Digital media has paved the way for many new aspects of our society. It allows us to network and socialize — even harass people to the point of suicide.
What? Did you think I was going to leave out one of the main uses of social media?
Even on college campuses people can stoop to middle school immaturity. Don’t even think about denying that sub-tweet from this weekend.
LSU has a public awareness campaign that says “if you see something, say something,” but this represents everything wrong with society’s outlook on bullying.
You shouldn’t only be required to intervene in bullying if it’s visible, because most of today’s bullies work over cyberspace.
On Sept. 9, a 12-year-old Florida girl jumped from a three-story cement tower to her death. She had been cyberbullied for months by her classmates.
Rebecca Sedwick received messages telling her she should “kill herself” and “drink bleach and die.” I don’t know whether to direct my anger at the 12- and 14-year-old girls who sent her these messages or the parents for not stopping these horrific acts of unkindness.
I realized, however, that the digital age is progressing faster than we can keep up. Children are using technology at a younger age than our generation, which is even younger than our parents were.
It’s wrong to blame parents for the actions of their children. First off, it’s the child who should know bullying over any kind of platform is wrong. Second, most older parents don’t even understand the technology that keeps coming out and therefore have no way of monitoring their child’s behavior online.
This gap in digital understanding will continue to grow as newer media come out and adults get older. Staying in the loop is hard for any generation of parents but especially lately with the progress our world has been making electronically.
In the Florida case, the girls who bullied Sedwick may not have been taught that bullying is wrong given their public lack of regret after she died. One Facebook post by the 14-year-old said, “yes I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself, but I don’t give a f***.”
People don’t take cyberbullying as seriously as physical bullying because it isn’t face-to-face contact. In many ways, it can be more harmful because bystanders, like teachers or parents, aren’t there to prevent it.
Many states have laws that will hold children accountable for bullying if it goes too far, but not all these laws include online harassment and off-campus actions. It doesn’t make sense to only hold people accountable for their actions in only one form.
It’s like saying you can only get in trouble for murdering someone in public because everyone can see you, but not when you murder someone alone in your home. You can get in trouble for murder anywhere, if there is enough evidence.
The same should go for bullying.
Our generation needs to change the way we look at bullying so we can implement systems to control it. The way technology is advancing should be taken into account when we teach children how to communicate and problem solve with their peers.
Elementary schools should take it upon themselves to educate their students on the consequences of cyberbullying because parents cannot always be held accountable in this subject. Unfortunately, bullying is not likely to be wiped out completely, considering children can be some of the cruelest humans. But society needs to look for ways to protect the victims from the bullies.