In Broward County, Florida on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 a 19-year-old male took his own life. While this tragic event unfortunately occurs time and again, the particular circumstances surrounding this suicide are worsened by the man broadcasting his death on the internet and the internet bullying that ensued.

The man, identified as Abraham K. Biggs, announced his intention to kill himself in an online forum. One report indicated, he went on a www.bodybuilding.com forum, where he was reportedly a member under the pseudonym “CandyJunkie,” and he posted the amount of drugs he was going to take in order to overdose with a link to a live video. Biggs also posted a suicide note online.

Posting a suicide note and detailing how he was going to kill himself was not the end of this calamity. In addition to the online forum postings, Biggs had streamed a live video of himself during and after his suicide. The broadcast showed his consumption of several pills. Then, as hundreds of web surfers watched the live feed, Biggs took his last breath and lay lifeless on his bed. Several hours passed before website viewers and those that participated in the online bullying became alarmed. The live video had been streaming for hours while Biggs’ motionless, lifeless body lay on his bed. Finally, someone called the police. According to one report the website’s moderator informed the authorities of the video. Other reports say viewers of the broadcast eventually called police. With the live video still streaming, police broke down the door, found the lifeless body, and turned off the webcam. It had been 12 hours since Biggs began blogging about his intended suicide. According to one report, at the time the police entered Biggs’ bedroom about 1,500 people were viewing the video.

The website Biggs chose for his final moments was Justin.tv. Michael Seibel, CEO of Justin.tv said “We regret that this has occurred and respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time.” Seibel continued, “We have policies in place to discourage the distribution of distressing content and our community monitors the site accordingly. This content was flagged by our community, reviewed and removed according to our terms of service.” Since the incident, the disturbing video feed has been taken down; however, clips of the unfortunate event still remain. Internet surfers have posted clips of the video and copies of Biggs’ suicide note all over the internet.

A very disturbing circumstance of the young man’s death is that in response to Biggs’ forum posts and the broadcast of his live video, viewers and members of the online forum taunted Biggs, bullying him over the internet and encouraging him to commit suicide. “You want to kill yourself?” “Do it, do the world a favor and stop wasting our time with your mindless self-pity.” Several individuals continued the internet harassment of Biggs all throughout his video as well as bullying him on the internet after his death, believing it was all a practical joke. After learning of the live broadcast of his son’s suicide, Biggs’ father, Abraham Biggs, Sr., said he was upset that Justin.tv streamed the video. Biggs Sr. stated, “There seems to be a lack of control as to what people put out on the Internet . . . There’s a lot of garbage out there that should not be, and unfortunately this was allowed to happen.” Because the troubled young man had supposedly threatened to commit suicide many times before, the webcast’s viewers and internet bullies believed Biggs was not serious about his intentions. They taunted him, insulted him, and continuously bullied him. The online bullying and internet harassment lasted for hours. Was it this internet bullying that finally made him commit the fatal act?

Unfortunately, advancements in technology have resulted in an epidemic of worldwide bullying on the internet. For example, in 2007, a British man hanged himself live on a webcam with hundreds viewing the broadcast in a chatroom. Supposedly, the depressed man ventured into a chatroom pondering suicide and online bullying ensued. The internet harassment consisted of chatroom members reportedly telling the man, among other things, to “F**king do it. Get on with it.” Since 2001, according to a charity that works to prevent suicide, there have been at least 17 deaths in Britain involving websites and online bullying. Internet harassment is an ongoing, growing problem. For the safety of troubled persons and for online child safety, something should be done to monitor disturbing internet bullying sites.

The times are definitely changing, not only politically, but also socially and technologically. Bullying was once “just part of being a kid” some time ago, and continues to be part of the lives of today’s children. Bullying has gone to the World Wide Web and created the term cyber bullying, where kids are using text messages, social media communities and other multi-media to hurt the feelings of their fellow classmates.

Principals, teachers and other school officials are well aware of the ongoing of cyber bullying and traditional bullying on the playground, although some of these adults take bullying with a grain of salt and don’t do too much to prevent the events. A study conducted by the National Associate of School Psychologists (NASP) found that nearly 25 percent of the polled teachers believe that it is not necessary to intervene in bullying and other forms of disruptive behavior.

Here are some ways that schools can help to eliminate cyber bullying:

• See cyber bullying as a problem: Students know that cyber bullying can be painful mentally, but oftentimes don’t realize that it is wrong and preventable, and therefore don’t tell school authorities about specific cases. Raise awareness about the rise in cyber bullying, effects of cyber bullying, and what kids should do if they see it happening.
• Survey the extent of the problem: Make the time to conduct school wide surveys to students and staff about the knowledge and attitudes about cyber bullying. Find out if there are specific places or times when cyber bullying occurs and use this information as a tool to prevent other issues.
• Create a specialized system to follow: Have your school create a value system based on respect for others, personal responsibility and caring to make it clear what is expected from each student and what consequences they can face if they don’t follow the system. Make sure that each teacher and school official is aware of the system and it is also sent to parents of the children so they are aware of the new program. Provide an avenue for them to voice any comments or concerns.
• Bring awareness via the classroom: Set time aside for specialized discussion, lesson plans and critical thinking skills in the classroom to focus on early intervention and risks of cyber bullying.
• Build a team for cyber bullying prevention: If your budget allows, create a team of student activists that will spread awareness of the rise of cyber bullying and prevention. Students can come together to talk about prior experiences, or have fundraising activities to raise awareness. Or, have former victims speak at your school to bring a more personable relation to the idea of cyber bullying.
• Provide interventions and mediation: If cyber bullying cases are apparent on your campus, find a way to provide interventions between the cyber bullies and the victim with a counselor or mediator. Give each child a chance to say what they feel and discuss why cyber bullying is unhealthy.
• Have medical professionals on campus: Principals should work to hire qualified school psychologists or other trained mental health professionals to assist any students and help out with creating a value system regarding cyber bullying.
• Work with other schools in the district: Contact neighboring schools about raising awareness on the rise of cyber bullying. Also, reinstate the ideas of the negative effects of cyber bullying by offering discussion and training tools as students move through grade levels and different schools.
• Enforce consequences: Consequences for bullying and cyber bullying should be known and understood by students. By enforcing these consequences, students will understand the reality of cyber bullying and force them to stop their behaviors.
• Define the difference between reporting useful information and ratting out a friend: Some students will be weary of reporting bad behavior because they may feel like they are “tattling” on a friend. Ensure confidentiality between the student and the school authority and let students know they can trust adults.

Train all school officials: Not only teachers, but also sport coaches, after school supervisors and even bus drivers should be aware of bullying or listen out for cyber bullying events. They should know how to respond to these triggers and how to reinforce positive problem solving.