Cyber bullying is harassing and intimidating people using internet means and modern technology. Bullying happens in social platforms such as facebook, twitter, and whatsApp and causes harm to the target group. Online harassment is caused by multiple factors like jealousy, boredom, low self-esteem, and competition status. Relationship break up can also lead to cyber intimidation, mostly among the youths. Just like physical bullying, cyber embarrassment has severe effects on individuals. It results in stress, mood swings, and lack of appetite and sleep, and energy loss.
Jealousy is a major cause of cyber bullying since most people post their successes online and not the dark parts of their lives. This move attracts envy from colleagues who think that the posts show the real lives of their teens. Once these feelings grow, there is a possibility of online embarrassments like sharing inappropriate images of people. Jealousy is a vice that seeks to deprive people of their abilities, talents, popularity, and class (Feinberg & Nicole, 17). Envy can also be motivated by competition, for instance, in sports where the athletes are involved in cyber bullying. Another cause of cyber bullying is boredom that results in trolling people in social media. Most people, especially the youth, spend most of their time on social media due to increased unemployment rates. This factor prompts them to engage in attacks and insults that have harmful effects on recipients. Some people practice cyber bullying due to confronting status and esteem in their communities. In this case, the individuals who think they are better than others can engage in online intimidation due to their egocentric nature. Competition for positions also causes threats and insults, which have adverse effects on the target group. For instance, politicians, musicians, school leaders, and sportspersons can engage in cyber bullying to show their strengths over others (Feinberg & Nicole, 10). The other cause of online mistreatment is that of breakups in relationships. Lovebirds may opt to display their disappointments in social media after their love fades. In many cases, these people will negatively use the internet in sharing photos that reveal their partners' nudity. The move subjects the other partner to social and cyber bullying as the media is accessible to many persons. Cyber bullying has adverse effects in the lives of individuals, for example, stress and alienation among peers. It can also cause depression, suicide, and making victims sad.
Cyber bullying has several adverse effects on the victims, bullies, and to other people. The cyber bullies use anonymous names on social platforms, making it hard for their identification. The target group may react by attacking an innocent person as a result of suspicion. The move results in punishing the wrong person; hence, it may lead to alienation among peers (Hamm 18). Any form of embarrassment causes stress; hence, cyber intimidation causes adverse stress to the affected party. Increased cyber bullying can result in depression hence causes conditions associated with it. Persons who face cyber attacks can develop behavior changes like mood swings, loss of appetite, insufficient sleep, and energy losses. The individuals can also develop mental distress, low self-esteem, and lack of concentration (Hamm 24). Failure to control intimidation effects can result in serious actions like suicide. Other effects of cyber bullying include poor performance in school and workplaces and lack of job interest. The youthful generation is reluctant to report the cases of online bullying due to fear of denial to access the internet. This aspect makes it hard to deal with emerging cases of cyber threats and their effects. Cyber bullying brings more damages to the reputation of victims since the internet is accessible to a significant number of people. This reason makes it hard to erase the messages that harm a person's reputation.
Conclusion
Factors that cause cyberbullying include jealousy, boredom, self-esteem, and competition status. These causes lead to harmful effects on victims such as stress, depression, mental distress, and isolation among peers. The youthful generation should be cautious as they engage in online harassment. The information shared in the social platforms may serve as evidence leading to consequences in the future.
