Dear future President,

Ever since students have had access to the internet, there has been a huge problem of cyberbullying. It is a very prevalent problem at my school and nationwide as well. In fact, it is so bad that a large percent of teenagers have committed suicide because of prevalent cyberbullying, according to the Huffington Post. To help decrease these terrible tragedies, the correct thing to accomplish for the issue would be for some rules that could regulate what can be put on the internet that would damage users. There should be also extensive checks on age limits to filter out immature users. The “Dosomething.org”, an organanzation that helps to push social issues, claims that about 43% of kids are bullied online yearly. That is a large percentage that needs to be lowered. The two biggest contributors are social media and texting, especially at my school.

Social media is a tool that is used for communication and chatting with friends. The purpose was never to drag others’ morale down. The most common form of cyberbullying is a texting-based form. I've heard countless stories at my school of group messaging being used as a means to make fun of people in a large group of people. This makes cyberbullying all the more potent by spreading faster. These immature teenagers could have a large sum of students and these students could be a part of other group messages with different people.

In addition to social media, sports can also be a form of cyberbullying. The fact of the matter is a lot of sports require teens to prepare for a game or practice in a locker room. Sometimes the environment they prepare in doesn't always have adult supervision, so bullies use this opportunity to take photos of people without their consent, then later humiliating them online or on group messages. I know for a fact this is a big problem because I’ve witnessed it. I play hockey, and over the years I’ve noticed that a lot of coaches let players use their cell phones in the locker room. It hasn't been until now that the USA hockey organization has finally influenced safe sport program into the game of hockey. Safe sport is rules that keep players safe online. Some may ask, “Well, shouldn’t that have taken care of the problem?” Truth be told, there are still kids being abused in the locker rooms due to cyber bullying. Coaches don’t focus on that stuff really and don’t enforce any safe sport oriented rules to protect the players they’re in charge of..

Cyberbullying is a huge problem in modern America. In the end, it is your sole duty to ensure everyone is treated fairly. Growing up is tough, and with the added pressure of school, some kids can’t handle being bullied. statistics show that cyberbullying is one of the biggest problems facing the modern United States

Sincerely,

Jack Lamont

Sources:

Henley, Kari. "Schoolchildren Are Not Ready for Social Networking." Are Social Networking Sites Harmful? Ed. Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Rpt. from "Facebook and Kids: Are Their Brains Ready for Social Networking?" Huffington Post. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.

URL

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