Freslassie 1

Zegeweini Freslassie
Prof Brian G.
Eng 102
March 3, 2013
Social Media: Detrimental or Beneficial?
Introduction:
What would our world look like without social networking sites? We forget that social
networking did not exist at one point, and we overuse the meaning of social networking. Social
networking sites provide people with the ability to connect and communicate with others, sharing
personal pictures, videos, comments and much more. Although it provides these good things,
teens are taking advantage of these sites and SNS are used wrong. Teens are spending excessive
amount on this sites chatting with friends and sometimes stranger, without knowing the negative
impact it has. Comments, post, pictures, and videos stay on these sites even after deletion. The
internet is A WRITTEN RECORD. It is exactly the same as publishing an article or photo in a
newspaper. Your words and images can be forwarded, re-posted, blogged and listed anywhere a
million times over (Utterly Global). It becomes for everyone to see and can be used against you
in a destructive way such as cyber bullying. The World Wide Web (www) was first invented by
Tim Berners, in 1989 allowing people to access and connect with people across the world. And
the creation of social networking sites began appearing, the most popular social networking sites
such as Myspace, Facebook and the worst of all Formspring. The creation of Myspace in 2003
was very popular. Not long after Facebook was created in 2004 and there was a big shift people
moving from Myspace to Facebook (Boyd), followed by Twitter in 2006 and finally Formspring
in 2009. These are only the current and few that are popular. Social networking sites discourage

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people from face-to-face interaction, and teens end up spending more time surfing on
unnecessary sites, increasing the risk of becoming a victim of a bully or sometimes become the
bully. I will talk about the how social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace provide
free pathway for bullies to find their prey, because bullies can create fake accounts and have fake
identity during the activity. Cyber bullying takes many insidious forms, causes terrible
psychological and emotional damage, and makes it difficult for parents to protect their children.
The United States Congress should create laws to protect children against cyber bullying via
social networking sites. I will be using statistic data from PEW Research Center throughout my
paper because they are trusted sources. I will also use other resource websites for statistical data
but Pew Research will be my main one.

Why is social networking sites negative place for teen?:

Social Networking Site function: Online utilities that allows users to create profiles
(public or private) and form a network of friends; allow users to interact with their friends via
public or private means...this also allow the postings of user-generated content such as photos
and videos (Subrahmanyam and Greenfield). Social networking site use is tremendously
growing as technology is advancing. A study done by the Kaiser Family Foundation concluded
over the year percent of young people grew the 8- to 18-year-olds: from 39% to 66% for cell
phones, and from 18% to 76% for iPods and other MP3 players (Kaiser Family Foundation).

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Figure 1: The use of SNS with teen is increasing over time.

Is the advancement of technology a good thing when it comes to our health? Providing
kids with cells phones and tablets at a very young age increases the chance of them having SNS
such as Facebook and Myspace. In Growing Up wired: Social Networking Sites and Adolescent
Psychosocial Development, the authors Lauren A. Spies and Gayla Margolin discuss the harm of
children owning electronics, according to the authors seventy-three percent of younger
generation today have social networking sites and that is because it is more accessible nowadays
with the new technology. Social Networking sites can be positive and negative. Spies and
Margolin discuss the positive sides of SNS which are sharing good news with friends but
similarly the negative side is distressing or objectionable information-including unflattering and
compromising pictures, untrue information, or unfortunate news social networking sites allow
people to share many things, sometimes unnecessary things that can lead to harm. Things shared
on them spread in a nanosecond (Spies and Gayla)

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According to the non-profit organization Bullies to Buddies, more than half of the teens
using online communication sites have been, or have, bullied. The negative effects of this
harassment cause: depression, loneliness, low self-esteem, and in the most extreme cases,
suicide. Teens have either been victims, or cyber bullies, according to this research. Cyber
bullying occurs when a child is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or
targeted by another child using the Internet, mobile phone, or other type of digital technology
(Bullies to Buddies). Today, cyber bullying usually takes place on social networking websites,
such as Myspace, Facebook, and Formspring. Cyber bullying is the electronic posting of meanspirited messages about a person (as a student) often done anonymously (Merriam Webster). SN
sites allow people to anonymously message their peers. In An Old problem in a New Guise?
Marilyn A. Campbell discusses what bullying face-to-face is and how cyber bullying is similar
but worse. Face-to-face bullying have been shown to be increased levels of depression, anxiety,
and psychosomatic symptoms in victims then she continues to say cyber bullying victims they
could be even more severe than those face-to-face bullying. Physical harm and threats on the
school grounds have turned into emotional and psychological problems via social networking
sites.
What are the negative impacts does cyber bullying via Social Networking sites contribute
to?:
Cyber bullying causes terrible psychological and emotional damage to teens and their
families. Social networking sites allow people to anonymously hurt people causing lower selfesteem, higher depression, and suicidal and problematic offline problems (Justin and
Hunduja). The after pain of cyber bullying affects everyone including the bullies themselves,
although it doesnt affect them more than it hurt the victim and their families. Those bullied feel

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excluded and harassed. Harassed by either an individual or a group, victims usually feel like that
they have no one to trust. Bullies who send hateful messages and comments inflict lifelong
damage to teens and their families. On the other hand, bullies also feel emotional damage. The
bully feels guilty and ashamed knowing that they negatively affected a persons life. When a
suicide occurs, some bullies feel tremendous guilt; others, no remorse. I was able to interview
my high school counselor Ms. Nash at Westmont High school in California, she no longer works
at the school but I manage to get a hold of her through a mutual student who worked for her. I
told her why I was contacting her and she was happy to work with me, she couldnt tell me a lot
because of the confidentiality issues but I asked her if she gets the bully students come to her
for help and she explained to me some answers she gets from bullies. When she asked them why
they do it, they responded because they wanted to have power, control, they think they will fit
in more, and feel popular She said not is it only hard to listen to the victims and try to help them
do, its also hard to listen to the bullies and hear why they bully which can be because they have
problems at home or they are not happy with themselves. And she also has to deal with parents
that have lost loved ones after receiving continues hatefully messages from her peers.
Rebecca Ann Sedwick a 12 year old committed suicide, after a group of girls constanly
tormented her sending hateful messages such as You should go and just kill yourself (Bullies
to Buddies). She saw suicide as the only way to escape her pain, causing pain to her loved ones.
This suicide caused serious damage to her loved ones, leaving them with heartache. 'My life is
just never going to be the same; Im missing a big part of it, a huge part of it (Rebecca mother).
Cyber bullying has many forms that affect peoples lives. In November of 2007, the PEW
Research Center interviewed over 935 parents and teens between the ages of twelve and
seventeen. Then, in September of 2008, PEW interviewed over 800 parents and teens. Based on

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those interviews, the organization concluded that: seventy-three percent of teens use an online
social network site; fifty-two percent have experienced harassment; fifteen percent have reported
having private material, such as Instant Messaging (IM), text messages, and email, forwarded
without permission; thirteen percent have received threatening messages; another thirteen
percent said that someone had spread a rumor about them while online; six percent had
embarrassing pictures posted without permission and twenty percent have experienced
harassment over their cell phones either by voice or text. Cyber bullying affects at least one out
of five teenagers (Pew Research Center). Hateful messages such as: Youre fat, ugly, I hate you,
no one likes you, go die stay on social networking sites. No one can control the contents posted
on these websites. No severe punishment happens to the bully; no apology goes toward the
victim, and no system exists to regulate this destructive pattern. Technologies, such as cell
phones and computers, make it easier for people to hurt one another because most teenagers
spend their time online. Computers and cell phones have safe qualities, but when used
improperly, they can cause more damage than good. Social networking sites, such as
Formspring, Myspace, and Facebook, allow teens to cyber bully. Since they spend a lot of their
time on these websites, bullies can anonymously cause damage to peers. Today, anyone at mostly
any age can create Myspace or Facebook account using real or fictional personal information
such as name, gender, age and even appearance, making online websites an unsafe place for all
teens. Sometimes the consequences of unsafe online usage can be extreme. In the case of
thirteen-year-old Megan Meier, the bullying resulted in death. She took her own life after the
mother of Meagans friend created a fake account on Myspace under the alias Josh Evans.
Meagan trusted him and eventually fell in love with the fictional Josh. After months of
friendship, the so-called mother, under Josh's name, sent hateful messages to Megan, calling

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her names that led her to depression. Meagan eventually committed suicide to escape her pain.
Since people can create a false identity while online, you cant always identify bullies by their
looks (Romain and Verdick).

Its becoming hard for parents to control their kids activities online?:
Parents do not have enough power to protect their children. Between working and taking
care of the house, its difficult for parents to monitor computer activities. New York Times writer
Richard Hoffman Online Bullies Pull Schools Into the Fray interviewed a boy at Benjamin
Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood N.J. When asked about how his parents monitor his
electronic activity, the boy responded My mom keeps threatening to get software so she can
monitor [my computer activity]...but she never gets around to it (Boy). Then another student
remarked I lied to my parents. I told them I deactivated my Facebook page. But in two days, I
started it again. Teen dont think about the risks, and when encounter cyber bullying student
indicate that they were unlikely to report cyber bullying to the adult (Agatston, Kowaslski and
Limber). Teens do not tell their parents about what they do onlinein fear of punishment. Only
1 in 10 teens tell a parent if they have been cyber bullied victim. Fewer than 1 in 5 cyber
bullying incidents are reported to the law enforcement (Bullies to buddies). Bullied teens
sometimes will not tell their parents or anyone else about what they go through; they just keep
the pain inside, feeling depressed when they should turn to their parent when something bad
happens. Sometimes telling a parent the situation can prevent suicide but in other cases some
parents might not know how to control technology. Parents do not understand how the internet
operates. Marcia, a Spanish-speaking mother of a teenager, explains: I dont use the internet at
all, so I wouldnt know about any communication websites, and I probably wouldnt understand

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it because I dont speak very well English (Hoffman). Because parents do not use technology as
much as teens do, they do not understand it. Those who do not speak English well have even
greater problem. The parents who understand technology try to monitor their childrens online
use, but sometimes cyber bullying goes out of control and parents turn to schools for help. For
example, Mr. Orsini, the principal of Benjamin Franklin Middle School, says, I had a 45-year
old father crying in my office, he keeps asking, why would someone do this to my son?
(Hoffman). Children at Benjamin Franklin Middle School bullied a mans son. The boy had
received constant, hateful messages from his peers. Harassing him through a Facebook page,
they taunted him because he had moved into town,. They made fun of his sexuality and called
him names and almost fifty of his classmates joined the bullying (Hoffman). Mr. Orsini could do
nothing because the event occurred off school property, which caused parents frustration and
anger, leaving the parents with no one to turn to. Sometimes the only thing parents can do after
the bullying starts is pull their child out of school and take them to a different school to avoid the
bullying. Unfortunately that is what happened with the case of Rebecca and the bullying still
followed her to her new school, eventually leading to suicide. The education code panel section
48900-48927 states. "The legislature declares that a safe and civil environment in school is
necessary for students to learn and achieve high academic standards. The legislature finds that
harassment, intimidation, or bullying, like other disruptive or violent behavior, is conduct that
disrupts both a student's ability to learn and a school's ability to educate its students in a safe
environment (Washington State Legislature). This law exists, but cyber bullying still occurs.
This law might scare kids not to do it in school but if it happens out of school, like the in above
example, the bully walks away and victim and parents are traumatized with it.

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How can we decrease the rate of suicides and Make SNS a safe place?:
Social networking sites are more detrimental than they are beneficial because of the risk
they have. Nobody wants to suffer or see their loved one suffer and people dont realize how
important cyber bullying is because it is taking away peoples life and still nothing is done about
it. For years people have been trying to stand up to stop bullying, yet there has been no change
because there isnt a big consequence. Not only do teens need to be though how to use social
networking sites but there need to be stronger laws with stronger consequences in order to
prevent an incident before it is too late and then take action. Living in a culture that encourages
competition and dominance, most Americans do not take bullying seriously. Today, some
children wake up in the morning knowing that a bully will target them. Low self-esteem,
depression, frustration, and behavior changes among youth and they are discouraged to even
leave their house. Physical bullying causes physical damage; cyber bullying, psychological
damage. Although cyber bullying does not always lead to suicide, it does negatively impact a
persons life. Government placing and enforcing laws against cyber bullying would prevent
future bullies from hurting others. While Myspace and Facebook exists as a social
communication site, some people abuse its accessibility by hurting others. Meagans story
mirrors the situations of many other victims; furthermore, millions of teenagers suffer from these
online bullies.

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Figure 1: Millions of teen who suffere from cyber bullying via Social
Networking Sites.

Since the government refuses to acknowledge these legitimate crimes, cyber bullying
causes conflicts, the number of suicides of bullied increase. To protect children against cyber
bullying, the United States Congress should create laws. Because cyber bullying takes many
insidious forms, causes terrible psychological and emotional damage, and makes it hard for
parents to protect their children, the government should make laws declaring cyber bullying as a
crime. For the safety of the community, for the safety of the lives of the young, and for the safety
of the Internet, the government should enforce these laws, as well. Teen should not have to live
in fear of waking up to go to school .Cyber bullying through social networking sites should not
negatively affect peoples lives and, since the government wants to protect its people, these laws
will help them do it. Little by little, the laws will help families come together to fight cyber
bullying.

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Work Cited:
Agatston, Patricia W., Robin Kowalski, and Susan Limber. Student Perspective on Cyber
Bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health. (2007): S59-60. Web. 11 Mar. 201.

Bullies to Buddies. N.p.,n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015

Campbell, Marilyn A. Cyber Bullying: An Old Problem in a New Guise? Australian Journal
of Guidance and Counseling 15.1 (2005): 68-76. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

Carlyn, Nash. Cyber Bullying. 14 Mar. 2015.

Hoffman, Richard. New York Times. States News Service. N.p.,28 June 2010. Web. 15 Mar.
2015. Kaiser Family Foundation. N.p.,n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.

Merriam-Webster, n.d.Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

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Romain, Trevor and Elizabeth Verdick. Bullies Are a Pain in the Brain. Minneapolis, MN: Free
Spirit Pub. 1997. Print.

Shapiro, Lauren A. Spies, and Gayla Margolin. Growing up Wired: Social Networking Sites
and Adolescent Psychosocial Development. EBSCO. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

Subrahmanyam, Kaveri and Greenfield Patricia. Online Communication and adolescent

Relationships. The Future of Children. (2008): Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

Patchin, Justin W. and Sameer Hinduja. Cyberbullying Among Adolescents: Implication for
Empirical Research. Journal of Adolescent Health. (2013): Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
Pew Research Center Rss. N.p.,n.d Web. 3 Mar. 2015.

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