The Long Term effects of Cyberbullying

Think of the effects of cyberbullying more like alcohol or drug addiction, reoccurring long term problem, rather than a one-time painful event. Its effects are out of our control and can be extremely damaging.

It’s easy to guess most of the immediate effects, and they include social anxiety, decrease in self-esteem, shamefulness, and serious mental issues such as depression and anxiety. It’s also worth mentioning some behavioral responses and effects we’d see from someone who’s recently being bullied, such as poor performance at school or work and changes in their eating or sleeping habits.

We can expect to see all of these and more when someone is being bullied in real life, but things can be worse when we get bullying occurs online. Online harassment methods allow anonymity and camouflage for the bullies, with devastating results for the victim. They would often feel unsafe and become more self-aware because they’re used to being attacked carelessly online. That type of self-awareness is not of the good kind – it eventually leads to self-hatred (Issues like depression & body dysmorphia are common amongst victims).

More so, victims will be forced into a corner of hopelessness because they find themselves mentally trapped. For them, the hatred, bullying & toxicity doesn’t stop when the bell rings, but is instead all around them all the time, and can be very hard to avoid or to cope with. The vast majority of cyberbullying victims (93%) report feeling defenseless, vulnerable, and hopeless.

To elaborate more on the “low self-esteem” part, you must remember that this type of shamefulness is to an extreme extent, more than your average “shy kid.” Victims who suffer from this are massively sensitive to any and all criticism (even when presented constructively, with good intentions), making it harder to communicate with healthily and might even make them seem toxic or mean. They become very self-critical as well, taking the most simple comments to their full meaning.

In this form of cyberbullying, many bullies allow themselves to be more extreme than they would be in real life, explicitly telling the victim to kill themselves, something that would usually not be tolerated face to face. Combined with the fact they can send these messages over and over again, and get out with little to no consequences, means that the victim will be bombarded with these unwanted direct comments, and eventually will start believing that’s exactly what they should do, ultimately bringing them to a suicidal edge, and often to general self-harm.

All of these sum up to some serious long-term effects that go beyond the victim’s age range and the place and time they were bullied. Someone who is consistently cyberbullied for long enough will have solidified certain behavioral patterns and mental issues that will affect them for long after. Some of which we’ve mentioned before (Such as depression and anxiety), and others include:

Unhealthy addictions (alcohol, drugs & more) to help cope with uneasy situations in ways that are now offered to them (and most likely weren’t when they were bullied).
Self-destructive behavior that follows the victim into adulthood – integrating self-harm as a way of life is extremely dangerous, but often gives victims the illusion of comfort and that encourages them to adopt it into their lifestyle. As mentioned before, it’s an awful effect of bullying and cyberbullying in particular and can go far beyond the bullying period.
Poor care of the body and mind – victims are at risk of neglecting themselves and not taking proper care of their health, which is, of course, another bad effect.
Trust issues – because their position and stance on other people have been abused consistently, victims are emotionally tired and won’t allow themselves to open up in fear that it’ll be abused once again. That means building a wall of security around them, sharing less and less with others and distrusting everyone, even their dearest such as family members, close friends, and future spouses.

A lot of these negative effects can definitely be prevented by detecting and supporting anyone who finds themselves cyberbullied. Although it’s tougher to fight bullies now than it ever was before due to how easy bullying is done using the internet, it can still be monitored and avoided. When it comes to bullying, in general, making one know that there are people that still appreciate and love them is extremely important because the negative voices around them often drown that fact.

Even after years of bullying, there are still ways to undo the damage. It requires a lot of willpower and the support of others, as does every change, and will ultimately require one to disconnect from beliefs that have escorted them so long that they’re practically embedded in who they are. It’s a tough process, but hope’s always in reach, even when it doesn’t seem like it.