Cyberbullying And Meghan Meier

We all know the horrors of cyber bullying and the effects it can have on people, though it's mostly geared towards teens. The most comprehensive nationwide study of bullying ever conducted – involving more than 15,000 students in grades 6 through 10 – found that over 24% of the students had been bullied during the school year. Additionally, 8% of those students endured bullying on a weekly basis. According to a recent study, 88% of teens on social media have observed cruel, hateful or derogatory messages while 15% have themselves been the target of online cruelty. 

Meghan Meier was planning her 14th birthday while dealing with the ever day problems of being a teenager - self-esteem, friendships, appearance, and boys. Meghan, like most teens, used social media sites to keep in touch with friends and make new ones. She was excited when one day a 'cute' boy named Josh Evans friended her. They flirted online for about 6 weeks before Josh turned for the worst. He told Meghan he no longer wanted to be friends, called her fat, a slut, and told her "You are a bad person and everybody hates you. ... The world would be a better place without you." 

While Meghan's parents kept a close watch on everything she did online, and had permitted her to accept the friend requests, but when Josh's messages turned crude, mother Tina had made her sign off. Twenty minutes later when Tina Meier entered her daughter's room, she encountered tragedy beyond her worst fears. Megan had hung herself in the closet.
he jarring fact about Josh Evans – the "cute" teenager who first wooed Megan, and then wounded her – is that he actually never existed. After Megan had a falling-out with a neighborhood girl down the street, this teen neighbor's mother (with the aid of her daughter and a family employee) literally created the fictitious profile of Josh Evans, complete with false pictures.

The deceptive mother connived to gain Megan's confidence in an effort to discover if Megan had said anything negative about her own daughter, but also to cause her mental duress. Then the deceiver covertly gave the profile password to her daughter's friends and encouraged them to send malicious messages to Megan. These proved to be among the final messages she received.

Meghan hung herself back in October of 2006. But bullying is still a very real problem and children are still committing suicide based on cyberbullying, among other forms of bullying. 

In 2011, 95% of all American teens used the Internet and 80% of those teens maintained a presence on social media.5 Increasingly, our lives and friendships seemingly develop as much electronically on the Web as in person. 

What can you do to help your child avoid the pitfalls of social media?

• Purposefully connect with your child's online community.
• Determine whether your child's age and maturity merit involvement in social media.
• Develop guidelines and set limits with your child concerning the use of blogging and social media, including subject matter, tone and time devoted to a Web presence.
• Join and be active in monitoring your child's connections and communication techniques on Facebook, Twitter, message boards, blogs or other social media.
• Review the Terms of Use and Community Standards of social media platforms to ensure compliance and to follow designated procedures for reporting violations. 





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