Cyber-Bullying Is A Growing Menace To Kids

(CBS)  Mary Ellen Handy had an old-fashioned fight over a boy, but it took place on high-tech turf. Insults were hurled at her online.

"You're a whore. You're a slut. I can't believe you took my boyfriend," says Handy, a student.

It's called cyber-bullying, and thanks to technology, abuse spread farther and faster — and can be devastating, CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg reports.

"I started throwing up. I couldn't eat, and I got really sick," Handy says. "I got these stomach problems."

Eighth-grader Ryan Halligan took it even harder when a rumor about him spread through the Web.

"It was like a feeding frenzy. Kids who normally didn't bully got in on the fun, both at school and online," his father, John, explains.

John Halligan believes depression from cyber-bullying contributed to his son's suicide at age 13. "My son was a sweet, sensitive kid," Halligan says. "That's just who he was."

"Too often kids face cyber-bullies all by themselves, in the dark, staring at the screen," says Parry Aftab of Wiredsafety.org.

Aftab, an expert in online safety for kids, says cyber-bullying is a growing menace — one that schools have trouble controlling because it usually starts off campus.

"And you know what? They're right. When it comes to changing some laws, we need to give schools a little more jurisdiction if what starts out at home has an impact at school," Aftab says.

There are solutions online. Many social-networking sites forbid abusive language. If bullying is reported, the perpetrator's account can be shut down. Parents can also install spy software to monitor their kids' messages. There's even a service that promises to search out and destroy hurtful comments.

But what finally worked for Mary Ellen was a low-tech solution: bigger kids telling the bully to back off.

"If it wasn't for them, I don't know if it would've stopped," she says.

It proves that whether in the schoolyard or on the Internet, bullies can be beat.

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You can read more about how to stop cyber-bullying at The Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use.

[michellem99-2009]

I am in my 50s and I was bullyed for being a handicap girl when I was in school. I have watched the cyber-bullying on the news. I feel that it does hurt children and it not as easy to turn off the computer as it still there. I feel parents get computer books in plain english,learn about computers kids use. have family rules on kids computer time. stick to them. Children need to feel safe on-line. Don't bully back as that what the bully wants.Bullying is not allowed at all any where. Bullys are not cool. I think the home and school need have a support system that works to combat this issue. Children need to learn not fight/bully.

[mnelsonix]

Jimibear - You seem to care about this "non issue" a bit too much. Kids do get hurt in the real world because of what they do in the cyber world. It's a fact. Turning off the computer for awhile will not make these problems go away.

When "Ashlee" goes to school the next day, "Jessica" and her posse will kick the krapp out of Ashlee, record it with their cell phones, then post it on youTube and MySpace.

This kind of shiit happens in the real world.

Believe it jimibear.

[jimibear]

MikefrMD - I read the article, thoroughly, thank you. My total disagreement with its portrayal of this non-issue as some sort of crisis does not mean I failed to comprehend it. If a kid commits suicide, that is very sad, but there is something else going on other than cyber-bullying, because an emotionally healthy person does not kill himself over insults on line.

And I'm not a bully, just a realist. If something someone is saying on line bothers you, turn off the computer for a while. Life is full of real problems, and this isn't one of them. Proclaiming that it is just creates a social climate of over-dramatization, where everything is a crisis, and as a result kids lack basic coping skills.

You can make snotty comments about me and pulling legs of insects all you want, and imply that I am cruel not to sympathize in whatever fashion you choose. It doesn't alter the basic fact that this "issue" is just a sign of the pampering society run amok. Kids are starving all over the world. Right in this country, STDs among teenagers are at near-epidemic levels, and there is a major drug problem in our schools.

Those are crises, not if little Ashlee gets called a name by little Jessica on MySpace. Devoting energy to petty rubbish like this just distracts from working on real problems.

[mnelsonix]

My kids both have MySpace accounts. I've seen this kind of thing happen. Parents...Learn about computers, take a class or two. Monitor your kids. It's really that simple.

[mikefrmd]

Hmmm,
We have an article on cyber-bullying and one shows up below already.

Whats wrong don't you have and crickets around that you can pull their legs off?

Read the article next time and you will see that it does lead to death sometimes.

[jimibear]

johjones, what a lameass you are. "Kids are being mean online. We have to run away."

No wonder school administration wouldn't help. I'm sure they have kids with real problems to deal with.

You can't get pregnant, beaten, raped, hooked on drugs, shot or killed by a drunk driver on line. Those are REAL problems. This is not an "out of contol phenomenon"; it's not a crisis. You and your daughter are just pathetic.

[jimibear]

I hate to be the one to burst peoples' little bubbles here, but if you are so lame and weak that you can't handle comments about you on line, maybe you should just never get out of bed, because obviously you lack the skills to cope with life, even when insulated by a computer screen.

Maybe you should try having some real problems, to put things in perspective; get off your keyboard and talk to people instead. Or maybe you should join a silent monastic order? Something, because obviously you don't belong in society if you are this spineless and thin-skinned.

Pathetic little weaklings.

[mitch0927]

taddles,

Not to sound too mean, but do you even know how to spell? Your comments were good, but your spelling is something that needs a lot of work.

[taddles-2009]

"This just goes to show that mabey if parents take part in what there kids do online, half this stuff wouldnt happen. I know that if my mom saw what I was saying and what the girl was saying to me, the fight would have never happened. Just goes to show most parents dont care as much as they use to.
Posted by lucy_in-FXL at 09:04 PM : Feb 15, 2007"

Good point...there's hope for you yet. ;o)

[lucy_in-fxl]

Im 16, yes ill admit i have done my fair share of cyber bulling- this was untill things got out of controll and ended up with a fist fight that happened at school. I ended up getting suspended for 2 days and a full day of in school suspension. This just goes to show that mabey if parents take part in what there kids do online, half this stuff wouldnt happen. I know that if my mom saw what I was saying and what the girl was saying to me, the fight would have never happened. Just goes to show most parents dont care as much as they use to.