Cyber Bullying

Cyber Bullying speech

Have you ever been cyber bullied? Or do you know anyone who has ever been cyber bullied?

Chances are the answer is yes due to the increasing and worrying presence of cyber bullying amongst today's young people.

Good afternoon Ms Stone, Mr Daunt Watney, members of the staff and students.

I'd like to explain the huge problem of cyber bullying that is facing young people in today's technological world.

Cyber bulling is the use of electronic communication to bully another person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. One reason cyber bullying is so hard to control is because it takes on so many different forms. It is not as simple as someone walking up to you on the playground and taking away your sandwich or books. It is the ultimate control technique designed to create terror in the minds of the victims and make them do things they feel uncomfortable with or to feel intimidated. This is similar to the traditional "real world" bullying but a difference is the victims of cyber bullying often feel hopeless due to the anonymous approach and often the level of damage that results has much worse consequences than traditional bullying.

Cyber bullying has built up over quite a period of time and is still becoming worse. Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online and 1 in 4 has had it happen more than once. With 80% of teens using a cell phone this is the most common way of cyber bullying. 68% of teens agree that cyber bullying is a serious problem but I want to make that percentage higher. Bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person with 81% of young people agreeing.

One reason cyber bullying is so common is because it gives bullies an easier way to hurt other people since they don't have the chance of feeling guilty and bad as don't see the individual person's reaction.

Our neighbour had a daughter called Jessica and we had the right amount of closeness for her to have enough courage that I wouldn't judge her and she could tell me what was going on. She told me that she was receiving these horrible anonymous messages saying 'nobody likes you' and 'your horrible and fat'. It brought tears to my eyes but she told me I could not tell her or my parents about it. Jessica continued getting the nasty messages which were getting worse and as the months went by she was becoming more depressed. I was worried about her so I decided to tell her parents. At first they were angry that we hadn't told them about it earlier but they they thanked me for telling them and a few days later the messages suddenly stopped and Jessica could get back to her normal life. I was so happy.

What makes the problem harder for parents, friends and relations is that teens don't have enough courage to tell somebody since feel they will be judged. Once the person tells someone about it the problem seems to get better already. I would like to teach parents to be able to read the signals and bring up the conversation themselves with the teens which will give them the courage to talk since won't feel judged. Teens and kids can also get help from different people after the word has been put out. There are websites that help you and also counsellors that talk to you and listen to your side of the story and what is going on and I suggest talking to grandparents and godparents if you can't talk to your parents.

I think everybody knows the common saying "think before you speak". I would like to extend this to "think before you send" when you are online. Think about what your grandma would think before you send and how she would feel reading the words and not be ashamed of you.

I would like to thank you for listening and hope I have delivered this massively important problem well so in your minds at all times.

And always remember... Think before you send!

Thank you