Cyberbullying: Taking Responsibility

Jessica Casillas

Lamar University

September 13, 2020

People post moments of their lives on social media, there is no telling who is watching and if that information is circulating around the web. Similarly, when people share emails with damaging information, those conversations may be stolen and spread through the internet. Technology has become a medium, an unstoppable force, that can ruin people's lives. Human beings and/or bullies, are only part of the problem. According to Bullying beyond the schoolyard: Preventing and responding to cyberbullying by Hinduja & Patchin, bullying in general is defined as when someone says or does something intentionally hurtful and they continue to do so after being told to stop. They don't stop even though the person is visibly upset (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015, p. 8). It is not just someone doing it once or is just trying to be mean. Cyberbullying is a deliberate attempt to hurt someone with words or actions and does so for a long period of time. Considering how frequent this behavior becomes, adults and bystanders should be able to spot it when it happens. Who should take responsibility in educating our community about Cyberbullying?

The most public and well known example was in the case of Monica Lewinsky. She became a household name for having an affair with the president. She sustained frequent attacks for more than a decade. In addition to intimate details about her involvement, audio tapes were also released to the public and worsened the public scandal (Lewinsky, 2015). Everyone who had a television sat there and watched this unfold with little regard to how it affected her and her family. Regardless, we heard the story spread and even in conversations in our households. There is a point where we must separate the scandal from the person and decide for ourselves to have empathy for a person and their suffering. She humbly suggests that if it wasn't for the kindness and empathy in others, she wouldn't be here (Lewinsky, 2015).

There are 49 states that have anti-laws now that require school districts to have anti-bullying policies that can criminalize students for bullying. It is now required that districts create internet safety, ethics, and etiquette training and curriculum (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015, p. 132). This means that schools have the greatest responsibility. Consequently, teachers have the most important role for educating students in this regard. Teachers can do this poorly or do such an effective job that there is no room for this behavior.

The Lewinsky- Clinton scandal was one of the first scandals and would now be considered cyberbullying because of those who persistently harassed her all those years. This is only one example of a mistake spread across the world with harmful intent. With today's technology and people sitting behind a screen with no accountability, this can happen to anyone. Hinduja & Patchin (2015) provide some major points about prevention and taking responsibility. The one that resonated with me the most was "Educating Parents". They described examples where the districts have released letters encouraging parents to take an active role. It would make a significant impact on our communities if parents were educated on this issue. In conclusion, accepting the responsibility of handling and preventing cyberbullying, the district, the school, the parents, and peers are able to work together and have a positive learning community.

Sources

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard: Preventing and responding to . cyberbullying. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Lewinsky, M. (2015, March 15). The price of shame. TED Conferences. [VIDEO]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U