Persuasive Outline Worksheet

Introduction

• Attention getter: What comes to your mind when you see the phrase “cyberbullying in schools”? More often than not, your mind will switch to a scenario in high school, not in universities. Recently, a friend confessed that she was being harassed on Instagram by a user account that seemed like a pseudo account. However, the comments on her posts were so vivid and similar to some she had encountered a few years ago while in high school. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the cyberbully might be a former bully from her high school, but I also realized there were a couple more users who harassed my friend on a regular basis.

As college students, we rarely think about the prevalence on cyberbullying at this level of education.

• Thesis: Cyberbullying among college students is associated with emotional, psychological, social, and academic consequences that might lead to dropout, low self-esteem, depression, and loneliness.

III.       Purpose / Connection / Common ground / Why should we listen?: To Prove that cyberbullying on social media among college students is a serous problem that demands immediate attention.

• Preview of Main Points: Various factors such as anonymity, psychological problems, and social dominance orientation contribute to cyberbullying among universities. In addition, cyberbullying has greater negative effects since victims can be bullied anywhere, any time. According to a recent study on cyberbullying in universities, the researchers found that cyberbullies are not aware of the negative effects, which makes it more difficult to stop the behavior (Byrne, 2021). Conversely, victims of cyberbullying experience numerous problems such as low self-esteem, psychological problems, academic consequences, depression, and might even drop out.

Transition: First, given the nature of cyberbullying in universities, there is need for educators to put in place policies and programs that encourage victims to achieve well-ness, as well as deter cyber bullies from propagating their actions. Let us look at the overview of prevalence of cyberbullying in universities and what contributes to its persistence.

Body

• Overview of Cyberbullying
• According to a study by Zalaquett and Chatters (2014), cyberbullying is defined as “any behavior performed through electronic or digital media by individuals or groups who repeatedly communicate hostile or aggressive messages intended to inflict harm or discomfort on others.

• A recent survey by the American Counseling Association showed that approximately 22 percent of university students reported being victims of cyberbullying at one point (Johnson et. al, 2017).

• Cyberbullying victims report higher loneliness, depression, and anxiety compared to their non-bullied peers. Similarly, cyberbullying offenders report higher levels of low-self esteem and anxiety compared with their non-bullying peers (Varghese & Pistole, 2017).

Transition: Given the highly negative environment around cyberbullying, it is necessary to investigate factors that contribute to cyberbullying.

1. Research indicates that the sense of anonymity, psychological problems, and a social dominance orientation are among the top contributors to cyberbullying in universities.
2. Internet platforms, especially social media whereby users can create pseudo accounts, ensure anonymity, thus contributing to cyberbullying indirectly (Peled, 2019).
3. Majority of cyberbullies hide under the anonymity that internet platforms provide, and take advantage of the fact that they cannot be easily identified.
4. According to a study by Watts and colleagues, a significant number of cyberbullies demonstrate high levels of aggressive behavior, thus cyberbullying becomes an avenue where they can degrade their victims.
5. In most cases, bullies have the need to validate themselves due to certain conditions in their psychological well-being. In this case, bullying is a projection of an individual’s unresolved feelings of contempt, insecurity, or lack of acknowledgement by guardians or caregivers.
6. The social dominance theory suggests that people belong either to a subordinate group or a dominant group, which is directly associated with power struggles. According to Byrne (2021), cyberbullies are more likely to be pursue incidences where they can hurt or humiliate others to gain control of something seemingly valuable.
7. In a significant number of cases, cyberbullies have interpersonal problems with their victims, such as grudges. Hence the knowledge that they can hurt someone through cyberbullying becomes reason enough to pursue cyberbullying.

Transition: These factors are the most commonly cited as contributing to cyberbullying. Clearly, cyberbullying is like a disease that can spread quickly when not addressed.

III. Data suggests that cyberbullying leads to psychological, social, and emotional problems that can manifest as depression, poor academic performance, low self-esteem, and even suicidal thoughts among victims.

1. According to a recent study, victims of bullying reported higher levels of psychological problems compared with their peers.
2. Victims of cyberbullying often report feeling depressed, embarrassed, harassed, and even experienced insomnia.
3. Emotional problems are also prevalent in victims, often manifesting as fear, concerns of safety, anger, and failed relationships (Smith, Minor & Brashen, 2014).
4. Victims of cyberbullying always feel attacked, stalked, and might not live a healthy life due to the stigma associated with their bullying experiences.
5. According to Luker and Curchack (2017), victims of cyberbullying in universities might shy from having an active social life and often prefer keeping to themselves.
6. Instances of social anxiety is evident among victims of social bullying. In this case, bullied individuals often find it difficult to interact with peers.

Conclusion

• Restate Thesis/Frame Conclusion: Cyberbullying among college students is associated with emotional, psychological, social, and academic consequences that might lead to low self-esteem, depression, and social anxiety.
• Review Main Points: We have explored different aspects of cyberbullying, including the definition as “any behavior performed through electronic or digital media by individuals or groups who repeatedly communicate hostile or aggressive messages intended to inflict harm or discomfort on others. Moreover, cyberbullying causes emotional, social, and psychological problems that affect the victim’s quality of life.

III.   Challenge Audience: Each one of us has a role to end cyberbullying. So, the next time you see a negative or derogatory comment about someone online, what are you going to do about it?

• Final Thought / Memorable Notes: Cyberbullying is a beast that has terrorized thousands of victims and affected innocent lives negatively. Undoubtedly, fighting bullying begins with an understanding of the negative consequences and thus supporting efforts to ends bullying in our institutions of higher education.