FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) BIOLOGY

COURSE CODE:

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC WRITING (ELC550)

ASSESSMENT:

TERM PAPER DRAFT

PAPER TITLE:

THE EFFECTS OF CYBERBULLYING ON TEENAGERS’ EMOTIONS

GROUP MEMBERS

GROUP AS201 2B1

PREPARED FOR: PROFESOR MADYA ZAINON ISMAIL

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 The Effects of Cyberbullying on Teenagers’ Emotions and Personalities

Bullying is growing in our community nowadays. The widespread use of technology

has allowed bullying to be transferred to cyberspace, resulting in the existence of

cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is defined as bullying that occurs through digital devices to

insult, threaten, or harass other people by sharing personal information about them to

humiliate them. Teenagers can bully each other, including at school. In some cases, they

know each other in the real world, or they have interacted face-to-face with each other. This

is a problem that deserves everyone's attention because it can lead to negative effects on

victims' emotions and personalities and even leave them with permanent scars. There are six

different effects of cyberbullying in terms of emotions and personalities which are the

collapse of self-esteem, depression, suicidal tendencies, triggered externalizing issues,

declining academic achievement, and contributing to the development of eating disorders.

Cyberbullying is associated with a deterioration of the victim's self-esteem. The term

self-esteem refers to the degree of positivity or negativity we feel about ourselves. Changing

self-perception is difficult, as it is based on our opinions and beliefs about ourselves.

Because of that, once victims begin to view themselves in a negative way, they have

difficulty changing their mind and regaining the proper self-image. According to Johanis et

al. (2020), cyberbullying can damage the victim's dignity, and make them lose self-

confidence that they might need when dealing with their peers. They also suggested that

victims of cyber abuse may withdraw from social interactions after the bullying event if

they do not properly process the accompanying emotional or psychological pain (Johanis et

al., 2020). As families are also affected by cyberbullying, it is important to talk to a person

who is bullied constantly and to maintain trust in order to have open communication (Gray

& Bjorklund, 2014).

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 Studies have shown that as a result of cyberbullying, teens are reporting increasingly

depressive symptoms. Depression is a serious medical illness that, if left untreated, can

make you feel hopeless, emotionally and physically helpless, and even suicidal.

Cyberbullying can lead to depression when the harassment escalates beyond a certain level

and involves a large number of people who make harsh comments about a person or issue

(Groome et al., 2014). A study published by Groome et al. (2014) also indicates that the

most common depressive symptoms seen among cyber-bullying victims include insomnia,

over-thinking, and frequent sadness. This sort of emotional instability can often lead the

victim to consider self-harm or even commit suicide (Groome et al., 2014).

Based on the research that has been done, cyberbullying often affects the thoughts and

actions of adolescents. Suicide ideation are one of the harmful things that will be frequently

playing in the victim’s minds after going through the cyberbullying issue. Accordingly, this

suicidal thought could arise when an individual started to succumb to the pressure and stress

that they could not handle due to cyberbullying. Thus, this ideation could lead to life

threatening situations that could end one’s life. According to, Hinduja & Patchin (2010) it

was found that cyberbullying abusers and bystanders are less likely to have suicidal thoughts

than the bullied. Besides, Bonanno & Hymel (2013) discovered that cyberbullying and

cybervictimization are linked to adolescent suicide thoughts and depression, regardless of

sexual orientation or involvement in physical bullying. They also state that the feelings of

hopelessness inside the victims of cyber abuse are greater which consequently increase the

suicidal ideation among them. As a result of the internet being too open and vast, all

information can be obtained with a "click" and stays forever on the internet.

Moreover, the victims of cyberbullying tend to engage in reckless or impulsive

behaviour that would deteriorate their physical and mental health. According to Ybarra et al.

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(2007) teens who are involved in online bullying have a greater possibility to consume

alcohol, drugs and bring a weapon to school. Besides, Asian and Pacific Islander studies

suggest that cyberbullied teens use more drugs and engage in binge drinking Goebert et al.

(2011). Wong et al. (2014) identified a connection between online bullying and physical

abuse and thievery among Hong Kong teens. Consequently, impulsive behaviour is

increasing among those who are affected by cyberbullying as they feel frustrated with all the

tension builds up till, they cannot resist it. By this, it also will decrease their value in other

people's eyes and lead to low quality of life and future.

In addition, cyberbullying between students can decline their academic achievement.

Among the examples of bullying that can be done is by writing embarrassing things such as

the victim's result or their weakness on social media so that they are afraid to stand out and

as a result they become unmotivated to learn. This can be confirmed by Hureva (2012) study

where she stated the main reason why it can affect learning performance; it is because

students who have been bullied do not pay attention in class and constantly think about the

incident. A student has to show their best performance in school, yet being distracted makes

it difficult for them to do so. According to Smith and Sharp (1994), some harassed victims

deliberately isolated themselves by choosing uninteresting subjects for most students to

distance themselves from the attacker and can delay their settlement and ability to learn. At

the same time, cyberbullying also causes nearly half of students to drop out, and it also

affects student grades. In this study, about a quarter of the victims received lower grades, and

over a third of them had to repeat a grade (Madeleine, 2011).

Last but not least, cyberbullying can assist in the development of eating disorders.

Eating disorders are a scope of mental circumstances that cause unfortunate eating patterns

to create and these problems can lead to serious outcomes. Based on Suler's (2004) research,

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adolescents who use websites as a medium to upload and exchange individual data and

photos about their lives can increase cyberbullying attacks because these teenagers have

shown their own weaknesses directly and made the bully able to act more cruelly. It is

because of these qualities, individuals every now and again offer expressions without

pondering what they will mean for the expected objective. A passing remark in social media

can transform into something considerably more challenging for a juvenile user relying upon

the degree of weakness experienced during the young adult developmental stage where we

think too much about society’s high need for male and female greatness (Sharp, 2001).

In sum, the study has demonstrated several effects of cyberbullying on teenagers’

emotions and personalities. Victims of cyberbullying are prone to develop depressive

symptoms such as insomnia and over-thinking. Besides, resulting in suicidal thoughts after

becoming a victim of cyber abuse. On top of that, it could also trigger reckless and impulsive

behaviour, academic performance, and eating disorders among victims. As mentioned

previously, these actions catastrophically affect victims’ overall mental health, which could

last for years after the bully has taken action. Therefore, cyberbullying should be taken

seriously in this modern time, where the significance of gadgets usage should be controlled as

it could lead to misconduct. The responsible organisation should help cyberbullying victims

mentally and physically. Thus, they can live stronger for a brighter future.

1199 words

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REFERENCES

Johanis, M. A., Bakar, A. R. A., & Ismail, F. (2020). Cyber-Bullying Trends Using Social

Media Platform: An Analysis through Malaysian Perspectives. Journal of Physics:

Conference Series, 1529(2), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1529/2/022077

Nixon, C. L. (2014). Current perspectives: the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health.

Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics, 5, 143–158.

https://doi.org/10.2147/ahmt.s36456

Perry, M. B. (2015). Emotional and Social Effects of Cyberbullying on Adolescents.

[Master’s thesis, City University of Seattle], 52–58. Library & LRC City

University of Seattle.

Farhangpour, P., Maluleke, C., & Mutshaeni, H. N. (2019). Emotional and academic

effects of cyberbullying on students in a rural high school in the Limpopo

province, South Africa. SA Journal of Information Management, 21(1), 3.

https://doi.org/10.4102/sajim.v21i1.925