Cyberspace, specifically social media, is a brand new medium for bullies to torment their victims. At first, it can seem like a place where these victims can fight back, a place where they can “block,” “unfriend” or “delete” their bullies, but it is not that simple. For example, in the pretty well known story of Amanda Todd, her bully relentlessly ruined her life through the multiple high schools she switched through. Social media can actually make bullying far easier and make the victims’ refuge into hell.
In fact, cyberbullying can be far worse than normal bullying in that it has permanence; hateful messages can be preserved by the victim or the bully so the victim can read them over and over. This can be very damaging as each read causes more harm. Furthermore, there is a greater audience to the bullying. This greatly increases the humiliation as there is a potential for millions of viewings. Moreover, there is an opportunity for the bully to create campaigns against the victim potentially involving even strangers. This cycle eventually led to Amanda Todd's suicide. These campaigns can also involve other family members, “friends” and acquaintances; again, this causes far more harm and humiliation.
Now that “roasting” has become a funny way to get ‘likes’ and ‘follows,’ cyberbullying, masked as a joke, has become rampant across social media. Although it can be funny, it can also be very harmful. “Roasting” pokes fun at a person’s insecurities, and when masked as a joke, it can be hard for the victim to show that he/she is actually hurt by the bully. Not only does the greater audience, and familiarity to the audience increase, the speed of the bullying is much faster. It would take less than thirty seconds to type and send “Ur ugly.” This allows for the potential of more harm and hate in a shorter period of time. The victim cannot escape the bullying; with cyberspace, the bully and victim don’t need be in the same place anymore. To conclude, cyberbullying, far worse than traditional-style bullying, must be deleted.
