Writer Biography

Shae Torvert is a History Education Major with an English minor. She is from Brigham City, Utah. She enjoys reading, movies, volleyball, and writing. She is also a huge Aggie Basketball fan. Her biggest goals are to write a book and see as much of the world as possible. Her favorite part about writing is the feeling she gets when she has written something really good—a feeling she has termed “writer’s high.”

This essay was first published in the 2009 edition of Voices and uses MLA documentation.

“You are a bad person and everybody hates you. The world would be better place if you weren’t here.” As you struggle to read this final sentence of yet another hostile MySpace message, the tears in your eyes cloud your vision. After a month of friendship, what has changed so suddenly that you are being tormented by a friend? You try in vain to wipe away the tears now dripping rapidly down your cheeks. Why shouldn’t you cry? After all, you aren’t worth anything. If only there were another way to escape this nightmare. It is everywhere.

For Megan Meier this was reality. After spending a difficult childhood fighting depression, low self-esteem, and a weight problem, she excitedly prepared for her fourteenth birthday. To make things even better, she received her first affectionate message from a boy named Josh Evans on her newly created MySpace account. For over a month, he would send her messages claiming how lucky he was and how beautiful her pictures were (“Megan Meier Story,” YouTube).

However, on Oct. 15, 2006, her MySpace relationship with Josh took a frightening turn. The next day, Megan came to her mother, Tina Meier, crying. Everyone was posting horrible things about her on MySpace, like “Megan is fat” or “Megan is a slut” (Meier, scr. 5). Angry that her daughter had not signed off when she was told, Tina showed only little sympathy for her daughter’s distress. Later, overcome by a horrible feeling while preparing dinner, Tina went upstairs to Megan’s room only to find Megan in a medical crisis, no longer breathing. Tina’s husband, Ron, ran into the room and began CPR, all the while tears streamed from Megan’s eyes. Sadly, she was pronounced dead the next day (“Megan Meier Story,” YouTube).

The horrific situation in the first paragraph was not fiction. Following Megan’s death, this was discovered on her MySpace as the final posting by Josh, whom Megan had grown to adore. However, “Josh Evans” remained a mystery as his profile had been deleted. Approximately a month later, a neighbor informed Megan’s parents that “Josh Evans” was never a real person, and was, in fact, a creation by a woman living down the street from the Meier family. Not only was she a neighbor, but she was also the mother of one of Megan’s former friends. What caused her to carry out this plan? The reasons are still debated by those familiar with the case. In the police report, this woman claimed she created “Josh Evans” as a means to obtain details regarding the failed friendship between Megan and her own daughter, as well as to gain Megan’s trust (“Megan Meier Story,” YouTube). But what began as a cruel ploy involving cyber-bullying, ended tragically.

During my first reading of Megan’s story, I began to recall traumatic bullying experiences from my life. When I was around twelve years old, I was verbally bullied by another student in my class. Nearly every day at school he would make fun of my clothes, hair, and my good grades. Though this is not an example of cyberbullying, the anxieties and the self-doubt I took away from the situation have led me to be more wary of bullying today. During the period when I was bullied, the internet was still expanding throughout society. Most people I knew didn’t have internet access at home, thus it was considerably more difficult to bully a person online. Due in part to the development of the internet and other new technology, violence, like bullying, can be spread more quickly and easily.

With the creation of the Internet as a global unifier, age-old bullying has swelled beyond the schoolyard and penetrated into cyberspace. The internet, in particular, is a venue for this new type of violence: cyberbullying. It is extremely dangerous and has disastrous consequences, as illustrated in the story of Megan Meier. Thomas J. Billitteri, having written several articles concerning violence amongst youth, defines cyber-bullying as “the use of computers, cell phones, social networking sites and other technology to threaten or humiliate others” (“Cyberbullying,” par. 1). This is assuredly what cyber-bullying is, but what is it that causes adolescents and even adults to treat each other so horrifically online?

One cause of a person becoming a bully is the enormous pressure he or she endures nearly all the time. If you could, would you relive your teenage years exactly as you did before? Most people would probably answer no to this question. Their reasons may vary, but chances are, all of the reasons probably lead back to pressure. Teenagers live under constant pressure, a lot of it being self-inflicted. They may feel pressure from teachers to get homework in on time, pressure from parents who desire their children to live up to standards they have set for them, and of course pressure from each other to look and act a certain way in order to be “cool” or “popular” (Billitteri, “Cyberbullying,” 4). It is specifically for this final reason bullies emerge.

But this is nothing new. It is common for adolescents to compete amongst themselves in order to be “cooler” than others their age. It is technology that makes the difference. With television and internet access, the culture of today’s world thrives on the humiliation of others. Reality television programs that exploit and humiliate their contestants have grown increasingly popular over the past years (Billitteri, “Cyberbullying,” 4). Also, next time you watch a sitcom, I suggest you listen carefully to the laugh track in the background. The majority of the laughter will likely be found after insults and injuries of the characters. Hostility and injury among people, whether real or fictitious, have become a source of comedy and entertainment.

Online gaming is a breeding ground for hostility and injury. Many internet users are familiar with the multi-user game “World of WarCraft.” “The Official TRASH TALK Thread” for this game contains numerous vulgar and offensive posts that illustrate this example of cyberbullying. One player with the user name Garglablamo posted this message, “Here you go jerk *%#*. Eat crow much, sucka? This yet another example that proves why no one can believe anything you say, you have admitted first and now your foot is caught in your fat mouth” (Forum posting Number 27). What is perhaps the most disconcerting about this is it is entirely anonymous. No one uses their real names and will probably never encounter one another. This was precisely the case for Megan Meier. She had never before met Josh Evans and thus had no idea he was an adult woman rather than a teenage boy. There is power in anonymity.

The anonymity of the internet gives the teenager who may never have been a bully before the opportunity to do so. The stereotypical school “thug” who stole lunch money from younger students or stuffed them into lockers is gone. Instead, girls are more often the perpetrators of cyberbullying. It is even possible for younger kids to bully the older ones. Its incidence is especially growing amongst children as young as seven or eight (Billitteri, “Cyberbullying,” 10) but peaks at around age fifteen to sixteen (Billitteri, “Cyber-bullying,” 12). At these ages, both children and teenagers are incredibly vulnerable; being a victim has very traumatic effects on their psyche.

In addition to television viewing and online gaming, adolescents have found other new ways to torment each other by the use of e-mail, instant messaging (IM), and social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. In another article entitled “Discipline in Schools,” Billitteri quotes a National Association of Attorneys General task force as saying, “‘The growth in the use of technology and social networking sites by younger Americans has fueled a fear among professionals that cyber-bullying will become the means most often utilized to harass, threaten or otherwise cause distress’” (15). According to authors Keith and Martin of “Cyber-bullying: Creating a Culture of Respect in a Cyber World,” “91% of kids 12 to 15 years old and almost all teens (99%) ages 16 to 18 use the Internet” (1). The popular blogging site Facebook has over 7.5 million members from campuses and companies across the globe. “Two-thirds of the membership visits the site daily, spending an average of 20 minutes viewing photos and profiles of peers” (Jost and Hipolit, 14). With this amount of time, teens spend online interacting with each other, perhaps the fear of these professionals is not without reason.

It is important to be aware of the amount of time teens spend using the internet to fully comprehend the shocking amount of teenagers who have experienced cyberbullying in some fashion. In 2004, in a nationwide survey of 1,566 students in grades four to eight, approximately 57% of students said they had experienced hurtful online remarks; 35% of these students were even threatened. Furthermore, 53% of the students admit to being perpetrators of these remarks (Keith and Martin, 1-2). John Greenya in his article “Bullying” adds to these figures by stating that 53% of students who admit to being perpetrators of “rude or nasty comments” grew from a mere 14% in 2001. Thus it appears that this trend of violence is increasing dramatically over a short period of time. Technology is fueling this violent behavior, and at what cost?

Traumatic bullying experiences have a large number of direct and indirect effects on the vulnerable youth of society. Cyberbullying is no exception. These effects are but are not limited to, depression, problems with schoolwork, difficulty sleeping, mood swings, anger, anxiety, and spending a lot of time on the computer (Keith and Martin, 3). A case of another 13-year-old victim illustrates these effects perfectly. His name was Ryan Halligan. Though being a very happy and sensitive child growing up, in seventh grade his personality began to change. In an interview on “Frontline,” his father, John Halligan, comments on Ryan’s sudden willingness to fight, his drastic drop in self-esteem, and problems with his schoolwork (scr. 5). Later, his father found out why. Ryan had been cyber-bullied for quite a long time over instant messaging. A nasty rumor had been spread about him being gay and he just couldn’t shake it off. In the process, he lost all confidence in himself. He even told his father, “Well, what’s the sense in living? I’ll never amount to anything” (scr. 5).

Despite this attitude of ultimate failure, Ryan never dropped out of school. This isn’t the case for all victims. Billitteri discusses how the school environment as a whole is affected by cyberbullying. Similar to traditional schoolyard bullying, off-campus cyberbullying can often be so severe and traumatic that the victims feel incapable of going to school, so they drop out (“Cyberbullying,” 5). Facing the bully would just be too much.

Not only do drop-outs affect the school environment, but cyberbullying can also be attributed to acts of mass violence such as school shootings. It seems too often that society hears about yet another school tragedy like the Columbine Massacre of 1999. While investigating the reasons for the Columbine shooting, it became apparent it was largely a result of bullying. Though not directly bullied online, the two killers, Harris and Klebold, were tormented by bullies. Eric Harris initially took out his anger by posting angry, threatening messages about other students online before he began shooting his fellow students and faculty at school (Keith and Martin, 1). After being bullied for so long, the anger builds up and is released in a terrifying and incredibly violent manner. What may seem like innocent pranks and teasing, can potentially lead to devastating tragedies like Columbine.

Let us not forget the other horrific end to cases of cyberbullying, suicide. Megan Meier took her own life in response to the degrading and humiliating remarks from who she thought was her friend. The story of Ryan Halligan, as mentioned above, also ended tragically. After a lengthy period of time suffering from a rumor he just couldn’t get rid of, Ryan committed suicide. Much like Megan’s story, Ryan’s parents discovered the chilling evidence for his suicide hidden within his computer. With some help from Ryan’s friends, Ryan’s father was able to open a folder of previous instant messaging conversations his son had had. The final conversation went like this. “Tonight’s the night I think I’m going to do it.” And the kid fired back, “It’s about %#&*# time.” And my son said, “Yep, you’re going to read about it in the newspaper tomorrow” (“Frontline”, scr. 9). In an article published by i-SAFE, Ryan’s father says “behind closed doors, Ryan was also able to more easily explore the option of suicide and find a website that showed him ways to do it” (qtd. in “Cyber Bullying,” 2). Ryan found both the reason, and the “how” to take his own life, by the use of the internet. Thinking he was okay because Ryan had been taught about internet safety, his death came as an unexpected shock. His family didn’t know what was really going on because it all happened “behind closed doors.”

This popular, yet disturbing cliché has become dangerously true for youth today. Cyberbullying does occur, and frequently no one knows about it until it is too late. Because a great deal of cyberbullying occurs “behind closed doors,” many people think it doesn’t happen that often, or that it is no worse than regular schoolyard bullying. As I illustrated earlier in this paper, it is evident that about half of adolescents out there have experienced or are experiencing some form of cyberbullying. It does happen, and often. I am not discounting the severity of schoolyard bullying. It is also a terrible tragedy amongst adolescents. However, when the school bell rings and those teenagers leave the schoolyard, bullying tends to end there. Cyberbullying penetrates further. It has the power to reach every computer and cell phone. The physical bruises and scars of traditional bullying will eventually fade, but the scars left by cyberbullying are far deeper. They are often invisible to the naked eye, so it is only when the people around the victim look deeper, that the true problem can be seen. Though it is true that most cases of cyberbullying do not end as tragically as those of Megan and Ryan, it isn’t fair to the victims and their families to discount the severity of what they experienced. Cyberbullying is a significant problem, it is fueled by technology, and it needs to be prevented.

Unfortunately, due to the vast expanse the internet reaches, the federal government is unable to do much to help solve the cyber-bullying problem. What Congress is able to do is pass bills that give money to non-profit organizations like i-SAFE. With funding, i-SAFE is able to provide internet safety programs to students in all 50 states (Billitteri, “Cyberbullying,” 15). However, as the economy continues to drop and the national debt continues to rise, finding the money can be a problem for Congress and the U.S.

State governments are also passing legislation with regard to cyberbullying. States such as Oregon, Arkansas, and Maryland have included cyberbullying in their anti-bullying legislation. If off-campus cyber-bullying disrupts the school environment it can be reported. Again, there is a problem. Some argue this is a violation of First Amendment rights (Billitteri “Cyberbullying,” 19). Consequently, it is necessary for other groups of people other than government and national organizations, like i-SAFE, to take action.

MySpace itself is working with law enforcement to develop a plan to increase children’s protection online. It includes “a police hotline to report suspicious behavior, automatically making the default setting “private” for profiles of 16- and 17-year-olds, allowing parents to submit their children’s e-mail addresses to block them from establishing a MySpace profile and creating a separate section of MySpace for users younger than 18” (Billitteri “Cyberbullying,” 18).

While it would be an enormous task for government and national organizations like i-SAFE to incorporate a cyber-bullying prevention program, there are others who can make a greater difference. Out of all those who have the capacity to help prevent cyberbullying, parents and friends will probably be the most influential. As the most important people in the lives of teenagers, parents and friends generally see them on a daily basis, and will more easily recognize changes in their personality. For parents to simply educate their children about internet safety is good, but it isn’t enough. Ryan, after all, was well-educated about internet safety. It isn’t enough to solely monitor MySpace and Facebook pages as Megan’s parents did. They alone knew the password to Megan’s MySpace account, and yet violence still found a way into her life (Meier, scr. 4). Instead, parents need to do both these things, and more, to hopefully prevent their children from ever experiencing the horrors that victims like Ryan and Megan faced. Though it is impossible to monitor every little thing adolescents do online, it is needful for parents to periodically request to see MySpace pages, keep computers in public areas, and watch their children for changes in demeanor or activity (listed in the paragraph concerning effects of cyberbullying).

Friends can also help in the fight against cyberbullying. For starters, do not be the perpetrators of online violence. Also, watch your friends for the same things parents should be watching their kids for. Friends have an advantage parents do not. During teen years, teens are more likely to share things with their friends than their parents. Talk to your friends about what is going on in their life. If a friend shares something related to online violence, tell someone who can help like parents or teachers. As seen, failure to report online violence may have devastating consequences.

Lastly, there are a lot of things not only adolescents can do, but everyone should do to help prevent cyberbullying. Don’t open messages from people you do not know. Do not give out personal information online. If you do receive threatening messages, stop reading them and stay away from future messages from the same sender. Keep the computer in a public area and not behind closed doors. If this is occurring on instant messaging, sign out. Get away from the problem. The internet seems everywhere because computers are everywhere, but it can only be a problem if you let it. Bullying, whether online or offline, is not something to take lightly.

Cyberbullying is not an inevitable monster consuming one teenager at a time. Though it creates havoc amongst teenagers all over the world, there are ways to lessen its impact and to help protect the world from the expansion of violence. I have already touched on numerous ways to assist in the prevention of cyberbullying; now it is up to each individual to determine what he or she will do to minimize online violence. I myself spend a great deal of time on the internet doing both school work and sending messages back and forth with my friends. Every day I probably spend at least a cumulative hour reading and sending emails, or updating my Facebook page. In order to protect myself from cyberbullying, I have begun taking more precautions than I ever have before. I have put securities on my profile, and I do not add people I do not know. I have already dealt with bullying in my life. I do not want to experience it again, only this time, in cyberspace.

Works Cited

Billitteri, Thomas J. “Cyberbullying.” CQ Researcher 18.17 (2008): 385-408. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Merrill Cazier Library, Logan, UT. 18 Oct. 2008 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2008050200>.

—. “Discipline in Schools.” CQ Researcher 18.7 (2008): 145-168. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Merrill Cazier Library, Logan, UT. 18 Oct. 2008 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2008021500>

“Cyber Bullying.” i-SAFE: Dig Deeper, 2. i-SAFE America Inc. Logan, UT. 22 Oct. 2008 <http://www.isafe.org/imgs/pdf/education/Cyberbullying.pdf>.

Garglablamo. “Official Trash Talk Thread” World of Warcraft. 18 Oct. 2008 <http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10971859533&sid=1&pageNo=2>.

Greenya, John. “Bullying.” CQ Researcher 15.5 (2005): 101-124. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Merrill Cazier Library, Logan, UT. 18 Oct. 2008 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqres earcher/cqresrre2005020400>.

Halligan, John. “Growing Up Online.” PBS.org. 22 Jan. 2008. Frontline. 22 Oct. 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/interviews/halligan.html>.

Jost, Kenneth and Melissa J. Hipolit. “Blog Explosion.” CQ Researcher 16.22 (2006): 505-528. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Merrill Cazier Library, Logan, UT. 18 Oct. 2008 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2006060900>.

Keith, Susan and Martin, Michelle E. “Cyber-Bullying: Creating a Culture of Respect in a Cyber World.” Reclaiming Children and Youth. Winter (2005): Vol. 13 Issue 4, p224. TOC Premier. Merrill Cazier Library, Logan, UT. 20 Oct. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tnh&AN=16176365&site=ehost-live>.

“Megan Meier Story.” YouTube. CNN. Time Warner Inc., Atlanta 16 Nov. 2007 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFsfDLCkfQU>.

Meier, Tina. Megan Meier Foundation Site. 2008. Megan Meier Foundation. 22 Oct. 2008 <http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/story/>.