According to www.nobullying.com, 7 in 10 young adults are victims of cyber bullying. In a survey of more than 1000 students, 20 percent of them are victimized in extremes on a daily basis, and 37 percent of them are bullied frequently.
Social networking is the leading cause of this type of bullying. 54% of young people reported being victimized on Facebook, “being the highest in traffic of all social networks,” along with ask.fm. 21 percent of YouTube users reported being bullied, along with 24 percent on Instagram, 22 percent on Tumblr, and 28 percent on Twitter.
The statistics grow every day that we stand by and give them growing grounds. So when is enough, enough? Perhaps enough is when the students of Searcy High’s reputations are put in jeopardy.
A new Twitter page is leaking out secrets and rumors about not only SHS students and teachers, but Cabot, Beebe, Riverview, and other districts around Arkansas.
The page has been currently suspended due to embarrassment of several individuals. That didn’t stop the account users, however. They continued to post with a new name, still choosing to remain anonymous to avoid embarrassment and exposure. But the question is: Why hide your identity to avoid your own embarrassment while causing that same embarrassment to students around the state? Ironic.
After the shut down of this account and several others, Twitter users conjured up more names and secrets to further harm the social statures of students city wide. These accounts are spinoffs of the main account, like the companions of a bully who recently got suspended, which indeed it did. But this isn’t the only case of bullying. Other accounts on Twitter have sought out to ruin reputations, such as gossip pages from other schools and our own.
Even if bullying ended, the recovery of the victims reputation and the embarrassment affiliated would never be cured. The account users may think they are making noble cases and being whistleblowers, but with absolutely no facts to back up their arguments, they prove to be sorry excuses for peers and an example of what boredom and lack of motivational schoolwork can lead to.
Based on messages sent in, they post tweets that could potentially ruin friendships, relationships, and self-esteems. There is no worthy cause for accounts like these, and as noble as they feel they are, they prove with every hurtful word tweeted to be publicity-thirsty jerks. Bullying, in any form it may come in, is not a joke.
According to www.stopbullying.org, “15 percent of high school students seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months and 7 percent reported making at least one suicide attempt in the previous year.” Children and youth involved in bullying occurrences are more likely to have depression and suicidal thoughts, and if severity increases, are more likely to act upon these emotions.
Several cases of suicide appear each year.
Fifteen-year-old, Ciara Pugsley of Ireland, committed suicide in the woods close to her house on Sept. 29, 2012. Her reasoning for suicide was the social networking site, ask.fm.
On October 27, 2012, thirteen-year-old Erin Gallagher of Ireland took her own life after being bullied on ask.fm.
On December 11, 2012, Jessica Laney of Pasco County, Florida hung herself after being bullied about her weight on ask.fm. (buzzfeed.com). She was sixteen years old.
Fifteen-year-old Joshua Unsworth of England hung himself after being bullied him about his dating habits on April 7, 2013.
Amanda Todd of Canada suffered a prolonged case of bullying both in school and out. After posting a YouTube story about her experiences with bullying and skyping others with sad note cards about her life, Todd took her life on a Wednesday night.
We agree, as a staff, agree that cyber-bullying, or any form of bullying, is wrong and not a joke.
