Stories of Cyber Bullying
October 13th, 2008 by admin
Currently, cyber bullying is one of the fastest growing problems facing school administrators and local governments around the country. Cyber bullying is defined as using the computer or other electronic devices to intimidate, threaten or humiliate another individual. Cyber bullying most commonly takes place on the Internet among students from a given school or neighborhood.
What follows is a series of highly publicized cases of Cyber bullying – each one chosen 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.
The Megan Meier MySpace Incident
Megan Meier was a 13 year old from Missouri who struck up an online friendship on the popular social networking site MySpace with a person she believed was a new boy in her hometown. In actuality, the “friend” was a group of individuals, including adults, who were intent on humiliating the poor girl because of a friendship with another child that had gone awry. Megan was very upset when she found out the truth, then later committed suicide once the friendship had terminated. The horrifying case stunned the community and caused state government officials to pass some of the harshest cyber bullying laws in the country.
The “Kill Kylie” Campaign of Hate and Homophobia
Kylie Kenney, an eighth grade student from Vermont lost two years of her life as a result of cyber bullying from classmates. From junior high through her sophomore year of high school, Kylie was forced to deal with websites created by her classmates that featured names like “Kill Kylie Incorporated” that were filled with threatening, homophobic remarks about the young girl. These hurtful kids obtained screen names with handles close to Kylie’s name and used them to make suggestive remarks and sexual advances on Kylie’s teammates on the field hockey team. As a result police filed charges of harassments against the individuals responsible.
The “Dog Poop Girl”
In South Korea, a female college student was riding the train with her dog when it defecated on the floor of the subway car. After the girl refused to clean up the mess, another passenger on the train took her picture using her cell phone and posted it online. In the months to follow, it became an Internet sensation in South Korea and “Dog Poop” girl became the target of extreme harassment. Individuals found out her name and address and soon she was forced to withdraw from school and move to another part of the country.
A Fake Facebook Rival
This year in Clinton Missouri, charges were filed against a teenager who allegedly created a fake Facebook account to serve as a competition against a young girl who was interested romantically in a male student. The account was created by another girl who wanted the boy all to herself, the suit claims. As a result, the targeted individual underwent significant levels of stress which affected her studies and her ability to attend school regularly. The case is one of many that feature phony accounts on Facebook or MySpace that are used to harass young people or stir up trouble among friends.
Cyber Bullying has become a worldwide problem because of the difficulty to track its occurrences. It some cases it has been accepted as humor, but when is it taken to far? When a child has taken her own life because she was cyber bullied, we know it has been taken way too far.
Cyber bullying has been present in the 2008 presidential election with the slurrying of both presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Even the vice-presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden have been victims of this abuse. These slanders wouldn’t technically be considered cyber bullying, but are loosely related. Senator Sarah Palin has received the worst of it with the creation of videos mocking her interviews on Saturday Night Live. NBC reports over 7 million views online, with millions more watching it on YouTube and Google video.
CyberBully Alert is an innovative new technology that helps families fight back against online predators and cyber bullies. Visit www.cyberbullyalert.com today for more information.
Tags: Cyber Bullying Stories, dog poop girl, kylie kenney, saturday night live sarah palin, stories of cyber bullying
October 13th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I was cyberbullied at age 40 by someone that tried to beat me up in highschool but I ended up kicking their ass. They held that grudge for 28 years before Googling me, figuring out my employer, and sending porn to everyone in the company directory, including clients, with poorly forged headers to look like it was coming from me. My employer was very understanding, but some clients were not.
I don’t know what the point of this story is, other than some people need to seriously get a life.
October 13th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
^^ lol
October 13th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Damned kids. These kids are obviously fairly bright, creative, and cunning. And they’ve got the ability to research, track, and concoct sitcom-esque shenanigans. Why would they waste that kind of talent and teamwork on calling some kid gay, or sending pr0n to people 30 years later?
Kids are always saying things like, “why aren’t kids ever allowed to do anything important?”
THIS IS WHY. Despite all of the great qualities of kids, they always seem to waste their talent on something involving other kids.. When I was young, I was fairly bright and quick witted. I knew how to read and write by the time I was 5. Harassing other children didn’t rank high on my list of priorities. I wrote stories, went fishing, played games, and did other things that any smart kid should be doing.
Oh, and I grew up in the slums of Dallas with full time working parents, in a leaky house with no roof on part of it. I don’t wanna hear about “disadvantaged kids turn out bad.” You work with what you’re given. I was given no more than any other kid I ever knew, and yet I never turned out to be a pr0n-emailing asshole. Kids are a waste of perfectly good brain activity.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Dear Bruce,
Your self centered it seems.
I Myself am a kid, 18 in-fact, and in some parts I do not agree with you. I too wrote stories, went fishing, played games and did other things that a “smart kid” could or should be doing. One question I would like to ask as what you mean by “smart kid”? By using that terminology it seems as if you don’t really know where to classify yourself and putting children as a whole down. Down past the level you had already put them in the stereotypical, judgemental comment of “Kids are always saying things like, ‘why aren’t kids ever allowed to do anything important?’”. I believe most kids now a days have two full time working parents no matter the class. Also I don’t think a lower class was put down by any of this cyberbullying crap.
Also some children may harass others but it may not be a top priority. Some of these kids may feel hurt and need attention and the only way they can get rid of that is by causing others pain and attracting attention negatively.
Worth,
Im sorry that happened to you. Some people never grow up and need the attention whether it is negative or positive.
Thank You
November 11th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
yes its true we’ve learned how to learn form our mistakes but we make the mistake of trying it again and again its one of those things we wont learn soon this will take us some time to really look and see what kind of harm we’re doing to our selves and others but we’ve slow or blind some times both
November 14th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Listen it’s not about living conditions that choose your activities, dont compare lives because that where observers go wrong. It’s about personal will, and the will to go through with it. The way one person chooses their choices changes their lives, so those who can’t understand them selves or feel detacthed from something move on to harassing someone on the computer because thats their main power for them.
Their just weak, nothing powerful, its the fact that kids are stupid enough to reveal in their own slaughter by following up on what they see and hear. They think the willl live with that their whole life they never understand people come and go, They should get over their own selfish desires to show affection to them self
November 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Hi, this behavior is very much a form of abuse; Peer Abuse. We need to take this seriously and stop feeding these bullies.
Keep blogging on this, we need more people to speak out!
Take Care,
Elizabeth Bennett
Peer Abuse Know More!
November 28th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Bruce your right kid that do that kind of bullying at often very bright but that does not mean that they think like adults do. with out kids there would be no adults. every one was a kid at some point in time. Kids are not the only ones that bully; take worth says for instants, he is in his 40’s and was bullied by an adult. I think maybe its you that is a waste of brain activity.