Why Cyberbullying?

     I've never blogged, prior to this, but I have used social media in the form of Facebook, research, and dating. One of the things that I love most about Facebook is that I can communicate with my classmates from the American Embassy School, where I graduated from High School in 1979. If I would have thought about the odds of getting in touch with so many classmates of a school that had 38 different nationalities 10 years ago, I would have said that chances were not good. I have had a Myspace page and had much more success with Facebook, as far as communicating with friends.  That is the upside of social media in my life.

     I did a lot of research for this assignment and found the abusive nature of cyberbullying very disturbing, which I believe is a direct result of the addictive nature of over-use of the Internet. Young people communicate with their friends and classmates, and this can be innocent. Adding that they open themselves up to the cyber world, where people can pretend to be other people or where young people have found another way of bullying, is a recipe for disaster.  If, as an adult, I would have been bullied on Facebook I would simply block the person bullying me.  However, it would still be hurtful.  When I was in Junior High I remember being bullied by this girl that I didn’t even know.  She did awful things to me—threw drinks in my face, pulled my very long hair, and called me names.  It wasn’t until we matched up for a game of “fisty cuffs”  that the abuse ended.  I had enough of the abuse and decided to fight back.  I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone.  However, I can imagine what it might have been like if she would have had access to me via the Internet.  The Internet and social media is very powerful weapon, in my opinion. 

     My heart sincerely goes out to the young people that are being victimized by cyberbullying.  I recently watched a movie about a girl that was a victim of cyberbullying.  Her best friend had created a fake boy, in order to pursuade her friend from liking another boy.  The victim was so obsessed with reading the terrible things that were written about her (terrible things) that she got on the Web anyway she could.  Her mother had banned her from using her computer at home.  The girl tried to commit suicide but her attempt failed.  It took a long time for her to recover from the incident but she did, including bring attention to cyberbullying. 

     The primary reason I started writing about cyberbullying is because of a recent event in which a young 15 year old girl, Audrie Pott, committed suicide due to cyberbullying.  She was sexually assaulted by some boys who claimed to be her friends, while she was passed out at a party.  It wasn’t until pictures of the assault showed up on various social media location that she actually knew what had happened.  Not only was she raped but she was victimized, beyond comprehension.  Students had used cell phones to share photos of the attack, which were horrific.  This story broke my heart.  After all the research I did, I found many other stories of teen suicides related to cyberbullying.  Some of their names and photos are listed below.  

Audrie Potts 

Rehtoeh Parsons

 

 

Ryan Halligan

 

 

Giovanna Plowman

 

 

Amanda Todd

 

 

Megan Meier

 

 

 

Sadly, there are many more like these beautiful children.

 

More information to share:

 

Many States have created laws against cyberbullying.

• Alaska has a cyberbully law
• Alaska does not have an electronic harassment law or a school sanction law.
• http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/alaska.html

From a person who is a bully--doesn't seem real.

The bullied often become the bullier.

Adults harrass children for very strange, unexplainable reasons.