o   It can be proven that certain designs and aspects of a social media sites can cause a power imbalance, harnessing cyber-bullying.

§  The IT features of social media sites should work concertedly to impede control imbalance. Further, these overarching IT capabilities can be labeled as IT CB prevention capability (ITCBPC) (Ladika). Further, since social media sites allow the user to hide behind a screen name, students believe they can remain anonymous and will act more maliciously than they would in person (Beale and Hall, 8).

o   Steps must be taken because suicide is the second-leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States. Furthermore, children who are bullied in person or online are more than twice as likely as other children to consider killing themselves.

§  According to new research, social media and cyber-bullying have been linked and connected with depression being found in teenagers.“In 2013, for example, a spate of suicides was linked to the social network Ask.fm, where users can ask each other questions anonymously” (Pappas).  Regular, face-to-face bullying during the teen years may double the risk of depression in adulthood, and bullying's effects can be as bad or worse than child abuse, studies show (Pappas). Further, the effect of cyberbullying is assumed to be even more but further research must be done to accurately have an insight to the capacity of its effects (Pappas)

o   In addition to the links between bullying and suicide, studies show that children who are bullied are more likely to be violent inside and outside the classroom and are much more likely to bring a weapon to school.

o   About 46 percent of bullying victims who met three criteria — they had gotten into fights at school, been threatened or injured at school and skipped school because they feared for their safety — also said they had brought a weapon to school (Ladika).  Studies of the connection between bullying and school shootings have produced varying results. A 2004 study by the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Education said that in almost three-quarters of 37 school attacks studied, including shootings, “attackers felt bullied, persecuted, or injured by others prior to the attack (Ladika).

Beale, Andrew V., and Kimberly R. Hall. “Cyberbullying: What School Administrators (And Parents) Can Do.” The Clearing House, vol. 81, no. 1, 2007, pp. 8–12. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30189945.

Ladika, Susan. "Bullying and Cyberbullying." CQ Researcher, 2 Feb. 2018, pp. 97-120, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2018020200.

Pappas, Stephanie. “Cyberbullying on Social Media Linked to Teen Depression.”LiveScience, Purch, 22 June 2015, www.livescience.com/51294-cyberbullying-social-media-teen-depression.html.