When Amanda was in the 7th grade, she was with her friends playing around with a webcam, in an effort to meet new people, and she agreed to flash someone. A year later, the photo was posted to Facebook, consequently sending Amanda into a depression. Despite changing schools twice, the anxiety and depression were too much for her, resulting in her suicide.
Social media is still reeling from her story, as society digests the fact that a 15-year-old girl was driven to take her own life after a sociopathic Internet movement against her. The public outcry against her untimely and unnecessary death is the infinitesimal silver lining to come out of all this, but as one of her friends posted on her Facebook profile, "Why is it that no one ever listens or cares until it's too late?"
This sentiment of too little, too late, is exactly what society needs in order to perform the much needed and overdue introspection we owe to the notion of bullying in general and cyber-bullying in particular.
Ontario's Accepting Schools Act, (commonly referred to as the anti-bullying law), defines cyber-bullying as:
• Creating a web page or a blog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person;
• Impersonating another person as the author of content or messages posted on the Internet; and
• Communicating material electronically to more than one individual or posting material on a website that may be accessed by one or more individuals.
Which lends credence to the statement that Amanda's story is not uncommon, considering the widespread use of the Internet and social media platforms among teens. Indeed, it would seem that the newest trend among the sociopathic peri-pubescent is to bully frequently and consistently through cyber-space.
Roughly 10 per cent of all teens in grades 7 though 9 are victims of cyber-bullying, the relentless torment of an individual through the thin protective veil of the Internet. Professor Frisén of the University of Gothenburg notes that this particular form of bullying is often more serious than "conventional" bullying.
In an article published in Science Daily, Prof. Frisén stated:
"This type of bullying can be more serious than conventional bullying. At least with conventional bullying the victim is left alone on evenings and weekends". Moreover, in cyber-bullying, the perpetrators often post things to the Internet that they would never dare say in person, highlighting their cowardice, as Prof. Frisén notes, "In these contexts, people take liberties they normally wouldn't."
And yet a large faction of the public, is reticent to the notion of legislating on this issue. This was demonstrated by the opposition to the anti-bullying law in Ontario this past summer, and more recently with British Columbia Premier Christy Clark. In an interview with CBC, Clark made it clear that her preferred avenue to combat bullying is through education and not legislation.
"We do need to be careful about creating laws that are going to impinge on people's privacy and freedom of speech. I think that's an important principle we need to preserve as well."
Yes, privacy and freedom of speech are both fundamental rights recognized by the Charter, but are we really to believe that legislation aimed at protecting children from the potentially lethal effects of cyber-bullying would turn Canada into an Orwellian state?
The Supreme Court of Canada, in recognizing the psychological trauma inflicted on sufferers of cyber-bullying, made its position very clear in A.B. v. Bragg Communications Inc.: a young girl who had been mercilessly bullied had a right to know the identity of the people who were hiding behind the refuge of the Internet. Writing for the majority, Justice Rosalie Abella stated, "It is logical to infer that children can suffer harm through cyber-bullying, given the psychological toxicity of the phenomenon."
I am unable to comprehend why education and legislation have to be mutually exclusive, but perhaps when the next teen commits suicide, I can have Christy explain it to me. We have attempted to educate children on the detrimental effects of bullying, and yet, they do not seem to be learning. Perhaps it is time we change the lesson plan.
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immediately forcing facebook to not allow easy to make anonymous/fake ID profiles not linked to proven ID such as a copy of your Drivers license nad real life address/working phone number to be phoned and verified with a voice prompt pin code like many dating sites already do to eliminate creeps like this and THIS story doesn't happen at all.
there are no server side parental controls on facebook, any normal parent(s) would never let any old creep old or young to approach, never mind fake a relationship with their child wearing a crude disguise and cheap wig. Yet essentially this IS what many pedophiles are doing online, pretending to be other people, gaining access to al the personal information facebook constantly encourages our children to enter about themselves so they can be targeted by advertisers (and pedophiles/stalkers alike).
Facebook accounts NEED:
1. a big fat red or green "verified" / "unvarified" banner accross all accounts
2. unverified accounts should have increased restrictions on what they can do and contact, including the ability to upload a publicly veiwable avatar picture.
3. ALL new facebook accounts should have 100% security restrictions enabled by default. (instead of the teadious process of navigating several pages to do this.)
4. All avatar pics should need 24hrs to be approved and checked for nudity,
Already, they posted pics of her online. She was underage and so that act was illegal. And? What was done? Nothing. The law is useless if society doesn't use them, act on them or take the situations seriously to press charges. People, nowadays may not be equipped to deal with the cyber aspects of bullying.
Dying is a consequence of living? How can this be? Dying is a fact of life. Humans can make dying a consequence of their actions, but not of living itself.
Bullying has never been the sole domain of teens either. If we want to really stop it, we all need to take a long hard look in the mirror.
Government has got absolutely nothing to do with people needing to just be better human beings.
How Christy Clark just washes away the idea that new laws could be helpful I don't know. But that answer isn't good enough. We need details.
The IPS addresses and identities of Cyber Bullies should be released to authorities. Pedophiles are routinely busted this way.
I'm sure those on the Privacy side of the equation will have their arguments. Well, bring it on.
But as far as I'm concerned, something's gotta be done. Heads oughta role for this. I'm outraged. And don't expect me to forget about this a year from now. I've always hated bullies, and frankly, my memory is long for stuff like this. I wouldn't expect this issue of cyber-bullying to go away. If anything, it's only going to get worse.
I find that christy is at the very least disingenuous at best and outright contemptuous at worst, politically pandering to politically profit of some one's tragedy, Now that should be against the law.
Suicides asking for help should not be ignored. A kid in this much stress needs support and they need it yesterday.
There is no price to pay for this so that it why it keeps occurring. It needs to be looked at like a sex offense because it does just as much damage.
in relation to bullying, but, the bottom line, it
begins inside the head of an individual, who:
- has been emotionally neglected and feeds off
the misery of others.
or
- cannot relate, how other people feel, due, to
their own psychological make-up.
or
- neglected child, who has not been taught respect
for others thruout their childhood.
or
- an untreated mental health issue leaving a person
unguided in their dysfunctional behavoirs.
There are several underlying causes, which could have
come into play, with the tragic unfolding of events in
relation to Amanda Todd's life, including her own
personal psyche.......low self-esteem, previous neglect
by peers etc.
I do believe parents as professional educators, who
spend most of their day with young people outside
the family should be trained to recognize unstable
signs.
I, also, believe anti-bullying should begin in pre-school,
so kids, who do nto this teaching at home are able to
get a foundation to be able to recognize bullying and
ways to get help and trust enough to get help.
The internet is only an avenue to initiate a negative
action.
If the girls did not know the effects of death, they surely must
be thinking about what they said and the sadness & finality
around death.
Parents teach your children compassion, kindness, tolerance,
acceptance of other people in their world.
It is one of the best things you can do for your child.
Much of what we see happening with young people today is due to the influence of TV , lack of any control over what is said and printed on social internet sites , and a failure by schools and parents to instill in children beginning at a very young age the simple subject of Civics . Too much emphasis is made about letting kids develop themselves without any respect for others .
I am a firm believer in personal freedom , but it should not become at the expense of anyone else . I am also a firm believer that their must be rules and that they must be common sense ones that address such concerns as this article points out . Without some generally accepted rules of behaviour anarchy will result.