Cyber-Bullying Comes Closer to Home

By Karl Klockars in News on Apr 21, 2010 9:00PM

Tragic cases like those of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince or Megan Meier have dramatically raised the profile of the cyber-bullying concept recently, and now the idea of digitally harassing fellow schoolmates has an example a little closer to home. CBS 2's Pamela Jones profiled the experiences of Jennifer Hayes, a 17 year old from Morris, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.

Jennifer says high school harassment pushed her to think about ending her life. And angry Facebook posts and texts are part of the reason why. She says other teens have posted messages about beating her up. And one sent her a text saying if she didn't keep her mouth shut about the incidents, there would be bigger consequences.

"They don't like me or the way that I act," Jennifer said. "I don't even know what I've done wrong. It just makes me hate myself." She is taking medication for anxiety now, and is back at school. But she says the hate continues to spew from students she takes classes with..."

This is terribly sad case of "when I was your age," but I remember when bullies actually had to knee you in the balls and spit on you in person. And anyone who's been bullied before knows how tough it is having to face that schoolday gauntlet by itself. Now, like everything else, it's being made easier thanks to the magic of digital technology. It almost makes you hearken to the good ol' days when the internet was solely for tech nerds with dialup modems and the bulletin board systems that loved them.

Rather than completely bum you out with the rampant assholery of your fellow human beings, we'll link you to another CBS 2 piece (they're really cornering the market on online bullying, huh?) from Vince Gerasole about the Evanston Mice - a student group set up to digitally praise qualities of fellow classmates, a reaction to the cyber-bullying "Evanston Rats" page that had caused a ruckus.