Cyber Bullying in Colleges May be Easier

Delaware lawmakers have just passed a bill prohibiting colleges from requiring students to “friend” them on social media and demanding students’ passwords to websites such as facebook and twitter. One can look at this situation as keeping college’s from getting too needy, but the reason college’s have social media rules is the truly scary aspect of this story. Cyber bullying is a huge concern that affects hundreds of students, some to the point of suicide, and even colleges realize how common it is for people to hide behind their computer screens and hack away at others social welfare. And although many believe that the universities are being too restrictive with this policy, they maintain a good point on why they require access to social media. In a Cyber Bullying Research Center poll of approximately 2,000 randomly selected students, about 20% say they heavily considered suicide, and another 19% attempted to end their lives after being victims of cyber bullying. The electronic harassment that is cyber bullying is usually carried out by children, and a preferred form of bullying due to an electronic curtain the bully can hide behind. The rapid growth and expansion of electronics have made cyber bullying even easier to get away with. Laptops and smartphones allow for constant communication with others far away from you. Many employers look at a social media page before they hire you to evaluate the kind of person they’re hiring, colleges are trying to do the same thing, but are being frowned upon and banned from this practice. If a bullies facebook page can be viewed over and censored for violent and harm-intended material, then we would still have many lives with us that could have been spared instead of taken away out of depression.