The Impact of Cyberbullying on Mental Health Essay Sample

While cyberbullying may lead to depression, anxiety, social anxiety, suicidal thoughts or low self-esteem that is not always the cause, people should be more concerned about it. Cyberbullying may also prevent social interaction which may also lead to depression. 

Most children have either experienced or seen bullying in school or during one of their clubs. So most people are already aware of bullying, however cyberbullying is new and not everyone is aware of it. Cyberbullying is worse than normal bullying because there is no break from it when you go home from school. From 2 to 9 bullying victims commit suicide.

About 37% of kids between the age of 12-17 have been bullied online and 30% of those have been cyberbullied more than once. 

More than 50% of LGBTQ+ students face online harassment.

Young people who are repeteadly being harassed online have a higher risk of self-harm and suicide.

Only 1 in 10 victims of cyberbullying will tell someone about it.

There are a lot of different types of cyberbullying:

Exclusion: Excluding someone or singling someone out of group chats or games.

Harassment: Sending offensive messages, sometimes several at once

Outing: Sharing private information about someone without their permission

Trickery: Tricking someone into sharing their own personal information to use against them.

Impersonating: Creating a fake account in someone's name or hacking their account to pretend to be them.

Cyberstalking: Stalking someone to the point where they feel unsafe online or even threatened. 

Flaming: By posting or sending offensive messages verbally attacking someone.

Denigration: Spreading rumours about someone online to harm someone or their reputation.

These are all different types of cyberbullying, while they differ a lot from each other they may affect  a person dealing with harassment and a person dealing with outing the same way. 

There are a lot of different types of cyberbullying and they can be very tough for children to deal with. There are a lot of effects of cyberbullying. If another person is being cyberbullied you might start to notice these effects. Social withdrawal is one big effect. It's very common for kids to isolate themselves when they are cyberbullied. They shut down, hide in their rooms and just want to be left alone instead of turning to their family or friends. Children and teens are also very vulnerable, because they’re still figuring out how to fit in and where they belong. Cyberbullying damages their self-esteem and self-worth. They don't feel accepted and begin to doubt themselves. Another effect it may have on teens is the problem with focusing. Their grades may start slipping, they could be skipping class and they are probably struggling a lot. Every mentally healthy person has favourite activities, like playing football or horseback riding, but for people who are bullied they start to lose interest in things they love, as it doesn't bring joy anymore. Cyberbullying sucks the joy right out of their lives, leaving them miserable and broken. Another common thing for teens to do is to stop eating, binge eating or just eating way less than they normally would. This might make them feel like they are gaining more sense of control. The two probably worst effects of cyberbullying are depression and anxiety. Cyberbullying and the terrible feelings that come with it make teenagers feel hopeless, numb and powerless. Usually they see no way out of it. They can't really turn to their parents or adults, because it’s usually hard for them to open up. This leads to them becoming stuck. Anxiety has both mental and physical effects. For example, they may be dealing with a bunch of anxious thoughts or more physical signs like racing heart rate, swating, trembling or even panic attacks. Mny of these signs are significant mental heath red flags, as well as suicide warning signs, that should not be ignored.