Cyber bullying

[Fail9000]

I don't get it, teenagers suiciding over getting bullied over msn and myspace, facebook, bebo etc.

First of all i would like to say, are these kids stupid? It's the internet, if you care about these websites in the first place, your pretty stupid anyway. What makes it worse if you make these websites your life and you care so much you are willing to read every single comment that insults you, all you gotta do is delete it, and if they keep coming then just ignore them. And if it gets so bloody bad that you have to suicide all about it, why not just terminate you account? simple as, it's no big deal. Then you can get on with another site similar to it anyway. Got so wound up of people stalking you? turn off the computer for a while, take a break and go outside.

So S/he suicided, then the parents go blaming the website, well it's not there fault for sure, they cannot view every single user profile that has been created. Again i think it's the child for being dumb as said above and the parents for being even dumber for not checking the site, i mean if your child constantly spends his time getting wound up because of this site for no reason, it would be very wise to check the site. Even if your child was emo and didn't talk to you that much, this would make me check his site to see what s/he is like and whats he upto (wouldn't let my child be emo anyway).

What are your views?

[Ailysa]

These kids may be reclusive or feel rejected by their peers in real life - or even feel afraid of real life and not trust it. Maybe that's why they turn to the cyberworld. When that rejcts them too, what's the point of living?

(I'm playing Devil's Advocate)

[Mr.Lucifer]

They are probably bullied IRL too. Those kids are too weak to just disable their account.

Edit:

I agree with Ailysa.

[ToshX]

Given the right situation, anyone can become suicidal, even over the internet. The triggers are just different for every person. And why is this? It's because the internet has other people on it. And, given the right person, it can get personal. If the person on the internet takes the time to relate to the person they are talking to, and does things that really matter to a person, it can cause suicidal thoughts at least. However, it is hard to come across these people(being that you wouldn't want to in the first place), and some people handle things differently than others.

[Fallen Angel]

It's their own fault for being so misguided...even stupid, really.

I'm not even trolling when I say this. I wish I could write some big wall of text here trying to seem nice, trying to take the people's side but the fact is they bring it upon themselves.

[LordShaft]

make sure they NEVER play GunZ

[AaronCooper]

Say if someone is overweight and got bullied because of it, maybe they thought it was their weight that was the problem thats all, but then they start going online and still get bullied, then they think its not just their weight, they are a total failure.

Something along them lines anyway

[ToshX]

Originally Posted by Fallen Angel

It's their own fault for being so misguided...even stupid, really.

I'm not even trolling when I say this. I wish I could write some big wall of text here trying to seem nice, trying to take the people's side but the fact is they bring it upon themselves.

What, so if you see a guy with no arms walking down the road and another guy beats the crap out of him, it's his fault just because he had no arms and couldn't defend himself? He could kick back, so he "could defend himself", and it's "his fault for not defending himself", but it is REALLY his fault? He is more vulnerable than the average person.

Hell, let's say he had arms, and he was just weaker. Is it still his fault?

Similarly, people are oftentimes made more vulnerable to things. They didn't DECIDE to be that way, they were just made that way. It's like how some people are naturally nice and others are naturally filled with hatred. It isn't their fault, any number of life experiences could've done it or they could've just been made that way.

[Fallen Angel]

Why, of all the replies, did you decide to pick on mine? ^^

Originally Posted by ToshX

What, so if you see a guy with no arms walking down the road and another guy beats the crap out of him, it's his fault just because he had no arms and couldn't defend himself? He could kick back, so he "could defend himself", and it's "his fault for not defending himself", but it is REALLY his fault? He is more vulnerable than the average person.

Regarding the internet, your situation and the one discussed are not the same thing. The guy with no arms can NOT fight back, he's completely defenseless. The people who come on the internet, come at their own risk, we're all equal, we're all free to go where we want and do what we want, this can lead to so many good things...but bad ones as well. No one is in no way more defenseless or more powerful than another on the internet. As for cyber bullying, people need to realize it's only TEXT on a SCREEN and you can't know if the person you tell something to is emotionally vulnerable or not, because once again it's the internet. >_>'

Originally Posted by ToshX

Hell, let's say he had arms, and he was just weaker. Is it still his fault?

This is relative, perhaps, perhaps not. Another difference between this situation and one on the internet is that in real life you could step up and help that person with all you have. On the internet, you can do no more than just text on a screen.

Originally Posted by ToshX

Similarly, people are oftentimes made more vulnerable to things. They didn't DECIDE to be that way, they were just made that way. It's like how some people are naturally nice and others are naturally filled with hatred. It isn't their fault, any number of life experiences could've done it or they could've just been made that way.

See above.

But anyway, look, this is just how I see it, this isn't something one can be right or wrong about so...please don't bash me about it, in your mind you're right because like you said, that's how you're made ^_^

[ToshX]

Originally Posted by Fallen Angel

Why, of all the replies, did you decide to pick on mine? ^^

Because I just don't like you for insulting me.

No, I'm kidding, because you were the only person who really said "it's their own fault for being that way" when it really isn't.

The other stuff is true. If someone's bullied, they may come online. They don't HAVE to be, but it's far from unlikely.

Regarding the internet, your situation and the one discussed are not the same thing. The guy with no arms can NOT fight back, he's completely defenseless. The people who come on the internet, come at their own risk, we're all equal, we're all free to go where we want and do what we want, this can lead to so many good things...but bad ones as well. No one is in no way more defenseless or more powerful than another on the internet. As for cyber bullying, people need to realize it's only TEXT on a SCREEN and you can't know if the person you tell something to is emotionally vulnerable or not, because once again it's the internet. >_>'

People should be able to move freely about the internet on public sites without having to worry about being messed with. If they are messed with, the problem is not with them, the problem is with the people messing with them.

Sure, it's just text on a screen, just like a voice is just a person opening their mouth. What's written can be viewed over and over again. A voice, once said, is over, unless you choose to think about it. You can't really say one is more effective than the other in this case, as they both have their ups and downs. People say "oh, don't take the internet seriously", but how seriously do you take life? I mean really, if someone insults you in real life, do you get super offended and think about it all day? Probably not, you probably just shrug it off or laugh at them and walk away. If not, then I may be inclined to say that you take LIFE too seriously. The point of what I'm saying is, even though you may not take things seriously, sometimes things can get to you anyway and things can be offensive to you to where you don't have to be serious in order to be offended.

This is relative, perhaps, perhaps not. Another difference between this situation and one on the internet is that in real life you could step up and help that person with all you have. On the internet, you can do no more than just text on a screen.

I have changed some people with nothing more than the internet. And I'm not talking just a little bit, but I mean to have a serious impact on their life, for better or for worse. One of the only reasons people view the internet as a source "lesser" way of communicating is because you can't physically be there and take some actions for people, but really, you not only have the openness to reach a lot more people than you would be able to in the same amount of time in real life, you also have a way of communicating that people can go back to and use to assist them. A lot of problems, and in fact, I'd say the vast majority, can be solved by simply talking to another person. I believe communication is the most powerful tool for solving problems, and the internet just so happens to be the best place for that.

Going back to what you said before...

Originally Posted by Fallen Angel

Why, of all the replies, did you decide to pick on mine? ^^

I'm sorry that I've been a douche to you, and I really don't like to be like this, but if you decide to mess with other people, I feel I should stop you, which was kind of easy because you decided to mess with me in that other thread. Although it was something insignificant, it gave me a gateway to just jump right in and request that you stop, and hopefully you intend to.

Sometimes I feel the need to defend people when they have difficulty defending themselves. Trolling people just because they're "easy" makes the trolls, in a way, an enemy of mine.

Originally Posted by Referral's comment that got removed while I was making a cake >:3

sophisticated

Thanks, but nah, I'm really not. I just think about things a lot(meaning, not before posts, but just in general), and there are some subjects I enjoy talking about. That being said, I can type pretty much pages upon pages of the things I've thought about, as I already know what I have to say and don't really need to think about it much more at all as most of it can be generated based on what I've already thought about <__<

[Pitbull]

I blame the parents .

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Fallen Angel

It's their own fault for being so misguided...even stupid, really.

I'm not even trolling when I say this. I wish I could write some big wall of text here trying to seem nice, trying to take the people's side but the fact is they bring it upon themselves.

Pretty strong contradiction right in your first sentence. It's THEIR own fault for being so misGUIDED. A teenager is a human being who is normally not yet their defined self. They're trying to figure out who they are. They want to break out and be on their own because of hormones or whatever you want to call it. All they are by then is what their parents have made them. Their parents are the ones who have guided them that far.

Being born a certain way is never anybody's fault, really. Even if you took a man who was born violent. Was violent his entire life, and wound up growing up to become a psychopath who murders his family and goes ape **** with an uzi in a preschool. We may not like said individual, but is it his fault, really? This enters the realm of debating free thought and free will. And there is much common sense to suggest that free will is simply a very pretty, convenient illusion.

That aside, the reason someone wouldn't get how a person could /suicide over something said on the internet is probably a person who has the default frame of mind(like most) that the internet is not real. The internet is incredibly real. Words are real. Concepts are real. If a person *****es you out, and by some stroke of luck happens to say some things that you mentally twist to directly relate to issues you're actually having in life, it could seem to you as if that person knows you very well. And when someone over the internet who hardly knows you seems to be able to "read you" so well, it's very upsetting. Almost like your problems in life are extremely obvious, to the point where a total stranger who has never even met you could tell you about yourself. One post on an internet forum can cause a rather large snowballing effect, which can lead to a person suiciding.

[An Amateur]

People who suffer from cyber bullying are not weak minded or stupid. When there in a state of mind to seriously attempt suicide they are mentally ill. People who say that they are, are probably of the same caliber as they kind of people who say depression is just stupid people who feel sorry for themselve/emo sh!t. The only reason they are able to say this is because they have no personal experience of it, either through themselves or someone close to them.

People who get cyber bullied don't do so just because they get a load of crap on the net. Usually they have an unhappy "real" life as well. The internet usually serves as a place for them to escape to. Yet when the people IRL find out how to contact them online they loose there only sanctuary.

If you want to gain an understanding of what this experience is like for them. There was an episode of Dr. Who (sure you can find it online) last night. Essentially a group of people were enclosed in a confined place with some kind of alien possessing a person. The possessed person coppied every word anyone said, it even mimiced there voice, our hero (the Dr.) was left powerless because his main weapon is words. And quickly everyone else exibited a group insanity.

The internet is the same in some respects, when you have no where to go and your bombarded by the same messages everywhere. FATTY, UGLY, SLAG, TRAMP! If you still can't understand try mimicing the situation above in a controlled experiment.

[LordShaft]

Originally Posted by An Amateur

People who suffer from cyber bullying are not weak minded or stupid. When there in a state of mind to seriously attempt suicide they are mentally ill. People who say that they are, are probably of the same caliber as they kind of people who say depression is just stupid people who feel sorry for themselve/emo sh!t. The only reason they are able to say this is because they have no personal experience of it, either through themselves or someone close to them.

People who get cyber bullied don't do so just because they get a load of crap on the net. Usually they have an unhappy "real" life as well. The internet usually serves as a place for them to escape to. Yet when the people IRL find out how to contact them online they loose there only sanctuary.

If you want to gain an understanding of what this experience is like for them. There was an episode of Dr. Who (sure you can find it online) last night. Essentially a group of people were enclosed in a confined place with some kind of alien possessing a person. The possessed person coppied every word anyone said, it even mimiced there voice, our hero (the Dr.) was left powerless because his main weapon is words. And quickly everyone else exibited a group insanity.

The internet is the same in some respects, when you have no where to go and your bombarded by the same messages everywhere. FATTY, UGLY, SLAG, TRAMP! If you still can't understand try mimicing the situation above in a controlled experiment.

I concur, also thats why people enjoy to be anonymous on the internet

[slingblader]

People who react to cyber bullying, at least in the extreme, are no more "afflicted" than those who react to real life situations. It's not that they're "weak" it's that they have a dangerous state of mind at the time. It could be anything to set them off. I don't think anyone who has committed suicide from a website would have never done it due to a different situation. They're just vulnerable, and it happens to all fall down to something on the internet rather than somewhere else.

But for the record, I'm pretty sure most references to cyberbullying are removed from anonymity? It's that start at school or w/e and get carried onto the internet as another medium. In that case it's even more "logical"