<p>[Mean</a> girls: Florida girl bullied months before suicide - Worcester Telegram & Gazette - telegram.com](<a href=“http://www.telegram.com/article/20130913/NEWS/309139811/0/business25]Mean”>http://www.telegram.com/article/20130913/NEWS/309139811/0/business25)</p>
<p>I’m increasingly convinced that no preteen or young teen should have a data-capable cell phone, and that all computers in a household should be located in a public room.</p>
<p>There was ever a doubt that they were real? </p>
<p>Data plans are not the problem. Brushing off cyber bulling is the problem. </p>
<p>Empower young people to report others. HARSHLY deal with cyber and non-cyber bullies. None of this slap on the wrist crap.</p>
<p>Sickening.</p>
<p>If I found out my D had been bullying other girls in person or via computer, I’d have her in counseling PRONTO and would be wondering where I had gone wrong in raising her to have empathy for others. If I found out she looked the other way at bullying, I would be profoundly disappointed as well.</p>
<p><a href=“Girl’s Suicide Points to Rise in Apps Used by Cyberbullies - The New York Times”>Girl’s Suicide Points to Rise in Apps Used by Cyberbullies - The New York Times;
<p>Very, very sad. I’ve never heard of some of these “social” sites.</p>
<p>That was a heartbreaking article. Being a Luddite though, I’ve never quite understood how this interaction works. How do the bullies and the victim agree to go on the same chat site? How is a 12 year old “dating?” And given that the child was previously hospitalized as a result of cyberbullying, why did she have unlimited access to a smart phone?</p>
<p>That’s TOO.</p>
<p>^^^^Don’t you hate it when you make a typo in the thread title? You can’t change it later like a regular post. :mad:</p>
<p>I’ve done that. It’s okay. Everyone reading the title empathizes with a momentary miscue. And if they don’t…whatever!</p>
<p>I thought you were talking about the mean girls in the Cafe.</p>
<p>I am a student and would like to say that ■■■■■■ is really nasty. It’s basically a website where a person has an “ask box” and people can ask questions that the individual can answer. Usually anonymous.</p>
<p>Under the guise of anonymity, people say the worst things. For a person who is sensitive and not used to hearing harsh words, it can be very hurtful. I have never heard of the other two sites mentioned but the behaviour seems over the top, even for kids. Telling a girl who cuts to kill herself? How cruel. </p>
<p>This is not limited to those sites, though. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are mainstream, in the sense companies use them and many adults are on it. Tumblr, a popular blogging website sees its fair share of these issues. What’s worse is the fact that people can often meet up and glorify these actions…cutting, suicide, starvation etc. I had the misfortune to happen upon a pro-anorexia/bullimia forum and it was the scariest thing. </p>
<p>I feel grateful that I grew up in the era of ‘texting phones’…enV2s and 3s were all the rage back then and internet cost far too much. The forums I frequented back then were relatively family friendly (for a TV show) but it easily could’ve been much worse.</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting story related to bullying - </p>
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<p>[Miss</a> Kansas Theresa Vail bullied so much ‘I nearly took my own life’ | Fox News](<a href=“http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/09/13/miss-kansas-theresa-vail-bullied-so-much-nearly-took-my-own-life/]Miss”>Miss Kansas Theresa Vail bullied so much 'I nearly took my own life' | Fox News)</p>
<p>Unbelievable what people will anonymously say – kids and adults alike. It’s pretty extreme to tell someone to kill him/herself. I had never heard of ■■■■■■ until now. Are there ways to keep kids from using these things? How does a parent even know to monitor some of these things, esp. when new ones seem to keep popping up? These kids that say these awful things to other kids – why? Do they think it’s funny?</p>
<p>Common ways girls/women bully a thin girl/woman online are to start bandying about the word anorexia, making nasty remarks about the appearance of slim women, implying negative things about her character, or trying to exclude her from conversation. </p>
<p>And imagine, people think they’re clever when they’re doing this. If that’s what it takes for them to be “in” with their buddies, how sad. Are those really friends? And might I remind those people, what will you do when the victim isn’t there anymore and it’s time to select a new one? What if it ends up being <em>you</em>?</p>
<p>To be fair, fat women are often bullied as well. But it is far more socially acceptable to make fun of a thin woman “straight up” by telling her she’s anorexic or needs to ‘eat a sandwich’ than to call a fat girl “fatty” or whatever.</p>
<p>[Amanda</a> Todd: Bullied Teen Commits Suicide](<a href=“http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/11/amanda-todd-teen-bullying-suicide-youtube_n_1959668.html]Amanda”>Amanda Todd: Bullied Teen Commits Suicide | HuffPost British Columbia)</p>
<p>This was a really sad case of a Canadian teenager who killed herself. She went online and was desperate for some affection, so she flashed her breasts on a chat room. The guy screenshot it, found out her real life identity and send it out to kids and everyone. She was constantly harassed, tried to kill herself by drinking bleach (?) and then succeeded sometime later.</p>
<p>Amanda Berry, the girl, made this video: [My</a> story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm - YouTube](<a href=“My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm - YouTube”>My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm - YouTube) .</p>
<p>Another girl, I think, killed herself after some guys raped her, circulated pictures of her and she got bullied. In fact, when her father went public with her story, HE got threats. Disgusting. </p>
<p>[Rehtaeh</a> Parsons’s father says he received death threat - Nova Scotia - CBC News](<a href=“http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/rehtaeh-parsons-s-father-says-he-received-death-threat-1.1405099]Rehtaeh”>Rehtaeh Parsons's father says he received death threat | CBC News)</p>
<p>It is a sad society where no one has any sense of morality or empathy. Humans are predisposed to being awful, in my opinion, but the internet brings out a special kind of terribleness out.</p>
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<p>It often happens on facebook. Kids “friend” everyone they know, regardless of whether they’re actually friends. A high friend count is status. So Kid A posts something on their wall about Kid B, and everyone who’s friends with either of the kids sees it. A message could be seen by hundreds of people, mostly peers. People will then comment on the post, or like it, or post their own messages, all seen by everyone. If you’re the young girl being targeted, imagine the humiliation of watching yourself being discussed.</p>
<p>On a phone, Kid A can text a message or send a picture to multiple people at the same time. Dozens or scores of kids can simultaneously get the same derogatory message about Kid B. Replies can fly back and forth in the same way. Essentially, everyone is “talking” about Kid B. Sooner or later Kid B finds out, or figures it out.</p>
<p>DebT, since you’re into condescending unsolicited advice, I hope you’re getting a good night’s sleep, because it seems to me that you’re the one “having a field day” and perhaps “not feeling so good about herself.” </p>
<p>This is a thread about mean girls. Snarking at a high school student about her friend’s eating disorder, or tossing out the opinion that perhaps *she * is the one with a problem, seems exquisitely inappropriate here.</p>
<p>You guys are a hoot. Not. </p>
<p>Nobody’s supposed to call you out on it when you play these little games? Right. I don’t think so.</p>
<p>I guess as long as you can form a gang you feel okay. Again, sad.</p>
<p>This is the parent’s cafe and usually, from what I’ve seen anyway, younger people who post here are in college or out of college. If Ecouter is younger than that, I did not know that. </p>
<p>You folks, however, are older, and you should be able to see what might not go over well in those posts.</p>
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<p>(in my opinion)</p>
<p>Not meaning to be rude, but I’m departing from this conversation now.</p>
<p>Take care, one and all.</p>