This is a truly heartbreaking story about cyberbullying and while it is a year old, it as been revived in the press in the local community in Missouri where it happened. It bears looking at because, in this case, the cyberbullies weren't kids, they were adults.
"Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl who has struggled with issues of self-esteem and depression, is greeted on MySpace by an older boy. He strikes up a flirtation with her over a series of weeks. Then, inexplicably, he starts sending accusatory messages, then nasty ones.
Megan, crushed by the turn of events, takes her own life.
Further twisting the tragedy is the fact that the boy wasn't a boy at all. Rather, he was the creation of adults, including the mother of one of Megan's friends, a girl with whom she had a falling out." So summarizes Ina Fried in her blog on CNet.
Of course this whole incident has stirred up a debate about the facts, why the paper has decided now to bring this up, and why the girl who committed suicide is named and not the people who are accused of bullying her so subtly. BUT regardless of the debate, and you can read the newspaper article yourself and see a Today show interview with the girl's parents, it is just one more reminder that sites like MySpace can become a whole virtual world to kids. Adults need to sensitive to this (it's not that easy to just "give up" this kind of companionship) as well as monitor what's going on online. Kids also need to be reminded over and over again that things online are often an illusion. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Would love to hear your comments on this.
Comments