Rise Of Cyberbullying

With the rise of texting, emailing, chatrooms, and social media, there has also been the rise of cyberbullying. Some are calling it an epidemic among children because it appears that no one is safe from it because of the fact that our entire lives seem to revolve around the very media that is responsible for cyberbullying. Now, it is widely understood that media itself isn’t bullying people, but rather that people are using media to harass and heckle other people by hiding behind a screen and a username. To quote Mesch (388), “cyberbullying has been defined as willful a repeated harm inflicted through the use of e-mail, cell phone, instant messaging, and defamatory Web sites.” Part of the reason that the problem is so severe is due to the amount …show more content…
Age and gender also have an impact, as “the risk of being bullied is higher for older adolescents and lower for younger adolescents … a higher percentage of boys are involved in conversations in chat rooms, and girls are more involved in e-mail communication” (Mesch 389). Many parents and organizations are at work trying to stop cyberbullying, and there have been studies on the effectiveness of various types of parental mediation in preventing it. When pertaining to cyberbullying, restrictive mediation is use of devices that restrict content and websites the child can be exposed to (Mesch 388-389). Co-viewing does not apply well to cyberbullying, as there is a lowered chance of children viewing the media that they are being cyberbullied on in front of their parents, let alone commit the act of cyberbullying in front of them. Active mediation (called “evaluative mediation” by Mesch) presents a discussion on internet use and content as well as a platform to co-create rules to regulate the amount of internet use and determining which sites can and cannot be used (Mesch …show more content…
Many people feel uncomfortable knowing that things that had long been considered bedroom topics are now commonplace to be seen on televisions, heard in music, or written about online. Many parents dislike this; they worry that it will corrupt their children or they believe that children should not be exposed to these things at the ages they are. Consequentially, the various methods of parental mediation have been applied. Co-viewing is revealed to have a negative effect in regards to sexual media. According to Nikken and Graaf, “co-viewing of sexual television content is related to engaging in sex at a younger age and having more sexual partners” (1697). This is most likely caused by an “unintentional endorsement of the content and characters, thereby making the sexual behaviors more acceptable” (Nikken & Graaf 1697-1698). Active and restrictive mediation both tend to be more effective in preventing unwanted sexual behavior; “adolescents have less permissive sexual attitudes or less sexual experience if the parents apply some form of mediation on their media consumption … adolescents’ first sexual intercourse was delayed particularly if parents formerly had applied restrictions and regulations on the child’s sexual media usage” (Nikken & Graaf 1697). Active parenting, due to its communicative style, is particularly effective. Nikken and Graaf write: “Parental