School Bullying Council

Whether it is Cyber, Mental, Physical or emotional, It hurts, Oh so much. And it NEEDS to stop. These are just some of the stories and points I have seen. Bullying is pathetic, It sickens me. Critism is acceptable, aslong as it isn’t Mean, or racist or horrible… ~ Jacki Brown PS The signs read. And the signs say from the start. ~Bullying. ~Whether it’s cyber or not, Doesn’t matter… ~It hurts people… ~ But there can be many sides to a story… ~Just Remember to speak out against it… ~ Wit

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http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/24/justice/new-jersey-rutgers-hearing/index.html

BOSSIER CITY, LA (KSLA) -

A Bossier City judge met with both sides of a cyberbullying incident that may have led to a 15-year-old’s suicide in May of last year.

Police say 17-year-old Jason Patrick Thomas is accused of criminal assistance to suicide after 15-year-old Danielle Cox took her life in May of 2011. Thomas is accused of sending more than 100 text messages to Danielle encouraging her to kill herself. Judge Joe Bleich granted a motion to allow the defense and the state to examine Danielle’s medical records. Both sides are under tight restrictions. The trial is expected to begin in May.

Last year, Danielle it was reported that Danielle had diabetes and suffered from depression.

Related Stories:

• KSLA News 12 Investigates: Cyber-bullying and suicide

Copyright 2012 KSLA. All rights reserved.

http://www.ksla.com/story/16700849/cyberbullying-teen-accused-of-aiding-in-suicide

Tineka Smith
Published 16 January 2012

A study by Ipsos for Reuters News revealed that cyberbullying is becoming a problem in many countries.

The survey covering 24 countries found that nearly 80% of residents worldwide say cyberbulling is a problem that needs dedicated attention from schools and parents. Current measures being taken against online bullying were said not to be enough in addressing the problem.

Over 18,000 people were surveyed about cyberbullying with 6,500 being parents. Around 66% of the countries surveyed reported that awareness of cyberbulling was high, with one in ten parents reporting that their child has experienced cyberbulling. One in four parents said that they know a child in their community who has experienced cyberbulling as well.

“This study is interesting because it measures parental awareness and assessments of their children’s experiences of cyberbullying, not opinions of kids themselves. Kids in school right now are among the first generation to experience this phenomenon so it is quite possible that parental understanding of the issue is understating the actual rates of cyberbullying,” said Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos.

“Though parents may not have lived through the cyberbullying experience, they certainly see it as a major problem to be tackled. A majority of parents reported this form of bullying calls for a targeted approach from educators above and beyond existing anti-bullying programming,” Gottfried added.

Indonesia fared high in being most aware of cyberbullying with 91%, followed by Australia with 87% and Poland with 83%.

The United States has had cases of teenage suicides linked to cyberbullying in which other child peers purposely threaten, offend, and harass another children through online technology or mobile devices.

Awareness of cyberbulling was reported by 82% of Americans. This was the same in Sweden, followed by 81% in Germany.

Some countries, however, showed low levels of knowing about cyberbullying with 29% in Saudia Arabia saying they have heard of it. In Russia, China and Turkey 50% under reported knowing about cyberbullying.

Nearly six in ten of those surveyed said that the children experienced cyberbulling through social networking sites like Facebook. The popular social networking site was the top medium used for cyberbulling for most of the countries surveyed. Four in ten said that mobile devices and chat rooms were often used for harassment; three in ten said email or online instant messaging was used, and two in 10 said other websites were used for cyberbullying.

The prevalence of cyberbullying is becoming more public with films like ‘cyberbu//y’ being made in efforts to bring attention to the negative outcomes cyberbullying has on children and teenagers.

Please follow this author on Twitter @Tineka_S or comment below.

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http://www.cbronline.com/news/cyberbullying-a-world-wide-problem-160112

Ethan Miller, Getty Images

Beliebers know that their hero Justin Bieber cares about his fellow humans. He donates buckets of money to a variety of causes (Pencils of Promise is the most prominent, as well as his hometown food bank in Canada) and visits sick kids in the hospital. He’s certainly doing his part. That doesn’t mean that the Bieber backlash from the haters will ever stop.

Reddit posted a call for stories of regular people being bullied by celebrities and they got quite a few responses regarding actors, A-listers and more. There were a few stories about the Biebs that didn’t quite paint him as a bully, but the behavior is a bit unbecoming. It’s not substantiated other than by the sources that claim to have been the victim, but there are details. His former ‘CSI’ co-star Marg Helgenberger, who called him a brat, would likely say, “See, I told ya!” upon hearing these stories.

One person posted the following: “I was bullied by Justin Bieber (!!) back in 2006 while studying at Stratford Northwestern Public School. We did 7th grade. It didn’t bother me, I’m actually very happy to know that he’s famous because today he’s one of the most hated teenagers in the world.” Karma, right?

Another stated: “Justin Bieber used to play on my hockey team when he played in Stratford. He rarely passed and constantly called me a ‘homo or ‘f—’ when I didn’t pass to him. To keep it short, nobody here likes him.” Ouch!

Lastly, this one positions the Biebs as bratty. A source claimed, “This isn’t ‘bullying’, per se, but still a douche-y move. My friend works at the Apple store in the richest mall in Atlanta and Justin Bieber came in to buy a laptop. When he brought it up to the counter, he just threw a wad of cash at her and told her to count it out herself. She threw it back at him and refused to ring him up until he acted more respectful.” Hmm.

Again, these stories are face value and Beliebers can take ‘em or leave ‘em. Nobody is perfect and kids will be kids. That said, there’s no excuse for bad behavior and we’re not condoning any of these behaviors — and we’re right there with Lady Gaga as she works to stamp out bullying. So, if the Biebs did commit the offenses, shame on him and hopefully he’s matured and learned a lesson.

We’ve gotta give him props, though, as he cruises towards his 18th birthday in March. He’s being generous and kind with his time, using his incredible fame for good. He is generous and caring, and the good certainly seems to outweigh the bad.

http://popcrush.com/justin-bieber-bullying/

The study, conducted by Internet Solutions for Kids, a San Clemente, Calif.-based nonprofit research organization, followed more than a thousand teens and pre-teens from 2006 through 2008, asking them to report their exposure and reactions to text and computer-related violence each year.

Of those surveyed, 24 percent said they were “harassed” by text, meaning peers spread rumors, made mean comments, or threatened them, an increase of about 14 percent from the year before.

Meanwhile, the study found instances of online bullying via email, instant message and social networking sites are down, likely due to increased monitoring of such sites and awareness campaigns about the damaging effects of harassment. Only 15 percent reported experiencing cyber-bullying, a series of relentless personal attacks that target one individual.

However, another recent study by Pew found nearly 90 percent of teens claim to have witnessed some form of online cruelty, implying the problems may still exist, but are less frequently reported or perhaps dismissed.

According to the Internet Solutions study, the number of kids bullied in some form remains relatively average, close to 40 percent, and most kids claim they were only mildly upset by the rude messages.

But the increase in text message bullying is still reason for caution. Cell phones are often monitored less frequently by parents than Facebook pages or email accounts, and since the messages aren’t visible to anyone but the receiver, there are no witnesses around to help defend a victim.

Most kids with cell phones also carry them wherever they go, so harassment can reach them day and night. When a child can’t escape threats and teasing, they may feel alone and without a “safety zone,” eventually becoming depressed.

However, due to increased awareness of bullying, more and more kids — and adults — are willing to stand up and fight it. But that doesn’t mean the problem has gone away, or that some kids don’t become extremely distressed by it.

Nearly a quarter of children surveyed were pestered in some way, and that number is not insignificant. Researcher Michele L. Ybarra, who studied the survey’s findings, says the key going forward is to “do a better job of identifying these kids, and helping them.”

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/117621.html

DVD Excerpt: Jeanne Blake: I’m Jeanne Blake. Sometimes bullying is dismissed as teasing or joking rather than the cruel behavior it really is. Now we understand that bullying can leave emotional scars that last a lifetime. It can even make young people feel as though they don’t want to live anymore. Bullying is cruel and happens all too often. That’s why more people are determined to prevent and stop bullying. Bullying can be verbal, physical, and carried out through technology, or cyberbullying

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Vancouver is the cyberbullying
capital of Canada
according to the results of a survey released today by Norton Canada.

The statistics in the Norton study suggest that children and teens in Vancouver are more likely to be involved in online bullying than children in the other four major cities across Canada that were part of the survey.

Among parents
with children aged eight to 18, some 40 per cent of Vancouver
parents reported their child had been involved in online bullying, compared to
25 per cent of parents across Canada.
Toronto comes second to Vancouver, with 31 per cent of parents there
reporting that they have cyberbullying kids.

Close to three out of
four said their child was a victim, while 16 per cent said their child was the
bully. Eighteen per cent said their child witnessed a cyberbullying incident.

Photo by Chris Mikula, Ottawa Citizen

Among the Vancouver parents, 17 per cent said their children are
guilty of online bullying, putting Vancouver
only second to Calgary
at 22 per cent. Toronto was third at 15 per
cent, Montreal fourth at 11 per cent, followed
by Halifax at
eight per cent.

The majority of Vancouver parents ignore
the prohibition on many social media web sites that’s supposed to stop kids
under of 13 from joining. Some 55 per cent of parents here say they’re fine
with their kids joining such sites as long as they are supervised.

The survey found girls
are more likely to be bullied online than boys and social media channels are
the communications weapons of choice for cyberbullies. Social networks account
for 63 per cent of the online bullying, compared to 25 per cent for email and
19 per cent by phone.

“The connectivity and
immediacy of social networking sites has adults and children alike tethered to
the online world as a means of communicating,” said Lynn Hargrove, director of
consumer solutions for Norton Canada said in a release. “Words said online have
a different impact than words exchanged on a playground, because online
messages and posts have the potential to live on for an indefinite amount of
time.”

Tweens – those eight to
12 years of age – are somewhat more likely to be involved in online bullying.

While parents used to be
able to monitor their kids’ online activities by keeping their computers in the
kitchen, the family room or another spot where they could keep an eye on them,
the rise of mobile Internet access has lessened that control. Cyberbullying via
cell phones was the most common among kids aged 13 and 14.

More
than 50 per cent of the parents surveyed said they use online monitoring
software to keep tabs on their children’s Internet use and 42 per cent check
the browser history when their kids are surfing to see where they’ve been
online.

 The
statistics came from an online survey with a random sample of 507 men and women in Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, who have a
child between the ages of 8-18. The respondents are members of the Impulse Research
proprietary online panel and the survey was conducted last February. The survey
has a margin of error of  +/-3 per cent
at the 95 per cent level of confidence.

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/techsense/archive/2011/05/17/vancouver-the-cyberbullying-capital-of-canada.aspx

Forty-two percent of children have been the target of cyberbullying, and almost one in four have been bullied more than once, according to www.cybersafephilly.com. But statistics do not convey the personal tragedy of children like Megan Meier, who took her own life after being bullied weeks before her 14th birthday.

Now Tina Meier, Megan’s mother and founder of the Megan Meier Foundation, travels the country sharing Megan’s story and promoting safe Internet practices. Tina is the guest speaker at 10 Verizon Cybersafe Philly summits across Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Summits are scheduled at 7 p.m. April 18 at Souderton Area High School, 621 Lower Road, Souderton, and at 7 p.m. May 16 at Pennridge High School, 1228 N. Fifth St., Perkasie. All parents in the community are welcome to attend the free summits.

Along with the parent summits, Tina offers a program for high school students. She will share Megan’s story with SAHS students April 19 and then discuss how they can protect themselves from bullying.

“They think about right now and today, not tomorrow,” Tina said. One of Tina’s goals is to help students realize that “the things they do and the actions they take can really, truly hurt someone else.”

Peer leaders are chosen from each grade to participate in a 45-minute breakout session, during which they discuss what they are going through in school and workable solutions.

The breakout session serves to “get them empowered in their own schools to make change,” Tina said.

Cyberbullying can happen in a split second, and its targets can be the popular as well as the unpopular children, according to Tina.

Some people propose that the solution is as simple as turning off the computer, but things may be more complicated than that.

“If it was as easy as that, we would have the situation solved,” Tina said. “What people don’t understand is that the entire way children communicate now is through technology.”

Taking away their communication medium is the same as taking away their voice, according to Tina.

Some children, however, can shake off the cruel attacks while others internalize them.

“How do we determine who’s going to be able to cope with it?” Tina said.

Losing a child is a crisis that no parent is prepared for, Tina said, but after Megan’s death Oct. 17, 2006, she realized that she had two options.

“I could continue to be angry and mad that it happened to Megan,” Tina said. “It really almost isolated me. It kept me in one spot of aggravation and frustration.”

Tina had plenty to be angry about, since her daughter was cyberbullied by a former friend and the friend’s mother, neighbors living down the street from the Meiers, according to www.meganmeierfoundation.org.

Attending support groups, Tina saw other parents in that same place of frustration seven years after the death of a child.

“I didn’t want to be like that,” Tina said.

So instead, she started the Megan Meier Foundation, which has blossomed into what Tina said is “more than full-time work.”

“I thought about all the things Megan is about,” Tina said. “She liked helping others.”

One of Tina’s first tasks was getting the law changed, since no laws existed in Missouri at the time of Megan’s death to convict the offender. Working with Missouri Sen. Scott Rupp and Gov. Matt Blunt’s Internet Task Force for the State of Missouri, Tina advocated for the passage of Missouri Senate Bill 818, which became law Aug. 28, 2008, according to meganmeierfoundation.org.

Most laws addressing Internet harassment or stalking have been reactive, according to Tina. “You don’t realize there’s a flaw in the law until these situations come about,” Tina said.

Attendees at a White House anti-bullying summit March 10 discussed federal legislation addressing Internet harassment, an important topic since each state currently has its own legislation, Tina said.

“We have to get people together to figure out how we can deal with it without stepping on the freedom of speech issue or making it so restrictive that we won’t get anything done,” Tina said.

Tina said she is grateful that Verizon chose her to speak at its cybersafety summits.

“I can speak about it, but to have a large company get behind this — that’s huge,” Tina said.

Verizon has been engaged in Internet safety on multiple fronts, but 2011 is the first year that the company has sponsored summits across the region, according to Lee Gierczynski, a Verizon representative.

Verizon’s FIOS services offer parental controls and other cybersafety tools, and the Verizon Foundation supports initiatives that fund nonprofits to provide programs that reduce children’s risks online, Gierczynski said.

“Verizon’s business is centered on technology and high-speed Internet,” Gierczynski said. “We felt we have a responsibility to educate parents and children.”

For more cybersafety resources and for the schedule of Cybersafe Philly summits, visit www.cybersafephilly.com. For more information about the Megan Meier Foundation, visit www.meganmeierfoundation.org.

• Return to Paging Mode

http://montgomerynews.com/articles/2011/04/14/perkasie_news_herald/news/doc4da60c5ab2aeb218461940.txt

It’s called “social networking” and it was meant to bring people closer together.

But lately websites like Facebook, MySpace and Formspring have been home to a new form of bullying sometimes linked to teenage suicides and suicide attempts.

After a 16-year-old girl jumped from a South Scranton bridge last month, Scranton police began investigating “inappropriate” messages posted on her Facebook page that have been cited as a contributing factor in her attempted suicide.

“We’ve had cases of harassment through Facebook, but not to the point where someone tried to harm themselves as a result,” said Scranton police Detective Capt. Al Leoncini.

Leoncini said detectives issued a court order to Facebook on April 1 seeking “any and all records relating to” the victim’s Facebook page, but until detectives receive those records the investigation is at a standstill.

“We were told it may be inappropriate material, but we’re not sure until we actually get it,” Leoncini said. “Until we get this, we’re pretty much on standby. … until we get it, there’s not much more we can do.”

The teen’s mother said a small group of teens had tormented and bullied her daughter in and out of school over the past two months, although whether cyberbullying actually occurred remains unknown for now.

Bullies can hide

Cyberbullying is a worldwide problem that mostly occurs on social-networking websites but can also involve cell phones, said Justin Patchin, Ph.D., associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center. Cyberbullying is mostly written, but also can include photographs and videos, he said, and it often occurs among middle school-aged children.

Monica Thomas, founder of Parents Advocating for Safe Schools, said cyberbullying has come about because it allows the person doing the bullying to hide, maybe by using a fake name.

“It’s a way of being able to lash out and do things and be anonymous,” she said.

Former guidance counselor Rick Barone works as a bullying prevention consultant at Lackawanna Trail, Lakeland and Western Wayne school districts and hears about cyberbullying occurring.

“It’s a beautiful way to say ugly things to people without looking at their face,” he said. “And I don’t think they really know the ramifications of how negative it could be.”

The last straw

People really started to become aware of cyberbullying around 2005 to 2007, Patchin said, as instances of teen suicides potentially tied to cyberbullying drew attention across the country. But he said cyberbullying is rarely a direct cause of teen suicides.

“There’s a lot going on in their lives: depression, school problems, family problems,” Patchin said. “Cyberbullying could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

With the students he meets in the region, Barone said none have discussed suicide in relation to bullying. If a child does commit suicide, he said, “there’s a good amount of things that preceded that,” like a lack of self-esteem.

“When a student acts that way, something was going to trigger it,” Barone said. “It happened to be the cyberbullying. That’s where the early intervention comes in to play.”

Bullies might not feel loved at home or have anger issues, he noted, and bullying can be a form of seeking attention. For students who show they need adult supervision, Barone said, “the sooner you get it to them, the sooner they have goals set and expectations set for them, (and) they usually deliver.”

Getting help

Cyberbullying can be difficult for adults to understand because it does not appear to have any physical harm, or they view bullying as a right of passage, Patchin said. And if people do not acknowledge cyberbullying as a serious problem, he added, it likely will continue to happen.

“Technology is everywhere, and it’s only going to become more prevalent in the lives of adolescents,” Patchin said. “And so the potential is for it to increase or create a bigger problem.”

Thomas thinks there needs to be more communication between parents and their children. That can be tough in an economy in which some parents must work multiple jobs, she said, but they need to take time for conversation.

“At least have one quality day as a family that you spend and you talk,” Thomas said. “It’s getting back to the basics that I think will curb a lot of this.”

And if parents cannot step in, Thomas said, children need to know they have someone, like a teacher or counselor, to whom they can turn for help. Her own son had been bullied and found help in a teacher.

“That teacher pulled him through,” Thomas said.

Patchin said studies show more children are starting to report cyberbullying than they had been, and Thomas has noticed that as well. Children are hearing more about it in the news and popular culture, she said, and feel more comfortable talking about it.

And groups like hers have sprung up to offer help.

“The children just need to know there are places you can turn to,” Thomas said. “There are people out there who can be there for you if you just need to vent.” Barone has found that when students take something posted online and discuss it face to face, the meeting often ends in an apology.

Laws somewhat scarce

There can be legal ramifications for bullies. Bullying laws in about 31 states mention electronic forms of bullying, and six or seven directly refer to cyberbullying, Patchin said. Pennsylvania does not have a bullying law.

Bullies could face criminal charges like harassment or civil penalties when someone they bullied sues them, although Patchin said charges are unlikely in such cases. His group argues that most cases can be dealt with informally by parents, teachers and counselors, and he said they also could bring in law enforcement to convey the seriousness of the situation.

“We don’t necessarily want to make felons out of 14-year-old bullies,” Patchin said. “The vast majority of the behaviors are relatively minor.”

Leoncini said detectives suspect the posts involved in the recent teen suicide attempt may contain images as well as text, but that they were deleted from the site “after word got out that she got hurt.”

And until they know exactly what was posted, detectives will not be able to tell what charges they can pursue.

“If it was threats, it could be terroristic threats. Until we actually look at it we don’t know,” Leoncini said. “We may review it and it may be something that’s not criminal. … It’s really hard to say until we see exactly what comes back.”

cheaney@timesshamrock.com

http://citizensvoice.com/news/from-social-networking-to-cyber-bullying-1.1130758

Media Town Talk News

Published: Thursday, March 31, 2011

Neumann University’s Dr. Kathleen Conn, an attorney and nationally recognized expert on cyberbullying will take part in a Cyberbullying Summit April 12.

View and purchase photos

Neumann University, in collaboration with the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, will host a free Cyberbullying Summit 9 a.m.  to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12. The program is designed for educators, school administrators, wellness professionals, law enforcement personnel, high school student leaders and chaperones, and all individuals interested in curbing the current problems associated with cyberbullying.

The program will include sessions on “Recognizing and Reducing Cyberbullying in K-12 Schools,” presented by Neumann’s Dr. Kathleen Conn, an attorney and nationally recognized expert on cyberbullying; “Criminal Investigation and Prosecution of Students Involved in Bullying/Cyberbullying,” presented by Joseph Lesniak, assistant district attorney for Delaware County, and Lt. David Peifer, commander of the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce; and break-out sessions for student leaders and their chaperones.

Participants will learn the differences between bullying and cyberbullying, the reasons why youngsters cyberbully, signs that a student is being cyberbullied, the forensics of collecting evidence in cyberbullying cases, the potential liability for school personnel, details of criminal prosecutions currently underway, and methods to combat the problem.

In break-out session, student leaders and their chaperones will discuss what schools should be doing to control the effects of cyberbullying. Michael D’Angelo and Donna Liu, both licensed professional counselors with the University’s Counseling Center for Wellness, and officers from the Delaware County District Attorney’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force will facilitate the discussion.

The Summit will be held in the University’s Meagher Theatre and Mirenda Center for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development at the Aston campus. Admission is free, and lunch and snacks will be served. Attendance is limited to 300.

Call 610-558-5549 for more information or register for the free Cyberbullying Summit online at http://neumannuniversity.wufoo.com/forms/registration-for-cyberbullying-summit.

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Neumann University’s Dr. Kathleen Conn, an attorney and nationally recognized expert on cyberbullying will take part in a Cyberbullying Summit April 12.

View and purchase photos

• 1
• 2
• See Full Story

Neumann University’s Dr. Kathleen Conn, an attorney and nationally recognized expert on cyberbullying will take part in a Cyberbullying Summit April 12.

View and purchase photos

• 1
• 2
• 3
• See Full Story

Neumann University’s Dr. Kathleen Conn, an attorney and nationally recognized expert on cyberbullying will take part in a Cyberbullying Summit April 12.

View and purchase photos

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

Neumann University’s Dr. Kathleen Conn, an attorney and nationally recognized expert on cyberbullying will take part in a Cyberbullying Summit April 12.

View and purchase photos

Neumann University, in collaboration with the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, will host a free Cyberbullying Summit 9 a.m.  to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12. The program is designed for educators, school administrators, wellness professionals, law enforcement personnel, high school student leaders and chaperones, and all individuals interested in curbing the current problems associated with cyberbullying.

The program will include sessions on “Recognizing and Reducing Cyberbullying in K-12 Schools,” presented by Neumann’s Dr. Kathleen Conn, an attorney and nationally recognized expert on cyberbullying; “Criminal Investigation and Prosecution of Students Involved in Bullying/Cyberbullying,” presented by Joseph Lesniak, assistant district attorney for Delaware County, and Lt. David Peifer, commander of the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce; and break-out sessions for student leaders and their chaperones.

Participants will learn the differences between bullying and cyberbullying, the reasons why youngsters cyberbully, signs that a student is being cyberbullied, the forensics of collecting evidence in cyberbullying cases, the potential liability for school personnel, details of criminal prosecutions currently underway, and methods to combat the problem.

In break-out session, student leaders and their chaperones will discuss what schools should be doing to control the effects of cyberbullying. Michael D’Angelo and Donna Liu, both licensed professional counselors with the University’s Counseling Center for Wellness, and officers from the Delaware County District Attorney’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force will facilitate the discussion.

The Summit will be held in the University’s Meagher Theatre and Mirenda Center for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development at the Aston campus. Admission is free, and lunch and snacks will be served. Attendance is limited to 300.

Call 610-558-5549 for more information or register for the free Cyberbullying Summit online at http://neumannuniversity.wufoo.com/forms/registration-for-cyberbullying-summit.

• Return to Paging Mode

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http://www.delconewsnetwork.com/articles/2011/03/31/media_town_talk/news/doc4d936d39a2f54561627268.txt

By
Lin Jones

Last updated at 4:51 AM on 24th February 2011

Bullied to death: Public schoolgirl Natasha MacBryde, 15, died after being struck by a train on the railway line near Bromsgrove

Fans of the internet never tire of proclaiming its virtues.

Communications, business, travel, entertainment and shopping have all been transformed — opening up new worlds, enriching people’s lives and vastly expanding consumer choice.

Yet the darker side of the internet has all too often been ignored. Just as computers can be a force for good, so they can promote misery and harm. In our brave new cyber world, freedom of communication can degenerate into a licence to abuse.

The truth is that the internet has opened up a window on the cruel and vicious side of human nature. In the virtual sphere, online sadists operate with impunity.

On many websites, particularly those aimed at the young, the boundaries of normal, civilised behaviour have been replaced by the sort of savage anarchy famously portrayed in William Golding’s novel Lord Of The Flies, in which civilised prep school boys turn into savages.

The consequences were highlighted this week by the tragic case of Natasha MacBryde, a 15-year-old schoolgirl who committed suicide after a remorseless campaign of internet bullying.

But that was not all. The malice that had led to her death continued on the internet, causing more anguish to her distraught family.

A Facebook website set up in Natasha’s memory was invaded by a deluge of offensive comments, ranging from sick jokes about the manner of her death to spiteful remarks about her character. This form of cyber bullying is known as ‘trolling’.

A Facebook site set up in Natasha’s memory (right) was invaded by spiteful, offensive comments. Left, a written tribute to the much loved pupil and daughter

One of the worst forms of on-line bullying comes from the so-called ‘trolls’, who post outrageous comments to get a perverted thrill from the reaction they provoke. As Natasha’s father, Andrew, said: ‘I simply cannot understand how these people get any enjoyment or satisfaction from making such disgraceful comments.’

Sadly, Natasha MacBryde’s case is not unique. Persecution through the web, by mobile phone, text or micro-blogging site Twitter is rife among young people.

My own family has direct experience of this appalling phenomenon, which resulted in the death of our beloved son, Matthew, in December 2008, when he was just 17.

Matthew had been a bright, happy child who loved playing on computers. But from the age of ten, he started to be bullied at school, perhaps because he was not as keen on sport as other boys.

The ordeal he had to endure was appalling. He was tormented by a gang of about 20 bullies, who never left him alone. They would taunt him, and steal from him, everything from pens to his bike. When the risibly named ‘happy slappy’ craze was at its height, they used their mobile phones to film their attacks on him, deepening his sense of being an outcast.

Tragic death: Matthew Jones committed suicide in 2008 aged 17 after the bullying became too much for him

Technology worsened the pain, as he was subjected to a endless stream of heartless messages on his phone and his computer.

Bullies love the internet for several reasons. First, they can indulge in cruelty behind the mask of anonymity. Those who hurl abuse in public risk themselves but, in the virtual world, there is no such danger. Even the most malicious threats cannot easily be traced.

Not surprisingly, it all became too much for my son. He grew severely depressed and had to be treated by the mental health services. A mix of counselling and medication led to an improvement, with the result that he passed his GCSEs and went on to sixth-form college.

But the old problems of isolation and bullying soon returned. Matthew sank into despair. So dark was his despondency that he began to log on to a series of websites that promoted suicide. It seems unbelievable such websites are allowed to exist, since they openly encourage vulnerable people to take their own lives.

There may be a proper debate over the issue of assisted suicide for the terminally ill, yet here we have, in the online world, bloggers who goad people into killing themselves.

‘If you’re still here tomorrow, you’re just a chicken,’ is one typical taunt. For Matthew, the result was all too predictable. In December 2008, he gassed himself, having left a final message: ‘I used to be headstrong, happy and optimistic, but after seven years of fighting I have no fight left in me.’

The internet even facilitated his demise, for it was on eBay he bought the gas canister that killed him.

The tragedies we and the MacBryde families have suffered are, I believe, an entirely modern phenomenon. There was nothing like this level of bullying when I was at school.

In a recent survey, half of all 14-year-olds said that they had been bullied, mostly via Twitter or Facebook.

When one anti-bullying charity set up a website in March 2009, 23,000 youngsters visited it in the first three weeks, a graphic indication of the scale of the problem.

Internet unleashed: With scenes of unimaginable violence and sexual depravity just a click away, the internet is desensitising our children

The internet has also encouraged the misguided belief that such viciousness is acceptable, being just another aspect of the kaleidoscope of human existence. In the virtual sphere, all barriers of what’s right and wrong, moral or immoral, have disappeared.

With scenes of unimaginable violence and sexual depravity just a click away, the internet is desensitising us, robbing us of normal human emotions. And the results are terrifying. Children are especially vulnerable to this, with studies showing that youngsters who have been exposed to violent images on the internet are desensitised to real-life violence.

Instead of challenging this barbarous culture, social networking sites are ignoring their responsibilities and choosing instead to profit spectacularly from this murky business.

Service providers, website managers and the Government ought to be responsible for cracking down on the widespread bullying and threats, yet they act as if they are powerless.

Facebook, for instance, could provide tougher monitoring of its users. But that would cost money which it doesn’t want to spend.

Similarly, Government ministers could introduce stronger regulation of websites. After all, the Government had no problem outlawing smoking throughout the nation.

Enforcing a sense of on-line responsibility should not be beyond the wit of our political leaders if the will existed.

If the present anarchic cruelty is allowed to continue, there will be more cases like those of Natasha and our son, Matthew.

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ELON — When a deputy and an assistant district attorney spoke to students at Western Alamance Middle School on Wednesday, they joked a little and showed animated clips to get their message across — but they didn’t sugarcoat anything.

David Sykes, a deputy sergeant with the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office, told them he can quickly track down online bullies.

“I can find you,” Sykes said. “You can get caught, and you can get in trouble.”

Larry Brown, assistant district attorney, talked to them about two well-known cases in which girls committed suicide after being involved in cyberbullying and sexting. Both men stressed that when you send an e-mail or photo, you can’t get it back.

“It’s out there forever,” Sykes said.

Brown said it’s his job to prosecute juveniles involved in cyber­bullying and sexting, which is when people send sexually explicit messages or photographs by cell phones.

“I will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” Brown said. “That’s my job.”

The school’s resource officer, John Massey, said he has dealt with sexting and cyberbullying at the school. Massey organized Wednesday’s visit.

Almost all the sixth-graders at Western said they have Facebook pages, and many have hundreds of Facebook friends. The majority of them have cell phones.

Sykes spoke about the importance of privacy settings on Facebook and not sharing personal information online, including cell phone numbers. Both girls and boys can become victims of predators, he told them.

He told students if they become a victim of cyber­bullying to close their profile and open a new one, and not to engage in the drama.

“The parents like to think they know what’s going on, but they truly don’t,” Massey said.

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In Illinios, two Emerson Middle School students have been charged by Park Ridge Police with harassment in an alleged case of cyber-bullying against a female classmate.

The 13- and 14-year-old girls, both of Park Ridge, were charged Dec. 23 under a local ordinance and are scheduled to appear before the Park Ridge Peer Jury, police said.

According to police the girls are accused of setting up a page on the social-networking site, Facebook, that included offensive and derogatory statements about a 13-year-old girl. Requests to “friend” the page were then sent out to more than 80 classmates, said Park Ridge Police Cmdr. Lou Jogmen.

The father of the 13-year-old victim contacted police after learning about the site, Jogmen said. Two Park Ridge detectives interviewed about 10 Emerson Middle School students before identifying the two girls who were allegedly responsible for the Facebook page.

Jogmen said detectives spent more than 15 hours on the case, and he called it a “pretty substantial investigation.”

For the past several years, Emerson, in cooperation with the Niles Police Department, has held seminars for parents on the topic of cyber-bulling and how to protect their children online.