Sample Student Informative Speech 15.1

Preventing Cyberbullying

UNA CHUA

Tufts University

On the evening of September 22, 2010, Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi updated his Facebook status: “Jumping off the gw [George Washington] Bridge sorry.” A few hours later, he did just that. But what would cause Clementi, recognized as a bright student and talented musician with a promising future, to take his own life? The answer, unhappily, involves two bullies and a webcam.

According to a New York Times report, Clementi’s roommate and a female acquaintance stand accused of invasion of privacy. The charge? Using a webcam to view and transmit private images of Clementi in an intimate encounter with another young man. Tyler Clementi’s story is tragic, but it’s not an isolated event. You may recall an ABC News report on March 29, 2010, regarding the January 2010 suicide of Phoebe Prince. She was a fifteen-year-old high school student from Massachusetts who hanged herself after months of torment from other teens via text messages and social-networking sites.

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What is going on here? In a word—it’s cyberbullying.

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My name is Una Chua, and I’m here today to confront the growing problem of electronic harassment and to persuade you to fight cyberbullying so that you don’t have to endure the kind of pain and humiliation experienced by Tyler Clementi. I’ll start with a look at the various forms cyberbullying takes and describe the scope of the problem. Next, I’ll consider what causes cyberbullies to act as they do and explore the conditions that make this alarming crime so easy to commit. I will also show you how you and your loved ones can stay safe—both by carefully guarding your personal information and by actively thwarting cyberbullies and taking a stand against them. Finally, should you or someone you know become a victim, I want you to be able to respond constructively. All of these steps will make the Internet a safer place for all members of your community to enjoy.

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As you can imagine from the heartbreaking stories I’ve shared about Tyler Clementi and Phoebe Prince, cyberbullying poses serious mental-health risks to the nation’s children, teens, and young adults. The Cyberbullying Research Center, a leading resource on the topic, defines cyberbullying as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.” Cyberbullying can take many forms, including the following: posting or sending harassing messages via Web sites, blogs, or text messages; posting embarrassing or private photos of someone without permission; recording or videotaping someone and sharing it without permission; and creating fake Web sites or social-networking profiles in someone else’s name to humiliate them. Often these acts are done anonymously. School psychologists Ted Feinberg and Nicole Robey, writing in Education Digest, further explain that cyberbullying can involve stalking, threats, harassment, impersonation, humiliation, trickery, and exclusion.

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Cyberbullying is a fairly recent social problem, but a substantial body of research has already formed around it. The research paints a chilling picture. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, about 20 percent of the over 4,400 randomly selected eleven- to eighteen-year-old students surveyed in 2010 said that they were repeatedly picked on by another person or persons online, via e-mail or through text messages. About 10 percent said that in addition to being victims, they had been cyberbullies themselves. Similarly, a 2010 study published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry found that of the more than two thousand teenagers questioned, 49.5 percent indicated that they had been the victims of cyberbullying, and 33.7 percent confessed to bullying others online.

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Whether as victims, victimizers, or both, we see that many young people are touched by the problem of cyberbullying. What does the research say about the causes of cyberbullying? What motivates the cyberbully, and under what conditions is cyberbullying most likely to occur?

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Sadly enough, one explanation for the motivation behind cyberbullying is that the bully wishes merely to “joke around.” The National Crime Prevention Council, a leading anticrime public service organization, reports on its Web site that 81 percent of a nationally representative sample of youths said that others cyberbully because they think it’s “funny.” In other words, despite the potentially disastrous consequences for victims, the cyberbully’s harassing text messages and cruel Facebook wall postings are meant simply as a “joke.”

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In a lot of cases, underlying this drive to amuse oneself at another’s expense is an insecure sense of self. Insecurity, combined with a tendency toward aggressiveness, appears to characterize many cyberbullies, according to researchers Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin of the Cyberbullying Research Center. For the bullies, the act of harassing other people serves as an outlet for their aggression and makes them feel at least momentarily powerful.

For many bullies, then, wanting to feel powerful and superior to someone else appears to be a prime motivation to bully. But what are the conditions that allow cyberbullies to act on this drive?

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According to the research, a lack of parental supervision and the ability to be anonymous provide especially fertile ground. As television talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw notes in his June 24, 2010, congressional testimony—and as many of us have experienced in our own lives—children and teens often know more about texting and social networking than parents and adult guardians. This makes their Internet and cell phone activities difficult for parents to regulate. One study by the National Crime Prevention Council found that a nationally representative sample of 80 percent of youths in the United States do not have enforced rules about Internet use at home, or the rules are easy to get around.

A second, particularly powerful condition enabling cyberbullying is anonymity. Cyberbullies feel emboldened by their ability to do nasty things with impunity because they believe no one will know they are the culprits. In his book Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls, psychologist and pediatrician Leonard Sax describes it this way:

Twenty years ago, if a girl wanted to spread rumors about another girl, everybody would know who was doing it. That knowledge constrained what the bully might say. If you got too nasty, your nastiness could reflect badly on you. But now, you can pretend to be a boy who’s just received sexual services from Leeanne, then post something about Leeanne online, and nobody will ever know that you are actually a girl who invented the whole story to make Leeanne look bad.

In essence, the anonymity of the Internet makes cyberbullying easy and, in many circumstances, difficult to catch and stop.

By now, you may be feeling that we Internet users are doomed to be victims of cruel torment at the hands of anonymous bullies who will never suffer the consequences of their actions. This is hardly the case, however. You can take steps to protect yourself.

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For one, you can be vigilant about safeguarding your personal information. Our school’s information technology office lists the following advice on its Web site. First, never, ever leave your laptops unattended. Second, keep your account passwords and social security numbers totally private. Third, use the highest privacy settings on your social-networking sites. Finally, think carefully about the types of pictures of yourself and your friends that you post online, and restrict views of them to “friends” only. Each of these steps can prevent bullies from having the ability to pose as you in order to harm or embarrass you in some way.

In addition to zealously guarding your personal information, you can help combat cyberbullying by being a voice against it whenever you see it happening.

Don’t Stand By, Stand Up! is a student-led organization that was formed soon after Tyler Clementi’s suicide and is featured on Facebook. The group urges Internet users to take a stand against cyberbullying by recognizing that bullies—in all forms—rarely succeed in their harassment without the support and attention of bystanders. The National Crime Prevention Council site gives more specific tips on how to thwart a bully’s attempts. One is to refuse to pass bullying messages along to others—whether via text or photo messaging, social networking, or e-mailing—and another is to let the original sender know that you find the message offensive or stupid. Remember, if bullies bully because they think their behavior is harmless and funny, then it makes sense to tell them that you find their messages to be quite the opposite.

Despite your best efforts to keep your personal information private and speak out against cyberbullying, you may still become a victim. I don’t say this to scare you but rather to advise you on what to do if it does happen to you or to someone you know. In this event, consider the “stop, block, and tell” method of combating cyberbullying.

Online safety expert Parry Aftab, in a July 28, 2009, interview for PBS’s Frontline, advises victims to use the stop, block, and tell method to respond to bullying behaviors directed against them. While often directed at younger children, this method proves to be useful for victims of any age, as explained on the Don’t Stand By, Stand Up! Web site. The site advises that after receiving a bullying message you should first “stop.” In other words, do nothing. Take five minutes to cool down, take a walk, breathe deeply, or do whatever helps to calm down the understandable anger you are feeling. Then “block”: prevent the cyberbully from having any future communication with you. This may mean anything from removing the person from your social-networking sites’ friend lists to having your cell phone service provider block the bully from being able to call or text you. The third step is to “tell” someone about the abuse without embarrassment or shame. For example, you might call campus security or confide in a counselor at the health center. Similarly, parents should encourage their children to report bullying to a trusted adult, whether a parent, teacher, principal, or guidance counselor.

Today, we’ve ventured into the very real—and very dangerous—world of cyberbullying. We’ve seen cyberbullying’s negative impact on children, teens, and young adults. We’ve analyzed the insecure and aggressive personality traits that characterize cyberbullies and looked at two key conditions that make it easier for the cyberbully to operate: lack of parental supervision and the ability to be anonymous. We’ve also seen how you can counter this potentially deadly problem.

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Be vigilant about protecting your personal information.

Speak out against cyberbullying.

And if you or someone you know experiences cyberbullying, react constructively with the stop, block, and tell method.

Cyberbullying isn’t just someone else’s problem. It’s very likely something you need to guard against, now or in the future. I urge each of you to make a personal commitment to do your part to combat the problem. Refuse to stay silent in the face of cyberbullying. Resolve that you will never send or pass along cyberbullying messages of any kind, no matter how harmless they might seem. This act alone can make a world of difference in the life of an intended victim. After all, wouldn’t you want someone to take this simple step for you? In addition, voice your concerns at the campus and community levels. For example, a student group from our university recently organized a candlelight vigil to remember those who fell victim to bullying and discrimination. Even if you’re not interested in becoming a member, you can support events that bring cyberbullying—and its serious consequences—to light.

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We must never forget Tyler Clementi, Phoebe Prince, and the other young lives cut short by unnecessary bullying. Who knows? Your best friend, your younger brother, or your son could just as easily have been on that bridge that fateful September evening.

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