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Cyberbullying Can Have Deadly Consequences

By Millie Anne Cavanaugh, Esq.

Ah, the Internet; quite possibly the greatest invention of our time. The list of benefits society now enjoys because of this miraculous invention is endless. If given the choice, would any of us willingly return to those pre-Internet days when "checking my mail" required walking to the mailbox and "surfing" required waves and a surfboard?

Unfortunately, because it is available to everyone - both good and bad, criminals have found a way to exploit the beneficial aspects of the Internet. For instance, child predators use the anonymity of the Internet to prey on unsuspecting children. Terrorists use the Internet to communicate with members of their cells. Hackers use information obtained from corporate databases to steal identities and ruin credit. We hear stories about such criminal activity on the news and take preventative steps in order to minimize the potential harm to ourselves and our families. However, unless you are a parent intimately "in the know", a relatively recent (and quite deadly) phenomenon called "cyberbullying" may have escaped your radar. Taking steps now to determine whether your child is susceptible to this disturbing trend may help you and your family avoid problems later on.

Most of us know what bullying means. We've seen the movies... My Bodyguard, Back to the Future, or Mean Girls. In the past, bullying for boys usually meant physical intimidation. For girls, it meant being rejected by the "popular" group of girls or being called nicknames based on physical characteristics (i.e. "fatty", "four eyes", or just plain "ugly"). However as society has evolved, so has the level of creativity and cruelty used by bullies to make life unbearable for those they target.

Cyberbullying replaces, or even augments, the live, in-person bullying of yesteryear. With cyberbullying, the torment does not stop when the bell rings. With the advent of the Internet, bullies can now torment, threaten, harass, humiliate, and embarrass their classmates at night, and on the weekends too. E-mail, instant messaging ("IM") and online communities such as Myspace and Facebook allow bullies easy access to both the victim and their target audience. Where before rumors and hate were spread by passing notes or creating "slam" books, bullies can now deliver daily doses of humiliation by simply posting a message on their personal web page or sending an e-mail about the victim to everyone in the class.

As the method of delivery has advanced, so has the viciousness of the material. Although boys still contend with rumors that they are "gay" and girls are accused of being "easy", some clever cyberbullies have invented phantom on-line love interests and carried on fake relationships with the victim in order to either devastate the teen with a nasty break-up down the road or to publish embarrassing things that victim thought they were sharing solely with a new on-line "friend."

Continue reading to learn about the deadly consequences of cyberbullying >>

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