Dear Next President,

I feel that if the advancement of technology is rising there should be certain amounts done to add more restrictions and laws toward the use of electronic technology to prevent the act of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a form of bullying done on electronic devices and the use of technology. Based on the DoSomething.org website, there are 43 percent of children experiencing this act and one out of four children claims it has happened more than once.

According to the article “Policies & Laws” from the federal government website of the U.S Department of Health & Human Services, there is no specific federal law that applies to bullying but schools are legally obligated to address it. How does this help or fix the problem of what is going on in the internet to teens? Those who engage in the bullying will still be able to access any form of technology and engage in the act as easily as before. Therefore finding a law to fit in the situation and more supervision on certain websites and social media will be able to fix the problem. We need a stronger and stricter law that somehow enforces monitoring of technology to be able to detect the signs of cyberbullying.

The article “Cyberbullying Statistics” from the GuardChild program claims that 60 percent of teens have never reported the problem to the relevant social media website. This shows that these teens don’t report what happens to themselves, so how do we know if they are being cyberbullied or not. And according to the same article over 80 percent of teens use a cell phone frequently which is the most popular technology for cyberbullying. If more and more teens have access to technology more and more might be in risk of cyberbullying. Over the years, technology is improving and advancing making more people involved and affected to whatever happens on that technology.

In the article written by the news staff “Cyberbullying Does Not ‘Cause’ Teen suicide” refutes that cyberbullying could not be a factor of suicide but there are other factors like mental illness. This side believes that cyberbullying could not be strong enough to be the only factor of someone taking their life. That the use of technology does not need more supervision or restrictions because cyberbullying isn’t a problem. It’s not a problem they state because they think people are just too sensitive on what people say on the internet. How does this explain the multiple stories of suicide because of cyberbullying. For example on October 10, 2014 a young fifteen year old girl named Amanda Todd committed suicide because of the act of cyberbullying. Amanda Todd was a young teen who was involved with an anonymous person on Facebook, which took a turn that led her to be harassed and bullied. In which she explained her story on a video on Youtube but unfortunately she couldn’t handle the bullying and took her own life. She was not the only one who went through this kind of experience, according to the CDC about 4,400 suicides per year result from the third leading cause of death among young people. The fact that young teens are attempting and even trying to attempt suicide because they are experiencing cyberbullying is crazy. The only way to reduce and potentially stop cyberbullying is to find a way to get a law enforcing more monitoring of technology to prevent the act of cyberbullying.

Even 1 out of 6 parents are aware that their child is being bullied admits the GuardChild program. If that is the percentage of how much the parents are aware of the situations, proves that there is not enough restrictions on technology and monitoring to protect those who are victimized. Plus, how do we help those being affected and prevent those who engage in the act if the amount of teens who don’t report their problems and the amount of parents who don’t know what is happening are like what they are.With the advancement of technology more people are able to access the internet and what is out there therefore being more involved in the process of cyberbullying. In order to clear the rate of suicide and cyberbullying in general, something needs to be done.

Sincerely,

Syrah Sabio

10th grade

Mendota Heights, MN