Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking - Essay Example

? Cyber Bullying Cyber Bullying Cyber bullying entails cyber harassment, cyber stalking, and impersonation (Kalpidou, Costin & Morris, 2008). The use of media in the society provides a path for socializing, cognitive development of the youth, emotional expression, thus it defines the way a person would spend his time. The advent of internet led to social networking which has rapidly grown in the recent past. Many social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, twitter, Fraudster provide an interface, which links people from various parts of the world (Kalpidou, Costin & Morris, 2008). Technology has provided a means through, which people are able to post their photographs and shares their views about life. The number of social network users keeps growing everyday. Social networks provide a cheap way of expressing ideas. The use of social network poses various challenges in the society (Karen, 2006). Reports indicate that many people utilize the social networks and other online services to create harm to others. This paper explores the factors that contribute to cyber bullying by focusing on use of media in networking. Cases of cyber bullying have continued to hit the headlines in United States. In 2008, 1, 521, 000 reported cases of cyber bullying. The bullying spanned all the races regardless of their religious affiliations. Research indicates that 20 percent of students in United States exhibit tendencies of committing suicide. The alarming statistics of cases of cyber bullying prompted the government of United States to enact rules and policies to curb the crime. Many states in United State have enacted to control cyber bullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). The method used in passing information influences the legal implication on the victims. In some cases, an individual may fail to identify the gravity of the information that he relays to the society. Before an individual describes a case as cyber stalking, one has to identify the legal authority and its description to cyber stalking. Each case of cyber bullying has its own magnitude to an individual, thus prompting different approach in each case of cyber stalking. Some identified cases of cyber bullying include; premeditation, malice, distress, repetition, obsession, without legitimate purpose, vendetta, harassment, personally directed and disregarded warning to stop (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). The legal implication that various forms of bullying carry depends on the existing legislations in the society. For instance, malice has a different psychological impact to an individual compared to issuing of threats. Repetition of an event or various events in an individual life leads to internal mental movie or schemas (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). An individual has the ability to develop schemas of any occurrence. For instance, relationship schemas occur when a person experiences romantic or parental relationship. These schemas develop because of the perception developed by an individual regarding life experience. Bullying on the other hand would influence individual schemas since it occurs without the consent of the perpetrated party (Kalpidou, Costin & Morris, 2008). The society is experiencing various forms of bullying, which have psychological effects to the victim. For instance, cyber bullying may promote threatening information to unsuspecting individual. This information would psychologically torture the victim due to the internal mental schemas that he or she develops (Beran, 2007). Proper functionality of an individual depends on schemas that one develops over a certain period. Fear occurs due to schemas that an individual develops. A research into the causative factors of cyber bullying argues that crime depends on numerous social factors, which include differential association (Karen, 2006). For instance criminal activities of significant others have an influence to the associated parties e.g. peers. On the other hand, differential costs or benefits of the crime are another factor that influences crime in societal set up. Arguing from learning theory, crime is social activity, which an individual may learn through interaction that happens within intimate groups (Beran, 2007). Factors such as individual opinion, attitude, and perception concerning peer relationship have an influence on cyber stalking. An individual develops criminal intents after considering social and differential factors. It is apparent that each person is responsible for his behavior. Further, a perception towards a behavior has a greater influence than the behavior in question. Dealing with cyber bullying is a big challenge to the law enforcement officers because one, the perpetrators commits the offense through internet second, tracking of the criminal is not only expensive, but also requires ultra modern facilities (Beran, 2007). Available academic articles suggest that stepping up the war against cyber bullying demands goodwill from the society. Timely report furnished to the authority can help in boosting the fight against the cyber bullying. Police officers have the capability of acting on the information provided especially when the victims provide the information at the right time. Unfortunately, law enforcement officers encounter resistance from the public especially when the society fails to furnish the information about the perpetrators. Some critics have suggested that victims of cyber and cyber bullying often receive the bully information from people that they know (Kalpidou, Costin & Morris, 2008). Some states in America have constituted legal measures, which aim at addressing cases of cyber bullying. However, the implementation of the cyber bullying laws has not been effective because of the partial goodwill from the stakeholders to address the issue. For instance, in adequate information provided by the society would harbor the trend as opposed to stepping up the fight. Many reported cases of cyber bullying illustrate involvement of the perpetrator over along period. This indicates that the bullying activities form a habit of the perpetrator. Study on perception about cyber bullying presents a hypothetical scenario where an individual stalks the other (Beran, 2007). Further, observation indicates that gender factor influence the behavior of stalkers. For example, a male stalker continuously stalks a female victim for some time. The scenarios observed revealed a female bullying were frequent than in cases of male. The observation depicts a trend observed by women in the society. In many cases, women often fall prey to social evils directed to them by men (Beran, 2007). The research is not able to reveal the perception of the stalkers, but provide a basis of argument which illustrate the in all cases stalkers engaged in unwanted behavior for repeated number of times. Research on factors contributing to formation of bullying schemas argues that people develop schemas from various sources. Evidently, forms of mild harassing attitude such as give or send her/him a gift to severe bullying behavior such as threatening with a weapon occur to female than men (Karen, 2006). This illustrates that women are attuned to bullying than men. The method applied by men to seduce women also illustrates the extent of bullying in the society. It is probable that some cases of communication may expose one to bullying schemas based on previous experience. For example, some men insist on continuing with their quest for romantic relationship by ignoring women rejection. Online bullying behavior also illustrates similar bullying trends observed previously. Social networking sites provide information about individual background. For example, Facebook may contain detailed information about individual private life. Studies conducted among Facebook users indicate that cyber bullying is common (Beran, 2007). This occurs because the information of the Facebook user provides information that he or she did not intend to share in public. While the intention of social network is to provide a means of linking people, some bullying may occur when one is offline. In conclusion, the cyber bullying is an emergent social problem that has both psychological and physical effects on the victims. The concerned law enforcement officers can fight the crime through applying modern tracking techniques to acquire information about the where about of the perpetrators. In addition, arraigning and prosecuting the offenders will influence the social beliefs against the activity. The society would probably respond to the reaction of the law enforcers by reducing their activity in fear of the penalty for the crime. This paper recommends stern legal penalties for the offenders. There is need for enhances of legislation which aim at protecting victims of cyber stalking. In addition, it recommends public sensitization. This would help in fighting the problem because many people will see the sense of acting against such vises. References Beran, T. (2007). The Relationship between Cyberbullying and School Bullying. Retrieved 1 Dec 2012, from http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/jsw/article/viewfile/172/139. Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2010). Bullying, Cyberbullying and Suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 14 (3), 206-221. Kalpidou, M., Costin, D. & Morris, J. (2008).Cyberpsychology, Behavior, And Social Networking. The Relationship Between Facebook and the Well-Being of Undergraduate College Students. New York: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Karen, L. Y. (2006). Violence and Victims. Influence of Gender and Experience on College Students' BullyingSchemas. Arkansas: Arkansas State University Read More