Cyber-Bullying Is A Growing Menace To Kids

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.