Cyber Bullying in 2010

Waking up in the morning, you hear the beeping of your phone. Eagerly dressing, you grab it from your nightstand, and see an unread message. Quickly you tap the notification, and read the message. Your stomach sinks deep into your body, and you quickly scroll up the page with your finger. As you look at the recipients, your stomach sinks even further into your body, for the entire seventh grade was sent the message. You put the phone into your pocket, and with that short glimpse of your email, the entirety of your day has already been ruined.

When we think of bullying, we see a scrawny student being pushed into the dirt or a student's homework being ripped to shreds and thrown into a puddle. Although this may have been the case in the past, in today's day and age, the perpetrators of bullying are taking advantage of the resources they have to further degrade their victims. For example, by using cell phones, emails and various other technological tools, the bullies are not only able to show their power to the few children sitting around when someone is pushed into the ground or to the minority of bystanders who see a helpless student's work being ripped to shreds, but can also show their supremacy to the entire grade, the entire neighborhood, or even the entire city. By doing so, they can turn even the best of friends into the worst of enemies.

Although in our parents' childhoods, our teachers' childhoods, and even our grandparents' childhoods, kids may have been pushed, beaten, and verbally degraded, in our childhood, we face the most treacherous, difficult, and painful bullying yet: being tormented through the most powerful tool in the world, The Internet.