Our Take on Bullying, Shaming, Sexting, Cyber-Harassment, and Cyber-Stalking Cases and how to protect your child in the School System
This isn’t a touchy “feel good” post. I am not exploring the social or psychological reasons behind why people become bullies or intentionally try to harm others online and with social media. [Related links can be found at the end of this post]
What this post is about is how to come down hard on someone engaged in online bullying, shaming, sexting, cyber-harassment, cyber-stalking and everything in between (for the purpose of this post and ease of reading, I’m going to refer to all of these as “bullying.” It’s a guide to show you how to take care of business, shut things down, and hold wrongdoers accountable.
Rebecca Sedwick
Stories like the Rebecca Sedwick bullying suicide case are tragic. Just in case you’re not aware of what happened to Rebecca, here’s my understanding of the facts based upon published news reports.
12-year-old Rebecca was bullied and terrorized relentlessly for months both on and offline. After texting a friend that she couldn’t take it anymore, Rebecca jumped to her death from a high cement factory tower.
Prior to Rebecca’s death, up to 15 teenagers in school had reportedly been bullying Rebecca with several using social media to make their point. After her death, two of the teenage girls were arrested for bullying Rebecca and are now charged as juveniles with criminal third-degree felony aggravated stalking.
Even after Rebecca’s death, one of her tormenters allegedly continued to make online comments about Rebecca bragging about the bullying. According to authorities, this teenager wrote on Facebook:
“Yes, I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself but I don’t give a … and you can add the last word yourself.”
