Suicides caused by cyber-bullying are not a result of someone being too sensitive to detrimental words. Rather, these suicides expand deeper into the mind and cause torment to the victim who is experiencing a lack of social integration according to Durkheim; which, leads the victim into a deviant act.
To someone who hasn’t experience cyber-bullying, it is initially difficult to comprehend the circumstances that would cause someone to take their own life. From an outsider’s perspective, questions arise like why didn’t they tell someone they were bullied? Why didn’t they seek help? These questions cannot be easily answered, but predictions can be made using Durkheim’s normative theory of suicide. Durkheim’s theory is composed of four types of suicide defined by the level of social integration and social regulation the person experiences. Social regulation is “the number of rules guiding your daily life and, more specifically, what you can reasonably expect from the world on a day-to-day basis” (Conley 188). Social regulation levels define two types of suicide called anomic suicide and fatalistic suicide. In contrast, social integration is “how well you are integrated into your social group or community” (Conley 187). Social integration level explain two types of suicide called altruistic suicide, which is very high integration in one’s community, and egotistic suicide, which is a lack of social integration in one’s surroundings.
Cyber-bullying suicides can mainly be related to Durkheim’s theory of egoistic suicide. Teens that are bullied are typically exiled from their social group because others feel they have superiority and basically want to boost their own self-esteem by depleting someone else’s. Those that suffer from cyber-bullying face a constant battle and fight for acceptance amongst their peers. At school these victims are teased, taunted and laughed at and the nightmare only continues when they return home and log on to popular social networking sites such as instant messaging, Facebook, and many more. Teens lack the maturity to understand how destructive their words can be when someone is battling self-esteem issues. Low self-esteem comes from allowing others opinions to give your life meaning, thus creating a sense of hopelessness. Egotistic suicide goes hand-in-hand with deep depression and very low self-concept. The effects of cyber-bullying can be much more powerful than abusive words said to someone’s face because online the message can be repeatedly read and only cause someone to sink deeper into negative thoughts. Escape from cyber-bullying is nearly impossibly unless you simply don’t partake in the online social scene. The option of abstaining for social networking sites is not reasonable considering the initial purpose of the networking sites is to integrate your self into a community of people. Here, the paradox is recognizable; social networking sites were created to give people a social scene that promoted social integration, yet now the websites are being abused and through cyber-bullying these social networking sites are inflicting more social segregation at homes that used to be havens from bullying.
Cyber-bullying from a sociological standpoint is a severe problem that is breaking the fluidity of society and causing damage to individuals in a multitude of ways.
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