“Technology is taking over the world.” Maybe not slowly but surely, this statement ends up being the truth each and every year. In addition, the youth are the ones that are greatly affected by this. According to the article “Cyberbullying is a Serious Problem” by Andrew Schrock, cyberbullying is the new form of the physical bullying. He describes the different ways cyberbullying can be carried out, how victims of this can be affected and the perpetrators of cyberbullying. He also relates cyberbullying to the connection victims and perpetrators have offline. Although Schrock provides adequate information on cyberbullying, much of his evidence is repeated and becomes opinionated at times. Also, there is no idea of a solution; therefore, …show more content…
One fallacy present is hasty generalization. Schrock starts off by saying, “It is difficult to measure online harassment and cyberbullying because these concepts have no clear and consistent definition” (p1). The author states this too early in his article without providing any evidence prior to this statement. This makes the audience question how effective this article really is because he sounds uncertain of how serious cyber bullying really is. Stacking the deck is also present in this article. “Wolak found that youth who were bullied may feel upset (30%), afraid (24%), or embarrassed (22%)and that even the 34% of victims of harassment who were not upset or afraid may experience effects from bullying…” (p2). Although these facts are sufficient, they are irrelevant to the effects of cyberbullying and instead pertain to bullying in general. Another example of a fallacy present in the article is begging the question. He states that, “Mid-adolescents were more likely to be perpetrators and their age was correlated with likelihood to engage in online harassment” (p3). In addition to that, he claims that boys were more likely to be the harassers unlike the girls… this passes off an assumption that needs to be proven. Schrock automatically jumps to the conclusion that male adolescents are the main perpetrators of cyberbullying without actually having proof that these are the perpetrators. One fallacy that stands out is circular reasoning. The idea that, “... youth have been found to be both online harassers and victims of online harassment,” (p4) essentially sums up the majority of the article. Presenting this information about cyberbullying, Schrock does not mention any idea of a solution. With the evidence he provides of victims and perpetrators, there should be some