Rebecca Sedwick committed suicide by jumping from an abandoned cement factory tower in Lakeland, FL on September 9th. She had been a victim of bullying by at least 15 other girls utilizing
on-line social networking sites such as Ask.fm, Instagram, Kik, and Voxer.
For parents, schools and students this is a difficult evolution. According to a 2016 study, 26% of teens state they are the subject of regular cyberbullying, while 40% admit to be on one side or the other over the past year. It is difficult for parents to keep up with the latest trends in social networking. It seems many of us just figured out Facebook only to have to new application such as Instagram or Ask.fm become the application of choice.
The situation is even more complicated by other trends evident especially today. Whether it be the election or immigration or Colin Kaepernick, it is so easy to find hate filled speech tearing everyone apart for their ideas. The action modeled by adults is not consistent with the message to stop cyberbullying with our children and students.
The situation is even more complicated by other trends evident especially today. Whether it be the election or immigration or Colin Kaepernick, it is so easy to find hate filled speech tearing everyone apart for their ideas. The action modeled by adults is not consistent with the message to stop cyberbullying with our children and students.
We are living in a digital age and the responsibilities of parents, schools, and children have changed. We have to educate our children about the proper etiquette for using social networking. As parents we have to be open and honest with our children and have to be willing to learn about new technology and be willing to check on our kids. It is fine line between protecting our children and respecting their privacy.
In addition to parents having more responsibilities, so do you students. Here are some tips on how to prevent and stop cyberbullying:
· Make sure if you are members of social networking sites, protect yourself by using the security features (for example, make your profile private if you are on Instagram)
· Never accept a “friendship” request unless you know the person
· Refuse to pass on cyberbullying messages
· Tell friends or others to stop
· Block communication with cyberbullies, delete messages without reading them
· Never post or share personal information online including full name, parents’ names, address
· Never share internet passwords with anyone
· Never put anything online you wouldn’t want your classmates to see
· Do not send messages when you are angry or upset
· Always be as polite online as if you were in person
If you are a victim of cyberbullying or become aware of cyberbullying, you need to ask for help. Find a
teacher or trusted adult and ask for assistance.
How many different social networking sites do you belong to? Have you ever witnessed acts of cyberbullying? Besides the suggestions I provided, what are steps you believe would be helpful to stopping this behavior?
Cyberbullying has become a serious issue in our society. Doing things behind the protection of a screen makes it easier to believe that there are no consequences to our actions. My parents won't let me get social media until after I turn 14, though I have witnessed acts of cyberbullying on group chats and such. Usually, it's just someone saying something and then several others chime in. I don't think it ever lasts for more than a week or so though, because people find something else to turn their attention to. We need to remember that social media can be accessed by anyone and be cautious about what we put on it. Future employers, classmates, and teachers can see what you do on social media if you don't make it private. Remember that there are consequences for everything you say or do on social media, and that words can hurt people. Before you send a message, think about what it might do to the person and think about whether or not you would want to say that to their face. We forget that there are people on the other side of the screen, so remember them and think about them before you say something you might regret.
ReplyDeleteI am on Instagram. I have not had experience with cyberbullying. Although, I do think the most important step in stopping cyberbullying is to not respond back to the person. A reaction is exactly what the bully wants. It makes them feel powerful so by taking that away it may cause the bullying to stop. I also think the person should tell a parent, teacher, or another adult that he/she trusts what is going on. An adult can help the person understand that this is not his/her fault, give advice on how to handle the situation, and help him/her save the evidence (of the bullying) in case things get worse.
ReplyDeleteI belong to two social networking sites. While I have never experienced cyber bullying, I have witnessed one of my friends be threatened over Instagram by a stranger she met online. This friend did not tell a parent until after several more threats were said to her. I believe the issue could have been solved much faster if she had told a parent sooner. I also believe people should be able to choose different filters that can keep certain things out of their feed. People need to be better educated that everything they say on social media is out there forever, and actual humans are reading what they put out there.
ReplyDeleteTechnology today is a great enabler for these actions of cyber bullying. I belong to 2 of these sites, Instagram and Snapchat. On each one there is no doubt that they could be used for terrible acts of bullying, but also for the good. Share the pictures that capture life moments. I have not witnessed any form of bullying online. That may be partially from the fact that I just do not spend mass amounts of time on social media. I do scroll through my feed, or check my messages, but I don't really sit on my phone. Like I mentioned before, these social media apps are really easy to bully someone on because you can hide. I think that to prevent from being bullied, you need to know that fact. Know what is out there and what people are saying because if you know what is wrong or not supposed to be happening, you can avoid it all together.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is an amazing thing but in the ways of cyberbulling technology is bad. I belong to 2 of social social media sites, snapchat and Instagram. personally I have never been cyberbullies but I know of some people that have been cyberbullies. I think that when you are being cyberbullies you just should not respond to any of the comments that are said about you. Most likely the person who is cyberbullying you want you to be upset and mad. They want you to respond in a negative way to them because they think that it is funny or they enjoy it. Also like you said find a person that you can trust to help you with that situation.
ReplyDeleteSocial Media can be good, or bad, but lately I have heard lots of bad. Such as the Kim Kardashian robbery, and now, cyber bulling, on this blog post. I don't any social media. Well I have Oovoo, but I'm not sure if that counts. I have never witnessed any acts of cyber bulling. I am not "friends" with any people on Oovoo that I don't know face to face. Maybe everyone should just get off social media, but I don't think that would ever happen, so instead I think that kids and their parents should discuss the rules that they have in place. We need to be on the same page as our parents so they don't cross the line. I personally, don't like it when people are nosy, and read my texts, so if I respect my parents rules, they don't need to.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy to me how social media started out as a way for people to share with their friends and family and blossomed into something that can be so cruel. I belong to two social media sites. I think that when it comes down to bulling, no matter face to face or behind computer screen it's all about morals and education. Not being ignorant about the things that can happen when you say mean things to someone is a big part of the prevention. The other thing is knowing right from wrong telling someone such cruel things for no reason in face or online is wrong. Finding a person to help you with the situation is the best way out in my opinion. To be honest I don't think it social media contributing to these problems, but it is the people. If people can stop trying to be so mean all the time no matter in person or over social media I think these thing would stop.
ReplyDeleteI have Instagram but haven't used it yet. I do not know of any victims of cyber bullying. But I do know that it is very common for young teenagers to get cyber bullied. I believe that another way to prevent cyber bullying is to let your parents know what the social network is about and what people share or talk about online.
ReplyDeleteI am on 2 sites, Instagram and Snapchat. In my opinion, social media can be a great thing if you use it correctly. It's a way to talk to your friends which is a good thing to be able to do. But it can also be bad if you misuse it. Personally, I have witnessed acts of cyber bullying but not a lot of it. I've pretty much only seen people I don't know be made fun of on a popular post that has like 10 million + followers. I feel like the way for us to stop cyber bullying, is to stand up for those who aren't being treated correctly. We can also just ask someone for help so that together, you can make sure that the person(s) doesn't treat you like that again. Just tell someone you trust and try to do everything you can to stand up for those who get cyber bullied.
ReplyDeleteI'm not on any social media sites. I have never witnessed cyber bullying but I know that it is out there and is a huge problem. One example, is that poor girl who committed suicide in Florida. Social media can be a great thing but it can also be abused. There are many ways we can prevent it such as just making sure that no one we see is sad or shows other signs of being bullied. If we see signs we could get help from an adult and make sure that they are ok. I think that is also great to ask any questions we have to your parents.
ReplyDeleteI belong to two social networking sites that include Snapchat and Instagram. I have not witnessed any cyber bullying but I know that it is a major problem in our society and that it needs to stop. Technology is a great thing when used correctly but can also hurt others in a way where it can be hided and the repercussions are not as clear. We also have to keep in mind the things we post because they might affect us in the future. This is why we need to be educated on the privacy settings on social media accounts so that you can only let the people you know follow you. Something that I have always remembered is to think of what you say before you say it and make sure that you are aware of what's out there. You can not respond to that person’s harmful actions and stand up for the people that are being bullied.
ReplyDeleteI have to social networking sites Instagram and snap chat. Both of which are private accounts. I have never seen cyber bullying but I know a lot of kids are affected by it. Today we use every thing on computers and other electronic devices. It makes me really sad to hear that a little girl killed her self because other girls were being mean to her online. I think there should be a monitor if it does happen they should be blocked. I would like to find ways to stop this and to make the internet safer and a better place for kids and teens.
ReplyDeleteCyberbullying had become a big problem in our generation because so many people now are able to use their smartphones and social media to make others feel like trash and that they don't belong. I belong to only one social media site and that is Instagram. I like this social media because I am able to make my account private and only allow certain people to look at my account. I have personally not witnessed cyber bullying on a first hand account. I think that people are able to make it so subtle that people aren't aware and only the person they are targeting is getting what they are trying to do. I think that people need to think about what they think before they send it. Think that you are on the side of the phone that is about to get a text. Always think of others feelings before you do anything.
ReplyDeleteI am on Instagram and I have never witness it before,but have heard stories of people being rude to each other over text. If you are being bullied and you don't have the strength not to look at the text OR DM's I would just delete the account or get a new. It would start someone of with a scene of a new beginning. If the cyberbully finds your new account just delete the app. If you are getting cyberbullies over text and you can't bring yourself to tell anyone block cyberbully via text. All of my example are examples not of being weak, but being strong enough to know when it has to stop.
ReplyDeleteI belong to three social media websites. I am lucky enough to have never witnessed cyber bullying, but i have heard stories about people who have had to deal with it. To stop it i think not replying or just let other people know about what is happening, so they know what you are going through and can do something about it.
ReplyDeleteI belong to three social media websites. I am lucky enough to have never witnessed cyber bullying, but i have heard stories about people who have had to deal with it. To stop it i think not replying or just let other people know about what is happening, so they know what you are going through and can do something about it.
ReplyDeleteI belong to four social media websites, I have never witnessed cyber bullying but i know its out there. I do see people being mean over text and thinking its funny but we never know how that person actually feels. In order to stop this we need to teach kids of all ages to not care what other people think. Also try not to feed the fire if you are the person being attacked you can ignore or even block the person who is being mean to you over social media sites or text
ReplyDeleteI am not huge on social media, never have been and never will be. I am only on Instagram, but not crazy about it. If someone said something hurtful or mean, I would block that person and tell my parents. It wouldn't hurt me as bad as you think, if someone said it to my face, then yay I would be hurt more. On Instagram, some people have said some odd or mean things. But they don't effect me that much. I have never really seen any cyberbullying besides some rude comments here and there. But there is no cyberbullying I have witnessed. I think it will be a more of a problem when we are older. On my Instagram, I know the people who follow me, and if I don't know them, I don't let them follow me. Quite simple actually. With cyberbullying, I would just say to myself, man they really took their own time to make fun of me, well by golly that is so kind of them. I take it as a joke usually, and tell and parent and forget it. I do know that this is a problem that we need to focus on and not make fun of. But making fun of the people who comment or making fun of the comment, makes me feel better. But always tell and adult, because no matter what people tell you, suicide is not the answer. You are loved very much, its not worth it. I would just make a funny joke on the comment, because we all have a life to live. If you feel that a comment they say is hurtful, tell and adult and just know this comment won't effect you if you shrug it of and live your life.
ReplyDeleteI belong to two different Social Network sites, Instagram and Musical.ly. Although I don't use Musical.ly anymore. i have witnessed it before. Sometimes I try to stop it and sometimes I am too scared that the same person will hurt me too. I think we should teach kids what it is and the effects to what can happen when someone is cyberbullyed. We should also teach them to always be careful and never follow anyone you don't know. Also to never post any information about where you live, your family, friends, birthdate, and many more.
ReplyDeleteI belong to two social networking sites, snap chat and Instagram, and have never seen or witnessed cyber bullying. I am lucky not to have been or seen anyone being bullied on any social network site. I have heard about it happening to other people in the nation and I am glad it is not happening to anyone I know. I think it would help if you don’t add or accept anyone you don’t get along with, just talk to your good friends. If this happened to someone I knew, I would have them tell an adult and not talk to the person that did it so they hopefully will stop doing it.
ReplyDeleteI belong to 2 social media sites, both of which I am very cautious on. I have witnessed cyberbullying, but I have never been the victim. When I see someone being cyberbullied, I will reach out to that person and make sure that they are okay, and let them know that I am here to help. Then, I will tell the bully to stop. I also tell an adult if it gets serious. Effective ways to stop cyberbullying include making others more aware about just how dangerous it really is. Also, it could be effective to always tell an adult to stop it from continuing.
ReplyDeleteIn today world there are so many new and improved way of staying connect to people all over the world. I am currently on 3 of these social media sites. I am on snapchat, Instagram, and twitter. I use snapchat the most because it is a easy and fun way to communicate with friends. I use Instagram the second most. Instagram is a great way to stay in touch with people you don't usually see and people you see. I have friends from past places that ive lived that are friends with me on Instagram. I don't use twitter that much. I have not ever experienced cyberbullying. I think that part of that reason is because we go to catholic school and we are fairly sheltered when it comes to major bullying. I think that the biggest issue with cyberbullying is that people aren't aware of the awful affects it can have. If we make it so apparent to everyone I think a lot of it would stop or even better never begin.
ReplyDeleteI have many social media accounts but i have never witnessed cyber-bullying. I have heard a lot of sad stories about it though. I know that it is a very serious issue in our world today. I think that there are many ways to prevent cyber-bullying. I think whenever you get a social media account you should discuss it with an adult. I also think you should tell a parent when you see or are getting cyber-bullied. Another way to stay safe is to keep your accounts private and only let trusted friends and family members view your account.
ReplyDeleteI have many social media accounts but i have never witnessed cyber-bullying. I have heard a lot of sad stories about it though. I know that it is a very serious issue in our world today. I think that there are many ways to prevent cyber-bullying. I think whenever you get a social media account you should discuss it with an adult. I also think you should tell a parent when you see or are getting cyber-bullied. Another way to stay safe is to keep your accounts private and only let trusted friends and family members view your account.
ReplyDeleteI am members of 5 social media sites, and have never seen cyber bullying but I have heard about it being done to people I know. I think cyberbullying is people usually unknowingly causing lots of harm to people because for instance in person you can see how someone reacts where as online you cant. I think that the best step you can take to prevent cyberbullying is peer intervention
ReplyDeleteI don't not belong to any social network sites unless you count YouTube as a social network. I don't generally see cyber bullying but everyday see people insulting each other on the internet, but I don't count that as bullying. I think the best way to not cyber bully or be cyber bullied is to just not go on social media or to just not insult people.
ReplyDeleteSocial Media has been a big part of society now but I have never been extremely involved. I have an Instagram which I have stopped going on lately and I'm think I'm on other smaller sites for things like gaming. I have never seen nor experienced cyber bullying. I think I is a disgusting horrible trend that should stop. One way I think people could stop cyber bullying would be to immediately tell an adult to stop any further physical or mental damage and to show the people doing it there are consequences. We should also try to spread the message so people know that it is very wrong and should not be done.
ReplyDeleteWe live in the world where social Media is a biggy. We have Cyberbullying and kids getting hurt and taking their own lives. If we know who is doing it but we try to stand up for them they normaly say only 5 words. "We were just joking around." All that is the only thing they say and not even a sorry. I don't have any socail media cause I think that it is just unnecessary to have. I can have socail media with permission I just choose not to. I have not seen or experience with cyberbullying. I think that this is not ok and we need to do something about. When most people see cyberbullying and the person who is being attacked they might know. But they don't stand by and stick up for the person. The reason is because we all have this fear of being bullyed too. That if we stick up for the person we will be attacked too. But the thing is that it doesn't matter if you stick up for someone and get attacked. What does matter is that if you stick up for that person and fight and defend the person than you are saving a life. If everyone helps defend a person who is being attacked and we show that they don't have more power than they do then we can stop this Cyberbullying problem. Sometimes once that person takes their life then they say nice things and stick up for them and say that it wasn't ok. Well that is too late. If we do it sooner than we can save a life.
ReplyDeleteI have a few social media accounts but the ones I use the most would probably be Snapchat and Instagram.I have never actually witnessed cyberbullying but I have heard about it enough times to know how dangerous it is.I belive that no matter how hard you try to prevent cyberbullying it is almost always going to happen as long as we have technology I think that instead of focusing on stopping it we should focus more on educating kids about how bad it is and how they can cope with it.You cannot take away social media because from kids because it is one of the ways we express ourelves and stay connected to eachother.
ReplyDeleteI belong to three social media sites, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. I have witnessed cyber bullying in multiple situations, it has never happened to me personally, but the only times I have noticed it is with my public school friends. When stuff like this happens, I always see people sticking up for that person or telling them to stop. A lot of times when it gets repeated a lot we block and report the account and the situations I have seen the account has always gotten deleted. I think the most important thing is to ask the victim if they are okay and to make sure they known they aren't going through it alone.
ReplyDeleteI am on three social media sites. Instagram, snapchat, and Twitter. I have seen cyber bullying a lot mostly on Instagram though. Their is some kids that are real mean out there. They think its going to make them real cool if they roast someone or just say a really mean comment to them. their is some situations where I've seen people stand up for others, then others I haven't. Which is so sad to me because those people on social media are probably really hurt in the inside. I have been a bystander on some stuff and I really regret and wish I could've stood up for that person. Some steps you should follow, just block them out from your life. If you get really hurt by those situations and just can't block out what's been happening to you. Talk to other people about it. It will help because a lot of people you know can be in the same place as you!
ReplyDeleteI am only on 2 social media accounts;Instagram and Snapchat. I rarely used Snapchat and I haven't experienced cyberbullying on Snapchat as for me I only have added people I know. Instagram is a bit different. Some people I follow have significant hate in their comments (including YouTubers, politicians, and sports players). Some of it is not that bad just little comments, but others having extremely rude and negative things regarding how they look or their skill on something. I haven't gotten any cyberbullying except for one “case” in which I responded (which was a bad mistake) and the other person I deleted/blocked them right away. I don't let it bug me and the best way to not be harmed by cyberbullying is to never read it and delete or block the person who sent it. I also think that if it for some reason continues after my first suggestion, then you should report it to a trusted adult. But the most important thing is to ignore it. Don't respond back because that is what the bully wants. Just simple ignore it. I think that if people in our society did the correct things to prevent cyberbullying then we would have much fewer suicides in our country. I hope that one day this problem will be much less problematic and less teen deaths.
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ReplyDeleteI belong to 2 apps. Snapchat and Instagram. I have never witnessed cyber bullying which is definitely good because that means my friend group is for the most part nice to eachother. If I did encounter it I would probably just report it and tell them to stop because it just makes the bully look bad when they are bullying.
I have the two social media platforms Instagram and Snap chat. No, I have never witnessed cyber bullying on any of my accounts, and I hope to never do. I think is we encounter cyber bullying, we should first tell them to back off, and then report it, so it doesn't happen again.
ReplyDeleteI have two social media platforms Instagram and snapchat. I have never seen anyone be bullied on social media. I hope that if will never happen to anyone in this school.To be bulling to happen over, once you see it you should then tell some one that could help.
ReplyDeleteI'm on instagram and snapchat. I have never seen anyone cyber bully anyone on these cites. I guess if someone was going to cyberbully they wouldn't write it where everyone could see it and put it in single messages to one person so I've never seen it happen. We need to tell the people that we see cyber bullying to knock it off so that it doesn't continue. We can also report it when we see it happening.
ReplyDeleteI don't belong to any social media sites. I have never witnessed cyber bullying. I think there is a lot of tings we should do to prevent it. We need to just think about what we are saying before sending it or whatever. We just need to be cautious. Obviously this isn't always possible nowadays, but we really need to pay attention to what we are doing when on the internet/instagram/snapchat or whatever you're on. If you witness it just tell the person who is the bully to stop it and let the victim be and then tell an adult. Whether it be your parents, a tecaher, a counselor, etc. Keeping it queit won't do the victim any good because they won't say anything most likley and that would put more risk in the situation as well.
ReplyDeleteThough I do not belong to any social media sites and never will, I am very aware of the issue of cyberbullying. This problem or epidemic has gotten more and more common throughout the years of technology evolving. Something I think would help to calm this down would be to think about this before you send or post, "Could I says this to their face?" Often times, people might post or send something to someone because they are too afraid to tell it to them in person. If that is the case, DO NOT SEND IT! Or even a better or harder thing to think about is, "What would my parents or God say if they saw this?" Though God is always watching, we sometimes forget or don't think about it. Everyone knows the general rule, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all," but I think this saying should be thoroughly considered especially on social media.
ReplyDeleteI do have 3 social media accounts. Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. I have never been involved with any cyber bullying in my life thankfully. But I've known many people who have and what type of effect it has on people. Cyberbullying is a not a topic people always talk about because some people don't think it's a big deal. Well, it actually is a huge deal. This act of cyberbullying causes depression and even suicide. I say that if you are being cyberbullied or know someone who is being cyberbullied tell an adult immediately before things get to extreme.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 social media accounts. I have never been the victim of cyberbullying and I also have never seen It happen. I think the best way to stop it is to block them and forget about it. People that cyberbully are looking for comments back, so the best thing to do is just to ignore the comment.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 Instagram accounts, a snapchat, and a Facebook account. I have never seen or experienced cyberbullying, because I only follow people who post things that aren't hurtful. I belive that some of the most important steps to avoiding cyberbullying are follow the right people, don't respond to Cyberbullies and always tell an adult if you are being bullied.
ReplyDeleteI have an Instagram account and a snapchat. I have never experience cyber bullying because the people that I follow are people that I know won't become a cyber bully. If they become a cyber bully I would unfollow them immediately.The steps to avoid cyberbullying is to follow the right people and never respond to cyberbullies because they will try to suck you in and to become on of them.
ReplyDeleteI belong to 3 social networking sites: Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. I have not experienced cyberbullying. I think to help prevent or limit cyberbullying is to make it easier to report it right when it happens. Instagram has a feature where you can report posts or comments to Instagram if what is being said is bullying. Instagram should make it easier for its users to report acts of bullying. I think that will help reduce the amount of cyberbullying acts.
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