By Aaron Ilia Merritt

In the 1990s there was classic bullying: pushing kids into lockers, and stealing their lunch money and calling kids mean names.

All of those things are horrible to have done to you. It’s never easy getting picked on, especially when the bully is right in front of you. Bullies used to be able to intimidate a person so much because they were standing near each other. So why do we now, in the 2010s, have this thing called cyberbullying?! Cyber bullying has taken regular bullying and made it bigger, but not necessarily worse. Information over the Internet and through texting can travel a very long distance in a very short amount of time. Bullying has gotten way faster and wider known.

So what is the difference between victims of cyberbullying and “old fashioned bullying?”

The difference is that people who are cyberbullied have no excuse to feel like they are trapped. Over the Internet a bully can’t physically hurt you. A bully that is hiding behind a computer screen is not a bully. All you have to do to stop the so called bully is turn off your phone or computer. Words can hurt, and the more you read them the more they suck, so why don’t the victims just get away from the issue? Unlike an old fashioned bully, a cyberbully cannot follow you into the next room. The Internet also has many hotline pages to report bullying.

So why is cyberbullying even considered an issue?! Is it because this world is getting soft? Is it because this world is now politically correct? It is because people are too entitled or stubborn to get off the Internet. A bully at work or school is in the real world. A bully on Facebook is not in the real world. The Internet does not matter. According to Bullyingstatistics.org, half of the teen population have been victims of cyberbullying, which means the other half must just get over it and turn their computers off.

Although cyberbullying does not really exist we must still be weary of the effects that bullying can have. It is still a very real issue. Not enough is being done to stop bullying, but ending what is known as cyberbullying and teaching people to suck it up is a step in the right direction.