Social Media and Generation Z

I call upon you, the reader, to think back to your younger days. When we were bullied it was in person and we were being called names. Now with social media bulling has risen to an all new level. Cyber-bullying is defined as deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. In a poll from 2013, 52 percent of teens have reported being bullied over social media at one point in time. Out of that 11 percent have had either a picture or video of them posted online (Statistic Brain). Cyber-bulling is quite common and has been the source of numerous psychological problems amongst teens such as depression, anxiety and isolation. (Gordon). The most horrendous effect that we have found is teen suicide. There was one instance where I was watching one of my favorite shoes on TV, Extreme Makeover, there was a family who had to go through this devastating experience. The mother said how her son was being constantly bullied not only in person but also online. She stated that one day she came home from work and found him hanging from the bannister with a note that said he just could not take it anymore. He was 11 years old. .
             Cyber-bulling is one of the things that often leads to what experts are now calling "Facebook Depression". Facebook Depression is defined as depression that is a result of adolescents spending too much time on social media sites and then begins to show classic signs of depression (Gordon). Being accepted by their fellow classmates is an important development of adolescents. The biggest problem that I have found with this problem is that teens that are affected by this are now turning to social sites for blogs that may promote self-destructive behaviors. Seeing another person's happiness on Facebook can be detrimental to your self-esteem. A popular form of social media bullying is posting nasty messages and post about one another.