The impact of cyberbullying for mental health In the real life
Authors:
Hermawati, Amidah Tsaliswati, Tatu Zakiyatun Nufus
Psychology faculty of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Indonesia
Introduction
Social media is a platform that smartphone users widely use. If it is used properly, social media will be very useful, but on the contrary, if not used properly, it will cause crimes such as Cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a series of acts of intimidation and harassment through technological devices, with the hope of hurting the victim's feelings, through messages, and images that are widely disseminated so that the victim becomes depressed and embarrassed. This paper analyzes the impact of cyberbullying in real life because there are still many people who are not aware of the impact of this phenomenon. In fact, cyberbullying has claimed many victims such as Sulli, Megan Meier, and VM. Unicef has explained that the impact on victims is psychological, social, and school life. The purpose of the author using this topic is to make people aware that social media activities that are not used properly will harm victims. This paper also contains invitations and solutions so that we can minimize and even stop the incidence of cyberbullying so that there are no more victims.
Today's technology is increasingly sophisticated, social media has become a familiar thing for people, especially in Indonesia. Social media algorithms are indeed very tempting for their users. However, behind it all, there are negative impacts caused by social media. One of the most common occurrences on social media is cyberbullying, either against famous influencers or even ordinary users. Cyberbullying is a situation that can happen to anyone.
Cyberbullying can take the form of negative or indecent comments, cornering one party and then demeaning them, spreading profiles or social media account posts, and then making fun of them. Of course, this can have a serious impact on social media users who experience it. The impact tends to be psychological. There have been many cases that have occurred due to cyberbullying and the most severe is suicide.
The purpose of the author taking the title of the topic "The impact of cyberbullying on life in the real world" is because this problem cannot be ignored, Indonesian people, especially those who use social media, need to realize that this problem is not trivial. This paper will discuss the impact that will occur if someone experiences Cyberbullying and find out how the sentences uttered on social media greatly affect a person's life. The author hopes that this paper can be useful for anyone who reads and gives new insight into cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying is a socially deviant behavior that has many negative impacts on its victims, such as emotional disturbances (Patti and Hidayanto, 2020), mental damage and the creation of psychological conditions that lead to depression, sadness, disappointment, anxiety, and even suicide (Rahayu, 2012 in Malihah and Alfiasari, 2018). Victims of cyberbullying are almost twice as likely to commit suicide as adolescents who have never experienced cyberbullying (Hinduja and Patchin, 2011; Rahayu, 2013). Weismann's (2016) research shows that the motives for doing this vary widely. Although the largest percentage said it was just for fun, the victims of bullying felt that the impact was real and not fake. However, the lowest proportion said their motivation was just to follow the crowd. This suggests that the external environment has a great influence on people's behavior, especially teenagers. The external environment can also influence bullying to be more widespread or less frequent.
Discussion
Social media is a digital platform that provides facilities for social activities through the internet, social media activities such as uploading and sharing photos and videos, expressing opinions through tweets, exchanging information, communicating, and others. With the existence of social media, the way humans interact with each other has changed. Previously, humans only interacted directly in the real world, now interactions between humans can be done only through a technology called smartphones and using applications developed such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and so on.
According to data released by the Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa Internet Indonesia (APJII), the number of Internet users in Indonesia is increasing significantly every year. More specifically, the latest national survey results in 2019 reached 196,714,070.8 million (73.7%) of Indonesia's population.
Along with the development of technology, the Internet can provide information that is widespread, diverse, and easy to collect. As a means of online communication, the Internet can also be used as a means of intelligent communication through social media. Therefore, it is very useful in various aspects of life, both in the economic, social, and cultural fields, thanks to the internet virtual communication can be easily carried out effectively. This media is very interesting because it can categorize and present various types of entertainment today such as games, movies, and music, and can be used at any time without having to refer to a broadcast schedule like a TV show. (Annisa Rahmania et al. 2010)
With so many internet users who certainly play social media, it will have a positive impact if utilized properly. However, along with the positive impact, social media also has a negative impact caused by bad activities including judging, shaming, hurting, and threatening. This can be said to fall into the category of cyberbullying.
