Sticks and Stones Can Break My Bones

But Words Break the Heart

Cyber bulling has had a growth of attention by the media in the past couple of years. This is resulting by the growth of the internet and how the people are using it as a weapon. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are giving people the freedom to connect with friends and communicate with one another instantly from the safety of their own bedroom. The fact that people don’t have to be in front of one another to talk is one thing, I think, that is feeding this growing problem. You can say whatever you want to someone without even having to see their face. You don’t even have to know the person you are writing something about, you can just post a comment and walk away. These things, I believe, are making people less accountable for their actions.

I have even had this happen to me. My junior year of high school me and one of my friends made a quick 20 second video of us singing a song to jokingly post on one of our friends Facebook page. To be able to post the video we uploaded it to YouTube. Our friend commented on the video on Facebook and we all laughed and I hadn’t thought about the video for a few years now. Earlier this year though, the video popped into my mind so I decided to go take a look. When I went to the video there was a random comment. It was from some little 14 year old boy that was from some other state. He commented on our joke video calling us ugly names. It really shocked me. I was a little taken back for a minute and it kind of made me mad. Now I look at it and just laugh, but it makes me wonder how horrible it would feel for someone who posted a video of them singing who really thought they were good. It would really hurt to put yourself out there just to get horrible things said to you by people you don’t even know.

It is really easy to say something over a text or through the internet compared to someone’s face. I think everyone needs to take more accountability for what they say in cyberspace. “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me,” isn’t a phrase that applies to our generation anymore.