The crime of bullying can be defined in similar terms, cyberbullying is a series of acts of intimidation and harassment through technological devices, with the hope of hurting the feelings of the victim, through messages, and images that are widely disseminated to cause the victim depression and embarrassment. (Terry Brequet, 2010).
Internet offenders are influenced by several factors that motivate a person to commit such acts, such as revenge, piracy, theft, or just for fun. As a motivated offender, that is just a prank called bullying (Kartini Kartono, 2013).
Unicef explained that 3 impacts occur to victims of cyberbullying. The first impact occurs in the psychological impact, this causes the victim to be easily angry, feelings of anxiety, easy depression to suicide attempts. The second impact occurs in the social environment, the victim will withdraw from the environment, lose confidence and be more aggressive to friends or family. The third impact occurs in school life, declining academic performance, low attendance rates and causing problematic behavior at school.
Nowadays, crime does not only occur in the real world, but in the world of social media as well. The crimes that occur are not trivial and cannot be ignored, considering that the impact of cyberbullying can be so fatal in real life. It is unfortunate if social media should be used for useful things such as interacting and exchanging information, but must go hand in hand with the phenomenon of bullying that can hurt others, even to the point of causing fatal impacts such as suicide. Some examples of cases that occurred due to cyberbullying are as follows:
An example of a case of cyberbullying that was widely discussed among netizens was the Sulli case in South Korea. At that time, Sulli was found lifeless by her manager. According to Yonhap News Agency, the woman whose real name is Choi Jin-ri was saved late by the medical team. The former groupmates of Amber Liu and Krystal Jung often receive bullying from netizens. She was attacked by malicious comments and rumors online and this was the cause of her departure from the group that raised her.
"She's really on drugs, she eats her own shit", "You ruined F(x)'s image with your behavior, "What a spoiled idol and so selfish."
The hatred towards Sulli for leaving F(x) returned when Sulli was reportedly unable to attend a music event in Korea due to her declining health condition. From the news, netizens blasphemed and created absurd rumors surrounding Sulli's absence from attending Korean music events. Previously, Sulli also admitted that she had a psychiatric illness in the form of panic disorder and social phobia. In fact, she had received intensive treatment for her mental disorders. The mental burden she has experienced coupled with the cyberbullying that constantly intimidates her, can be a trigger for suicide.
Then there is the case of Megan Meier. One day, Megan received a message on MySpace from a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Megan, who was often the victim of bullies at school, became increasingly familiar with Evans even though the two had never met in person. From her cyber-friendship with Evans, Megan felt like she was 'alive' again.
But things changed when Evans inexplicably sent a message, which triggered Megan to end her life. "I don't know if I want to be friends with you anymore, because I heard your bad attitude with your friends," Evans' message read. Just 20 minutes after receiving the message, her parents found Megan hanging herself with a belt in her room. She died the next day after experiencing breathing problems.
Last, there is the case of A man with the initials VM (26) decided to commit suicide. The victim was found by his parents when he entered the house after traveling. This happened in ciledug, Tangerang city. Before VM committed suicide, he had admitted on social media Twitter that he had committed sexual harassment. The confession was uploaded on March 11, 2022 at 23:39 WIB. Then there were other accounts that revealed VM's personal information so that VM was bullied. This is thought to have influenced VM to feel depressed.
The cases exposed are just a few examples of the impact of cyberbullying. In fact, the fingers that we use, which God has bestowed upon us can mentally 'kill' many people if we misuse them. In essence, cyberbullying should not be done because it can cause psychological and emotional damage to a person. In addition, it violates ethics and social norms, and damages relationships between individuals, creating division and hatred. Social media is used as a medium or intermediary for voicing opinions. Each individual's self-awareness in listening to opinions from various points of view, and not bullying or judging others can minimize this cyberbullying. Besides that, Education is one of the right tools to influence the younger generation and prevent and overcome cyberbullying. Character education based on moral intelligence needs to be further developed. This is because the formation of good attitudes and behaviors is not enough to achieve academic competence, but most importantly through the cultivation of morals and the achievement of personal character (Setiawan, 2013).
