bullying has had on others. Parents, teachers, friends, and family need to speak up and talk to their kids.