Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Study

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A 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Study determined that fifteen percent of high school students were bullied via some sort of electronic device (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Study, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services). Two years later, in 2015, seven in ten young people are experiencing cyber bullying (The Complicated Web of Teen Lives – 2015 Bullying Report). There are thousands of cyber bullying statistics out there for the world to see, but many people would actually be surprised to see how common cyber bullying really is. Just these two statistics alone show how rapidly these numbers are increasing. Cyber bullying is a very serious issue that needs to be dealt with accordingly, as it has and is continuing to destroy the…show more content…
I do however have an experience to share that occurred within my circle of friends. One of my best friends was bullied by another friend of ours on Twitter. None of us really knew why our friend would have done this, but he posted some very hateful comments about her on his page, for everyone to see. The friend who made the hateful posts was called up by our school administration and given a warning and was forced to delete the tweets. A few weeks later, there was another incident of him calling her and harassing her as well as posting more tweets. This time, he was given two days out of school suspension. Despite the more strict punishment he was given this time, the bullying had not completely stopped, as he continued the bullying for a few days. This is an example supporting the fact that punishments need to be far more…show more content…
Even those who are not bullied themselves contribute to the issue. Many students who are aware that bullying is going on, either overlook it or chose not to report it. I would say that most students are not fully aware of how serious of an issue this is, or are afraid they will be targeting for telling. The same goes for the students who are being bullied. They are likely afraid that telling an adult will only make things worse. Bullying causes depression, frustration, violence and even suicide in some cases. I believe that we need to start encouraging students to speak up about cyber bullying, even if they are not involved. Students need to be taught that silence is never the answer, and that they could potentially help save the life of a student being

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