Marissa Perszyk
Deputy of the Prime Minister
“Social networks are bad and should be rejected”
Introduction:
“32% of online teens have experienced some form of harassment via the Internet, a problem also known as cyberbullying” (Perez, 2010).
A. The opposition side claims that Facebook is not detrimental to society, but Speaker I am here to prove to you that social networks such as Facebook play a negative role in not the lives of adults but if even more so in the lives our children and thus should be rejected.
B. Preview Speech
Negative impact that cyberbullying has on our children today because of the use of social networking sites
C. Transition: before I answer some of what the other side has said, let’s look again at the strong reasons that my partner gave in support of this resolution.
II. Rebuild Government Case outline:
A. Defining Cyberbulling
1. The President of cyberbullying.org defines cyberbullying as" the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others” (Belsey, 2010).
2. It is important to notice that Cyberbullying is online harassment that is: 1.repeated over time and 2. it involves a power imbalance between a perpetrator and a victim (Perez, 2010).
3. According to recent data, 15% of online teens have had private material forwarded without permission, 13% have received threatening messages and 6% have had embarrassing photos posted without permission (Perez, 2010).
III. Now let me respond to what the other side said in trying to refute our case.
A. First, they said that Facebook “Helps to refine and develop social skills.”
B. But this isn’t a good argument because…
C. Second, they said that Facebook helps keep “existing relationship/aids in long-distance relationships.”
D. But, this isn’t a good reason because ….
IV. For my team’s third point: Social networking sites play a Negative impact on our children today.
A. Montesquieu: "If we only wanted to be happy it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which are almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are." But social networking may be making this tendency worse (Copeland, 2011).
B. Currently, cyber bullying is one of the fastest growing problems facing school administrators and local governments around the country.
C. With this, in today’s society, we see a dramatic increase of depression and suicide rates in teens, tweens, and young adults (Cyberbully Alert, 2011).
a. Suicide Rates
i. The reality of these suicide has been linked to cyberbullying online has been strengthened through research showing how experience with peer harassment (most often as a target but also as a perpetrator) contributes to depression, decreased self-worth, hopelessness, and loneliness – all of which are precursors to suicidal thoughts and behavior.
ii. There have been several high‐profile cases involving teenagers taking their own live in part because of being harassed and mistreated over the Internet, a phenomenon we have termed cyberbullicide – suicide indirectly or directly influenced by experiences with online aggression.
iii. In a study done by the cyberbullying research center out of 2,000 random selected middle school students
1. 20% of respondents reported seriously thinking about attempting suicide and 19% actually attempted to commit suicide.
2. All forms of bullying were significantly associate with increases in suicidal ideation
3. Cyberbullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experience cyberbullying. (Hinduja, Patchin, 2010).
D. Let’s take for example the abc news story of young Phoebe Prince.
a. Even in death, Phoebe Prince was bullied. On a memorial page dedicated to the Massachusetts teen who had recently committed suicide, Facebook members left taunting comments that had to be removed. The 15-year-old -- a recent immigrant from Ireland with a pretty face and a soft brogue -- was found dead in her South Hadley home Jan. 14, according to police. Afterward, her fellow students came forward to tell school officials that Prince had been teased incessantly, taunted by text messages and harassed on social networking sites like Facebook.
b. Prince is not the only case of apparent bullying that has sparked national headlines (James, 2010).
E. There are many stories like young Phoebe that are shared to shed light on the nature of the problem and the fallout that ensues when one young individual uses technology to hurt another person psychologically.
V. Conclusion: Social networks are bad and should be rejected because of the negative impact that it is having on the children of today who are the future of tomorrow. This is why we urge you Speaker to vote reject and ban social networking cites like Facebook, so that we can help encourage, build up, and bring about a better future for the children today.
References
Belsey, B. (2010). "always on? always aware". Retrieved from http://www.cyberbullying.org/.
Copeland, L. (2011, January 26). By helping other people look happy, facebook is making us sad.. Retrieved from http://socialnetworkreject.blogspot.com/.
Cyberbully Alert, . (2011, October 13). Stories of cyber bullying. Retrieved from http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/10/stories-of-cyber-bullying/.
Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 14(3), 206‐ 221.
James, S. (2010, January 26). Immigrant teen taunted by cyberbullies hangs herself. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cyber-bullying-factor-suicide-massachusetts-teen- irish-immigrant/story?id=9660938.
Perez, S. (2010, May 10). More cyberbullying on facebook, social sites than rest of web. Retrieved from http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/more_cyberbullying_on_facebook_social_sites_t han_rest_of_web.php.
