The Rise Of Cyber Bullying
by: PHIL MCKENNA
Readers Digest May Issue (article pg 114-119)

Done By: Hong Shao Han (25) 3E

~~Summary~~
This article tells that recently, there are many cases of cyber bullying occurring on the net. These cyber bullying usually causes people to commit suicide. According to a study conducted in 2007 by the US-based pew Internet & American Life Project, they found that one-third of American teen internet users have been targets of cyber bullies. And as online communication evolves from chat rooms and instant messaging to social networking, the venues where bullying occurs are becoming more central to young people’s lives---and more public. There are cases whereby a young boy was taunted for months after classmates’ spread rumours on the internet that the boy was gay. A popular female classmate pretended to like him and chatted with him online, only to copy their exchanges to her friends. Unable to cope with the cyber bullying, the teenager killed himself. There are also cases whereby a girl took her life after receiving 20 different calls every 30minutes. Her father suspects that a final call at night caused her to kill herself. These are extreme but far from unique examples of the devastation wrought by cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can also occur at any time, it can happen 24/7, 365days a year, it is not like when we were a kid and playground bullying only stops when the school bell rings.

This cyber bullying cases in Asia is rampant. In Malaysia as of October 2007, 60 cases of cyber bullying occurred while in Singapore, 80 such cases of cyber bullying was reported to WiredSafety, which is an online safety and help group.

~~Reflection~~
Before I actually read this article, I knew that such cases of cyber bullying has happened in real life and that the numbers of it happening has been increase over the years as technology gets more developed with different people creating new online chatting system frequently. After reading this article, I now know that cyber bullying has become more serious and more frequent. Through cyber bullying, a person can get his/her pride hurt just through it and if the person if emotionally weak, they may take the bullying more seriously. I feel that in order to stop all of this cyber bullying, the victims must first tell the police or their parents about it. Next, they should consult a psychiatrist to counsel them on their problems to stop them from doing stupid things like committing suicide. I also feel sorry for those victims as most of the time they would have done nothing wrong, but the cyber bullies just pick them randomly and start cyber bullying them. Thus, for victims of cyber bullying who have done nothing wrong to anybody at all, they deserve our pity.