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Alejandro Gomez

Professor Jennifer Rodrick

English 115 Fr. 2- 4:45

27 September 2017

Technology the New Gate Way to Bullying

Technology can be beneficial to many people, but it can also result in vague outcomes.

The result of people using technology can have a negative effect on other peoples lives. For

example, bullying others online can be a source of a negative outcome. Cyberbullying is a major

issue that the internet allows one to cause harm to others. Cyber bullying can range from small

disagreement on someones post to continuously picking one someone just because that person

doesn't like them. Cyberbullying is an aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or

individual, using electronics of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot

easily defend him or herself (Salford) .This form of bullying can usually be seen in young

adults such as high schoolers or sometimes even middle schoolers. Cyberbullying is a major

factor that technology has provided people today with. Bullying someone with out physical

contact is mentally disorienting. This upshots them into believing that they are not worthy due to

the fact that they are getting picked on by someone on the web. With todays technology,

cyberbullying is a harmful act that takes place on the internet and shapes the victim into having

their identity crumbled into pieces due to people putting them down emotionally and mentally.

To begin with, technology is a new platform for people to bully other people virtually.

The bullying being virtual does not seem like the people getting bullied would really have there

self-esteem devaluated but thats not the result in many cyberbullying cases. Many young adults
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have taken their own lives due to cyberbullying, because they could not take it anymore and just

wanted to end their suffering of humiliation. For example, Rebecca Sedwick was one of many

people who were cyberbullied and decided to take her own life to put an end to her tormenting.

An excerpt from a credible article by Nanci Hellmich states that, Rebecca Sedwick of Lakeland,

Fla., who died Sept. 9, was picked on for months by as many as 15 girls through online message

boards and texts. Sedwick was on sites such as Ask.fm, Kik, Instagram and Voxer (Latest

cyberbullying tragedy could be a teachable moment). This quote helps prove that this young girl

was bullied on social networks that are used through the access of technology and these

perpetrators managed to harass this girl into a bad mental state of mind. Nanci Hellmich articles

also says, They allegedly taunted and bullied a 12-year-old girl who jumped to her death last

month from an abandoned cement factory tower (Latest cyberbullying tragedy could be a

teachable moment). This implies that putting this young girl in a bad state of mind caused her to

take her own life because she couldn't bare with all of the cyberbullying that she was being

tormented with. Cyberbullying is an opposing source that can prove that technology has created

a new gate to commit harmful acts to another human-being.

Furthermore, in the case of Rebecca Sedwick technology, had a negative outcome of its

usage for her identity. Since it concluded in her taking her own life, which put an end to her

bullying. Calling people names and telling them harmful threats can really bump down

someones self-esteem causing them into putting their identity into a mental state of change that

will alter their perspective on life. Another excerpt from Hellmichs work provides, One of the

suspects is accused of posting a message on the Internet saying the victim should drink bleach

and die (Latest cyberbullying tragedy could be a teachable moment). In other words, this

evidence demonstrates that stating life threatening comments to a person can really take a toll on
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someones life causing them into seriously injuring themselves or sometimes even causing their

own death like in the case of Sedwick. Cyberbullying is a really bad impact that todays

technology has created and it can be done by anyone who can be granted the ability to get on the

web.

Important as Rebecca Sedwicks case, there are many other cases significantly eye-

opening as hers. For instants, Ryan Patrick Halligan, a 13 year old boy in Vermont, US who

committed suicide, because classmates at his school cyber bullied him online (No Bullying). Not

just Ryan but Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl who hanged herself in a bedroom closet, because

her cyberbullying escalated when classmates and friends on MySpace began writing disturbing

messages and bulletins about her (No Bullying). Also Tyler Clementi, a gay 18 year old who

committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge due to the fact that Clemenits

room mate during his freshman year at Rutgers University, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam in

September 2010 to stream footage of Clementi kissing another boy, resulting him into becoming

a twitter thread with ridicule comments (No Bullying). These are totally different people;

however they all share one factor. That factor being that they were all victims of cyberbullying

and took their own lives just to put an end to there suffering caused by others. Many different

cases of suicides influenced by cyberbullying will keep on taking a toll as long as technology is

around. Technology has created a major impact upon peoples identity to be more than enough for

someone to handle and just put an end to their life. The internet has become a new gate way for

people to be put down emotionally.

In conclusion, Technology is a new major source that has provided people now a days,

with access to being able to bully someone with out actually any physical contact. However they

can mentally disorienting into believe they are not worthy due to the fact that they are getting
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picked on by someone on the webspace. In which it persuades the victims into having their

personal identity decay into bits of pieces due to the fact that people are putting them down

mentally. In the case of Rebecca Sedwick technology wasn't her best choice of her identity.

Technology took a tally on her death due to the fact that it has been a traumatic experience for

her since she was being bullied by about 15 girls. Sedwick is one of the many victims that

technology has taken the life of. Cyberbullying is something no young person should experience

since it causes many to boot down their self-worth or self-esteem. Ryan Patrick Halligan, Megan

Meier, and Tyler Clementi were also victims like Sedwick who were bullied to their death. These

young adults had the same right to live without being bullied as righteous as the perpetrators who

weren't bullied by the victims. Having Technology in the hands of the wrong people can really

cause harm to someone, while on the other hand the perpetrator/s does not see it as harmful

because it is virtual. Although, in reality it is very harmful because is can result into someone's

death if they can not take the bullying anymore such as in the case of Sedwick and the other

victims that were talked about above. Overall technology has been a new gate way for young

people to get bullied and causing them into doubting their identity into believe they aren't worthy

of living anymore. Technology has shaped peoples identity, in both online and in real life to a

great extent that many see technology as a act to harm others with out seeing the consequences

as seriously until they have taken action.

Work Cited

Nanci, Hellmich. "Latest Cyberbullying Tragedy Could Be a Teachable Moment." USA Today,

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=0c13d726-

bb92-4c2c-855e-
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464684ce0a76%40sessionmgr120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=J0E

160921736613&db=aph , Accessed: 27 Sept. 2017

The Top Six Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases Ever. NoBullying, 27 Mar. 2017,

https://nobullying.com/six-unforgettable-cyber-bullying-cases/ , Accessed: 02 Oct. 2017

What is cyberbullying? #StopCyberBullying. Salford Business School, 16 Apr. 2014,

YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Op2KZCb88 , Accessed: 03 Oct. 2017