Cyberbullying

            Bullying is often seen as something childish, such as boys picking on a kid on the playground or something, but bullying does not only occur amongst children, it also effects teens. As Boyd says in her article “The Drama”, bullying intensifies for teens but is just not always acknowledged for a number of reasons. For one, teens use the word “Drama” when really referring to things that could definitely be considered bullying, and since this word is tough to define the bullying is usually not taken note of. Boyd also says that bullying has changed from in person to on sites like Facebook, formspring, and Twitter. This shift makes “Drama take place in front of an audience.” (Boyd) In the paper Boyd makes claims that these social media sites are used to change public perceptions of people, so that assumptions can be made about them without even knowing who they are. When teens make fun of each other and say hurtful things online it’s a form of cyberbullying but among teens it is just known as “drama” so that parents don’t feel like they need to step in. Teens want to shape their own lives and learn how to survive in the world by themselves, thus hating the fact that they are put under their parent’s authorities. They avoid going to their parents often about drama amongst their peers because they don’t want to seem childish by saying they were bullied. Boyd claims that teens see it is a sign of weakness to have to run to your parent if people are making fun of you. Boyd wrestles with the question of what drama is but then uses the site Urban Dictionary, a site predominantly used by teens and younger folks, to help provide the answer “making a big deal over something unnecessarily.” Since this definition seems nonchalant and makes Drama seem petty, it answers the question of why teens use this word when referring to bullying. According to Boyd teens use the word so that whatever bullying they are connected to can be brushed off as nothing.

            Boyd talks about how drama is often circulated among teen girls, and this is something that I have seen personally in high school. There was a girl in my class during freshman year that was very flirtatious. She would always be talking to the guys and making them interested in her, which other girls didn’t like. Lots of drama started because girls would be openly mean to her and would talk badly about her behind her back. One time she was at a party and she got into a semi-physical fight with another girl because they had both kissed the same guy that night. People were never on her side of these sorts of arguments because everyone circulated bad things about her through facebook and formspring. She was eventually made fun of so much that after sophomore year she left the school because she couldn’t handle it anymore. This is an example of how drama and bullying was exacerbated by the internet, and luckily didn’t cause the girl to do anything more drastic than leave the school.

            Teen drama is sort of a staple in growing up, which is very unfortunate but also very true. It is hard to escape it because the teenage years are times when everyone is trying to figure out who they are and thus making some mistakes. During this day and age teenage drama is made way worse by the internet because it puts all of the hateful comments and rumors in the public eye. While in earlier times bullying would be on a smaller scale and had to be passed by word of mouth, now there are anonymous posting sites like formspring that allow users to tell people what they really think of them without them knowing who is saying it. This leads to drama escalating because it is put on the internet for everyone to see. Teens who might not be involved in certain drama are still filled in because they can just go on facebook or formspring and see what everyone is saying about it. While it is hard for teens to go through drama and deal with rumors, they would rather deal with it alone than go to their parents for help. I remember hating how I had almost no power when it came to my parents. Drama among peers is one of the only things that teens have any power over, because at home the parents are completely in charge of what they do. Boyd says they don’t go their parents because they want to save face and not be seen as weak, but I think it also has a lot to do with the fact that teens want to feel like they have some measure of power in their lives, and participating in drama amongst peers is a way of attaining this feeling of power.