Hope Witsell Cyberbully Suicide: Did She Have a Chance? (PICTURES)

Hope Witsell (Personal Photo)

(CBS) Gone are the days when you could avoid a group of bullies by taking an alternative route home from school.

For this newest generation, who have never known life without a cell, who learned how to text before they learned pre-algebra, electronic media like smart phones, Facebook, and Twitter mean everything.

"Texting is their main form of communication," says Rachel Klein, professor of child and adolescent studies at New York University's Child Studies Center. "They don't talk on the phone anymore. It's a key part of their lives."

That's important, because while conversations are one-on-one, text messages can be broadcast to thousands of people in an instant. And for teens, already prone to impulsiveness, the results can be tragic.

Take 13-year-old Hope Witsell. Last year, the Ruskin, Fla., middle schooler sent a photo of her breasts to a boy she liked. Another student got hold of it and it went viral.

From then on, classmates bullied, intimidated and tormented her - even creating MySpace pages to humiliate her.

"Kids view themselves through the eyes of their peers," says Klein. "And now it's really easy for a group of kids to collude through the Internet."

Electronic media quickens the pace and broadens the effects, she says.

In Hope's case, it worked with devastating effect. On Sept. 12, 2009, she took her own life. Her mother told CNN she never knew how deeply her daughter was hurting.

Hope's death is part of a disturbing trend - teens who commit suicide in the face of merciless bullying, often online.

Sometimes the bullying is more silent, but just as deadly. Tyler Clementi, 18, a promising violinist from Ridgewood, N.J., leaped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after, police say, he learned that his roommate had secretly streamed video of him in a romantic encounter with another man.

It may be tempting to imagine that kids don't intend to hurt each other, and that technology is solely at fault, but Klein doesn't let bullies off the hook that easy.

"[Bullies] intend to be cruel. They are cruel and cowardly," she says. "What they may not always appreciate is the consequences."

14 Photos

Hope Witsell: Cyberbully Suicide

[sch_tcher]

kids learn from their parents. Kids are more cruel in their "bullying" today than in the past. They are vicious. And too many, like Hope, aren't close enough to parents to 1) feel secure enough to ignore the bulyying and 2) aren't close enough to tell their parents.

This is a parental and societal illness that stands to ruin the best of our kids. HOw many other are severely bullied or are close to suicide?

[daniwitz13-2009]

Why do people make a big deal out of a naked picture or being naked or be seem naked? EVERYONE has a naked body. It will most likely be seen by someone in ones lifetime in one way or another. If one does not want to be seen naked, do NOT get born, do not take a shower, and don't get married. All women have a breast and if it is revealed, well big deal, we all new that. Many women are proud to reveal their breast so it is NOT something to be ashamed of and if one had a hand in it being photoed and it goes viral, and since it was partly ones fault, take the high road and be proud of what you got, every girl has one two. (pun intended)What I'm basically saying is, it is nothing to kill yourself over. Actually think how happy you've made other people feel and also be happy and lucky that you still HAVE them.

[markr1957]

Making laws for teens not to have sex will work about as well as laws telling dogs not to sniff their own butts - it couldn't be enforced, and making unenforcable laws is why most people have such little respect for even good laws.
The problem is created when electronic copies of anything are publically available. If I have a paper photo of myself naked I can show it to anyone, but it can't be passed on by anyone but me. If I post a picture online it can be seen by anyone, and anyone can make copies and pass it on to anyone else. Thus the only answer is to educate children of the risk they take in making electronic copies of what should be private, because once those get out they're fair game for any pervert.

[newsterI]

Because the religious reich have made it so the human body is seen as something SINFUL and DIRTY to be covered up to prevent "lust" temptation, and sex.
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"[Bullies] intend to be cruel. They are cruel and cowardly," she says. "What they may not always appreciate is the consequences."
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Of course they do, thats why they do dumb stunts, and idiots who REACT or in this case run home crying and kill themselves, give them EXACTLY what they wanted!
You react to this krap and it egs them on to do more because you ARE giving them what they want BY reacting at all.

[Harden_Tar]

The cell phone has replaced the bathroom wall. Words are words until someone actually does something. At that point, there is no difference between how it used to be and how it is now.

[daniwitz13-2009]

people are making a mountain out of a molehill. Not that it is not a problem, it always existed before. Now that communication has changed and exploded, we hear about it more and faster. It may have morphed into more complicated areas but essentially the same. It is alright to inform people about its implications, but like sex, one can inform teens all about the implications, but that is NOT going to stop them. 50% of teens are having sex and not much is done to change that. If we are advocating laws against doing bullying, then simple make laws for teens not to have sex and not be hypocrites. It is one thing to make laws for bulling someone but the law should NOT make laws for the Internet. It is not the Internets fault, it is the bullies fault. Like killing the messenger. Put the fault where it belongs. The Internet should be free of restraints and constraints or a slippery slope it will be.