Читать книгу Essentials of Sociology - George Ritzer - Страница 149

Cyberbullying is the “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices” (cited in Simmons 2011, 104). While cyberbullying involves both genders, teenage girls are more likely to be the targets, and to a lesser degree the perpetrators, of cyberbullying. This is true, in part, because girls are more likely to be online, especially to use social media such as Instagram and Twitter. The cyberworld, especially social media, is very much about relationships, and girls are particularly likely to engage in them on the internet. They are also more likely to wreck online relationships by being cyberbullies or have them wrecked by comments or images created by other cyberbullies. On Instagram, for example, they can easily find out who has the most followers or “likes” and use that information to humiliate the victim. Most instances of cyberbullying involve those known to the victim (e.g., a friend, a former boyfriend); few involve total strangers.

There are many attractions to cyberbullying in comparison to face-to-face bullying. Cyberbullying is faster and simpler and involves fewer complications than a physical assault. A click by a cyberbully will do the job and excludes eye contact, raised voices, and immediate material consequences. In addition, it leaves a near-permanent trail that others can follow later. The internet also offers a wide range of weapons to the cyberbully, such as attacking physical appearance, undermining romantic or social relationships, tagging humiliating or embarrassing photos, leaving vicious comments, and even suggesting that the target might want to kill herself or himself. Inhibitions are reduced or eliminated on the internet, and there are few deterrents to cyberbullying. More people can gang up on the target than is possible in face-to-face situations. Victims of cyberbullying “are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, school violence, academic trouble, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts” (Simmons 2011, 109). While bullying occurs online, it usually has roots in, and repercussions for, the social world and lives of those involved.