Cyber Bullying

1. Cyber Bullying Kayla Lollar Patrick Query

2. The Facts • 58% of children say that someone has said something mean or hurtful to them online • 53% of children admit to saying something mean or hurtful to someone else while online • 42% of children have admitted that they have been bullied online • Cyber Bullying has affected and is still affecting many young children today Research Conducted By i-SAFE America

3. Examples of Cyber Bullying • Megan Meier, a 13 year old girl from Mississippi, who was a Myspace user. She started talking to who she thought was a new boy in her town, but the account was really a group of people, including adults, who would make fun of and humiliate her for being friends with someone in the past. Once she found out the truth she was devastated and embarrassed and later committed suicide. • Alexis Pilkington, a 17 year old from Long Island, New York, took her own life due to being taunted and made fun of on different social networking sites. Even after her death, the cyber bullying continued, making the situation worse for her family and friends that were grieving her loss. In response to this the government is trying to pass legislation that would make harmful communication through electronics, a federal offense.

4. Personal Connection The topic of cyber bullying is personal to us because we have close friends that have been bullied on the internet. It is extremely upsetting to see how what other people say to them affects their everyday lives. The stories of cyber bullying and people we know are what have driven us report on this subject. We want to see change.

5. As you can see from these stories, cyber bullying is a serious problem all over the world. It affects many people ranging from children to young adults. The results of these cases is often suicide. Cyber bullying needs to be stopped. Let’s take a look at what some of the states are doing to counteract cyber bullying.

6. Some Examples of What Other States Have Done • The Arkansas Senate passed a bill that requires schools to set up policies to address cyber bullying. • The Iowa Senate passed anti-bullying legislation that requires schools to address cyber-bullying in their bullying policy. • Oregon has proposed a bill, that would require schools to create policies that prevent cyber bullying. • South Carolina has made policies that reprimand kids that bully and cyber bully. Their punishments can end in expulsion. • Illinois has required schools to have a mandatory lesson about cyber bullying and its effects. All these methods are a good start to take action against cyber bullying, but we need to take it to the next level. South Carolina has the best policy against cyber bullying out of all the states by punishing them, and we could make great progress by building upon that. http://www.socialsafety.org/law_enforcement_cyberbullying.html

7. Our Proposal • We want action to be taken against the people that are bullying others on the internet. • We propose that if you go to the authorities with proof that you have been cyber bullied, action will be taken against them. • It seems that the only thing that states have been doing is educating the students about cyber bullying. We believe that this won’t help prevent cyber bullying at all. • If action is taken against the people committing cyber bullying, other people will realize that it is a serious issue, and that will prevent them from committing it themselves. • That’s the one thing that needs to be changed, cyber bullies need to receive consequences for their actions.

8. If our proposal is put into action, great things will come as a result of it. Cyber bullying will not be as big of an issue as it is today because the number of people affected by it will greatly decrease. With less cyber bullying occurring on the internet, the world will be a better place. We hope that by contacting you, you can help make a difference.