Some of our children are bullied on a daily basis in school. The bullying can began as early as elementary school and continue into high school. In today’s cyber world, bullying by others now can be done on social media. “You’re fat,” ugly as sin,” and “you are stupid” are some of the words that bullies use to destroy a person’s self-esteem, which is awful when the words are stated directly to a person’s face. The anonymity of social media has the potential to cause others to bully the innocent person.
Facebook can bring people together but also can cause negative reactions. When a child is perceived to be different, their peers can use social media to ostracized the child. Most people, no matter the age, has the desire for acceptance in their peer group. Parents, school officials, and other community members can become champions for all children whether they are being bullied or not.
Although the following chart was created in 2009, the information is still relevant today. In 2016, there is SnapChat, Periscope, and Instagram which can be used to exclude our children from their peer group.
The following blog has important information to assist those who are thinking about suicide: https://inspiremesocially.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/suicide-prevention-and-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-3
WVU IMC 619 - Emerging Media 
Carol,
Thank you for sharing this post. I’m part of an organization called IceCream MELTS and the organizations focus is suicide prevention and mental health awareness. Bullying most definitely falls under a category we tackle. While reading your post, the first thing that came to mind was the ABC Family movie called “Cyberbully” and how the young girl was being cyber bullied, tried to commit suicide on live stream, was unsuccessful and was STILL being bullied because she tried to commit suicide.
This is a serious topic and I wish people would understand its severity. I am just happy to know that social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have implemented a program to help lessen the number of suicide attempts.
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Great topic! Cyber-bullying is very real, especially for women. There are so many content producers online who have been harassed continually for no reason other than their gender. One major concern about bullying online is that it is a much more public situation than in-person bullying. If one person is bullied at school, she may be the only victim; however, if a person is bullied online, there may also be many other people who see those actions and perceive them as pertaining to them as well as the intended target.
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