Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking. Pernicious Aspects of Social Media

Book excerpt: Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: 1,7, Dublin City University, language: English, abstract: This paper discusses some of the most pernicious and dangerous aspects of social media. What can be done to control these? Technology and online communication nowadays play a major role in many aspects of our daily lives. Especially, when it comes to social media companies, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Ask.fm or Kik. Many people, particularly young children, use various social media platforms to communicate with friends or their family, to get inspired, to grow personally, for international business purposes, to develop new relationships or for entertainment purposes. Along with the growth in usage of social media, however, there are increasing concerns over its benefits as well as safety. One of the pernicious concerns of social media is cyberbullying, as well as cyberstalking. Recent studies indicate that in 2009 and 2011 5 - 40 % of young users are victims of a cyberbullying incidents. The fact that many of these incidents end up with tragic suicide, constitutes cyberbullying as one of the most dangerous aspect of social media.