School Climate & Safety

Students Take a Stand Against Cyberbullying

By Michelle R. Davis — February 04, 2011 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

High school student Annabel C. was in middle school when she began receiving taunting, hurtful instant messages from an anonymous harasser when she was on her computer. After some sleuthing, the New Rochelle, N.Y., student realized that the instant messages were actually being written by someone she considered a friend.

“I was obviously hurt,” says Annabel, now a junior at the private Ursuline School. “I couldn’t understand why someone would send those messages, but it was worse to find out it was a friend.”

Instead of responding online, she says, she approached the student in person, asked her to stop, and told her they were no longer friends. But she also emphasized they weren’t enemies either. The online taunting stopped.

That experience, in part, prompted her to join her school’s Teenangels group when she was a sophomore. The program, created in 1999 by Parry Aftab, a cyberbullying expert who founded the nonprofit Internet-safety group WiredSafety, has 16 chapters around the country. The school’s Teenangels program has a policy that permits students to provide only their first names and the initials of their last names to the news media.

Teenangels trains middle and high school students on Internet safety, privacy, and security, and counsels them on how to deal with and prevent cyberbullying. The students then give presentations to other students, as well as to parents and other adults.

“Getting kids involved and getting their help to support policies to prevent cyberbullying is crucial,” Aftab says. “Kids respond when they’re part of it instead of having it shoved down their throats.”

Clearly, there’s a need for more education about cyberbullying, experts contend. According to a 2010 report on cyberbullying research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, up to a third of teenagers say they have experienced some form of online harassment, and 26 percent say they have experienced harassment through voice or text messages on their cellphones.

Online harassment has an emotional impact, says Sameer Hinduja, the co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, based in Jupiter, Fla., and an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University in Fort Lauderdale. Hinduja’s research has shown that cyberbullying is related to low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, anger, frustration, substance abuse, and delinquency in the victims.

Michael Nehring, a sophomore at New Jersey’s Ridgewood High School who was a Teenangel during middle school (his high school does not have a chapter), says he joined the group after reading about teen suicides related to cyberbullying. He also was growing concerned about sexting—a practice in which students send sexually explicit photos of themselves via cellphone.

Watching some of his friends get bullied in both real life and cyberspace made him feel even more strongly that he needed to take a stand.

“You can’t hide from cyberbullying,” Nehring says.

A version of this article appeared in the February 09, 2011 edition of Digital Directions as Teens Take a Stand to Change Behavior

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Teaching Webinar
Empowering Students Using Computational Thinking Skills
Empower your students with computational thinking. Learn how to integrate these skills into your teaching and boost student engagement.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
IT Infrastructure & Management Webinar
The Reality of Change: How Embracing and Planning for Change Can Shape Your Edtech Strategy
Promethean edtech experts delve into the reality of tech change and explore how embracing and planning for it can be your most powerful strategy for maximizing ROI.
Content provided by Promethean
Reading & Literacy K-12 Essentials Forum Reading Instruction Across Content Disciplines
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts implementing innovative strategies in reading across different subjects.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Climate & Safety Opinion Give the Gift of Kindness: How to Create a Culture of Gratitude in Your School
In the season of thanks and celebration, a middle school teacher proposes spreading a little joy through notecards.
Debbie Adkins
4 min read
Hands holding and opened envelope.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week + Getty Images
School Climate & Safety Schools Are Bracing for Upheaval Over Fear of Mass Deportations
The threat of deportation "inhibits people's ability to function in society and for their kids to get an education,” says a legal expert.
4 min read
An American flag hangs in a classroom as students work on laptops in Newlon Elementary School, Aug. 25, 2020, in Denver.
An American flag hangs in a classroom as students work on laptops in Newlon Elementary School, Aug. 25, 2020, in Denver. Educators are preparing for the possibility of mass deportations when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. But there will be consequences even if he doesn't follow through, educators and legal experts say.
David Zalubowski/AP
School Climate & Safety Spotlight Spotlight on Reimagining School Safety: A Holistic Approach
This Spotlight will help you examine strategies to create safe learning environments that promote student well-being and academic success.
School Climate & Safety How to Judge If Anonymous Threats to Schools Are Legit: 5 Expert Tips
School officials need to take all threats seriously, but the nature of the threat can inform the size of the response.
3 min read
Vector illustration of a businessman trying to catapult through stack of warning signs.
iStock/Getty