Dealing with bullies and bullying is something that has always existed but it is recent times that it has come more to the forefront, particularly because of the technology that is prevalently used by the youths of today. With smartphones, tablets and laptops allowing constant and easy access to social media outlets it can seem almost too easy for bullying to occur to someone online. This can bring a great deal of stress, anxiety and depression to the youth getting bullied, very often anonymously, pushing them to the breaking point. While society has begun to take a stronger stance against cyberbullying, technology has also begun to make its own strides to rein in the act that it has inadvertently created.
How Technology Contributed to Bullying
Because so much technology is used today regularly it seems almost too easy for cyberbullying to occur to people and studies indicate that more than one-quarter of all youths that use a cellphone, smartphone, tablet, computer or other device to get online have experienced some form of bullying online in their lifetime. The formats of social media, email and the Internet in general allow for great anonymity, making it that much easier for someone to hide behind a fake name or email address in order to harass or bully someone. Even though schools, governments and other organizations have begun to recognize the problem and have tried to take steps to slow down or amend the issues, cyberbullying can still be devastating psychologically to someone, making it all the more important that something be done about it.
Technology Companies Taking Steps to Fight Cyberbullying
The social media companies and technology companies have begun to step up more and more to make changes to eliminate the problem of cyberbullying. Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook are enforcing tougher rules and regulations regarding threats and language used in messages sent on their systems, giving the platforms greater discretion and power to step in when it sees abusive behavior to lock and suspend accounts of individuals. There also applications that have been developed such as BullyBox and Bully Block that allow for the recording of bullying messages and behavior and for methods for bullying to be reported anonymously so that the bullying can be seen by adults and school officials that can take the needed steps to make sure it is stopped safely.
It is important that technology companies do what they can to try to alleviate the problem of cyberbullying if they want their platforms to be continued to be used in a safe and equal manner for all. The steps taken will go a long way in helping to ease the problem for some individuals and as long it is being monitored properly and school and government officials continue to create an atmosphere that creates harsher penalties for bullies of this type there may be some hope of the issue getting better than it has been in the recent past so that people can continue to use and enjoy the technology they have freely and safely.