Younger people don’t realize the potential ramifications of bullying on the Internet, and that might explain the rise of bullying online.

In this day and age, more and more of our everyday communication is digital. Unfortunately, that also means our supposedly personal communication is public.

In the past, bullying was more personal. Bullies had to be in the same place as the people they were bullying, so bullying mostly happened where people gather, such as school or the mall. This meant someone could physically monitor the actions of bullies and sometimes prevent bullying from happening.

Now, because of the impersonal, potentially anonymous nature of digital communication, bullies do not have to look their victims in the eye. They don’t have to be in the same room as their victims, and they definitely don’t have to see the effects their words have on their victims.

Bullies also don’t have to wait for victims to show up. Hurtful messages posted on Facebook and other social networking sites are there forever. In the past, bullying could be left in the schoolyard, but bullying today can be in the form of a constant stream of public attacks.

The solution to this bullying is simple to describe but difficult to implement. Educating bullies and showing the effects of bullying, whether that education comes from parents or from schools, is the answer. Too often, cyberbullying cannot be handled by schools or universities because schools can’t prevent students from accessing the Internet when the students are not on school grounds. Too often, parents are not active in their children’s online activities.

It’s up to schools and universities to set up seminars and lessons to teach students about the impact bullying can have on their fellow students. It’s up to parents to educate their children about the consequences and ramifications of bullying and to show them that culturally bullying is not acceptable. In the end, though, schools can only teach so much, and parents can only be cognizant of so much.

It’s also up to today’s youth to personalize and learn those lessons.

It’s up to students to mature past the point of wanting to bully other students. It’s up to young people to realize the effect that bullying can have, and that once something is out on the Internet, it can’t be taken back.

It might sound trite, but the only people who can truly stop bullying are the bullies themselves.

So, no matter what form bullying takes, it’s up to the bullies themselves to realize that society doesn’t condone their behavior and stop it.