The problem is not the social networks that have been established, allowing students and others to communicate with ease to one another. Its the people using them that are the problem. This is my theory on cyber harassment:
When people abuse others via facebook, MSN, etc. they are trying to crush their victims both mentally and emotionally by slowly degrading their self-worth while cowardly sitting behind the protection of a screen. Since the abuser is not in the victim's immediate vicinity, it becomes harder to deal with the aggressor. You cant just avoid someone online. Blocking them only results in more creative bullying. You cant yell at them to vent anger or become physically aggressive in the heat of the moment which some may see as a solution (to be honest, sometimes it is; not necessarily the best one but a solution nonetheless) and TYPING IN ALL CAPITALS only goes so far to relieve some tension. Instead, these feelings of anger and hurt are bottled inside because the victim feels defenseless. The suppressed emotions result in a lack of self-confidence and the insults which the world can see, cause embarrassment and shame.
Although social networking may be opening the door to new problems, banning it is not the solution. People should be targeting not only the bullies, but why they harass other people because there is a reason. The problem is that it is easier to blame the website than find out why people harass others.
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