By age 13, Samantha Milan, the worst part of being bullied was the fact that it happened in front of a large audience. "This guy started to threaten me, and then went online to Instagram," she said. "The caption said something like, 'Look who's hungry.' It made me feel like I just wanted to die. "
A growing number of teens and Samantha say they have been bullied online. Nearly 15 percent of students in grades 9-12 have experienced cyberbullying, according to the Centers for Disease Surveillance System 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Prevention and Disease Control. And those children are twice as likely to consider suicide, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"It feels horrible, because everyone can see it," Samantha said. "And everything that goes online, never goes away. Even if the computer is destroyed, it's still there."
Cyber-bullying can include text messages unpleasant or offensive images posted on social media, and there are a range of technologies available to fight it.
We Heart The social network is designed to avoid an experience like Samantha. Allows users to share photos, but no one can post comments about them. It is very popular among teenagers, who constitute the majority of its 25 million users.
Identity Protection Program Metlife Defender offers a service that monitors online accounts for a child abuse then sends alerts to parents.
And last week, the Department of Education of the United States released a new application called KnowBullying to help the warning signs for parents to spot and talk to their children about the problem.
Another recently launched mobile application called stopit takes a different approach. It allows children to take a screenshot of a harassing message, image or text, and send it anonymously to a trusted adult. This is the most popular feature of the application among adolescents, who often want to help, but are concerned about retaliation.
The application stopit helped end the offensive tweets about a 14 year old from Kenilworth, New Jersey, who has Asperger syndrome. "He was a kid who finally said 'Enough' and I am very grateful to everyone who that child was," said the boy's mother, Tina Lynaugh. "I'm glad that the children feel comfortable stopit can really say, and not feel intimidated or think themselves that they will be attacked next because they were released."
David Brearley High School in Kenilworth is one of 14 schools that introduced his students stopit application a few months ago. Principal Brian Luciani said he quickly saw a decrease in harassment complaints. "There's a little more accountability," Luciani told CBS News. "If you're going to intimidate someone, even if you're just quotes" joking around "... there will be consequences for those actions."
Kenilworth Superintendent Scott Taylor said many of his students felt empowered by the application. "Knowing that a teen has something right there in the palm of their hands that could stop an incident of bullying in its tracks makes them feel comfortable," he said. "It makes them feel confident that something can get done if an incident of bullying or are bullied."
48 Hours special "Bullying: Words Can Kill"
Resources for Students and Parents
This is high-tech solutions for high tech problem. But they may not be as effective if children do not feel comfortable telling their parents or friends who are being targeted.
That's exactly what happened to one of the companions of Milan, Samantha Samantha Taska, who was also bullied. "I felt I had no one to turn to," said Taska. "But you should not be isolated from the people, because you tell him? Submit your best friend, tell your teacher, tell your aunt, tell your uncle, tell someone."
screen-shot-at-7.15.41-08.15.2014-PM.png
Taska Samantha says children have to talk about cyberbullying.
CBS News
Some children, however, may feel that their parents will not simply understand - and in some ways may be right. If parents are out of touch with the technology their children are using, you may not realize how they can be abused. Samuel Lam was bullied on Facebook in middle school, but did not think his parents could help. "My parents had no idea what was happening at the time," Lam said. "Facebook, I had not heard of it at the time, did not know what Twitter was, any of the social networks."
Her fears echo Kenilworth parents Tina Lynaugh, who said he strives to keep up with the full range of social media options available to children were made. "Their children go to the technology that you do not know about. As a parent it is more frightening because I did not grow up with technology."
And it's not just about Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Secret Messaging Applications and Snapchat are both very popular among teenagers, and have been criticized for their potential for abuse.
Snapchat, whose self-destruct messages and photos as soon as they have been seen, is frequently used for sexting and other inappropriate messages. And while teenagers may think that the messages that disappear can not turn against them, the company recently charges with the Federal Trade Commission to, among other things, not inform users that messages could be saved was installed without their knowledge.
Some critics have argued that Secret, where people can post anonymously, allows cyber-bullying, but the company told CBS News that has systems to counter that, including "automated efforts to the flag and automatically block" content inappropriate. In addition, "each user can dial, block and report any message or comment" which is sent to a real human for review and possible elimination.
So, what can parents and children when faced with a cyber stalker? Experts offer the following tips:
- Take a screenshot or save a text message.
- Block or Unfriend bully.
- Report the bully to the website.
- Tell a trusted adult such as a relative or teacher.
Samantha Milan and his classmates are starting a club after school called "The fear of the fierce" to help other bullied teens. "If you're out there right now," he said, addressing the bully who taunted her about her weight, "I want you to know I'm fierce and I can not lose me."
A growing number of teens and Samantha say they have been bullied online. Nearly 15 percent of students in grades 9-12 have experienced cyberbullying, according to the Centers for Disease Surveillance System 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Prevention and Disease Control. And those children are twice as likely to consider suicide, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"It feels horrible, because everyone can see it," Samantha said. "And everything that goes online, never goes away. Even if the computer is destroyed, it's still there."
Cyber-bullying can include text messages unpleasant or offensive images posted on social media, and there are a range of technologies available to fight it.
We Heart The social network is designed to avoid an experience like Samantha. Allows users to share photos, but no one can post comments about them. It is very popular among teenagers, who constitute the majority of its 25 million users.
Identity Protection Program Metlife Defender offers a service that monitors online accounts for a child abuse then sends alerts to parents.
And last week, the Department of Education of the United States released a new application called KnowBullying to help the warning signs for parents to spot and talk to their children about the problem.
Another recently launched mobile application called stopit takes a different approach. It allows children to take a screenshot of a harassing message, image or text, and send it anonymously to a trusted adult. This is the most popular feature of the application among adolescents, who often want to help, but are concerned about retaliation.
The application stopit helped end the offensive tweets about a 14 year old from Kenilworth, New Jersey, who has Asperger syndrome. "He was a kid who finally said 'Enough' and I am very grateful to everyone who that child was," said the boy's mother, Tina Lynaugh. "I'm glad that the children feel comfortable stopit can really say, and not feel intimidated or think themselves that they will be attacked next because they were released."
David Brearley High School in Kenilworth is one of 14 schools that introduced his students stopit application a few months ago. Principal Brian Luciani said he quickly saw a decrease in harassment complaints. "There's a little more accountability," Luciani told CBS News. "If you're going to intimidate someone, even if you're just quotes" joking around "... there will be consequences for those actions."
Kenilworth Superintendent Scott Taylor said many of his students felt empowered by the application. "Knowing that a teen has something right there in the palm of their hands that could stop an incident of bullying in its tracks makes them feel comfortable," he said. "It makes them feel confident that something can get done if an incident of bullying or are bullied."
48 Hours special "Bullying: Words Can Kill"
Resources for Students and Parents
This is high-tech solutions for high tech problem. But they may not be as effective if children do not feel comfortable telling their parents or friends who are being targeted.
That's exactly what happened to one of the companions of Milan, Samantha Samantha Taska, who was also bullied. "I felt I had no one to turn to," said Taska. "But you should not be isolated from the people, because you tell him? Submit your best friend, tell your teacher, tell your aunt, tell your uncle, tell someone."
screen-shot-at-7.15.41-08.15.2014-PM.png
Taska Samantha says children have to talk about cyberbullying.
CBS News
Some children, however, may feel that their parents will not simply understand - and in some ways may be right. If parents are out of touch with the technology their children are using, you may not realize how they can be abused. Samuel Lam was bullied on Facebook in middle school, but did not think his parents could help. "My parents had no idea what was happening at the time," Lam said. "Facebook, I had not heard of it at the time, did not know what Twitter was, any of the social networks."
Her fears echo Kenilworth parents Tina Lynaugh, who said he strives to keep up with the full range of social media options available to children were made. "Their children go to the technology that you do not know about. As a parent it is more frightening because I did not grow up with technology."
And it's not just about Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Secret Messaging Applications and Snapchat are both very popular among teenagers, and have been criticized for their potential for abuse.
Snapchat, whose self-destruct messages and photos as soon as they have been seen, is frequently used for sexting and other inappropriate messages. And while teenagers may think that the messages that disappear can not turn against them, the company recently charges with the Federal Trade Commission to, among other things, not inform users that messages could be saved was installed without their knowledge.
Some critics have argued that Secret, where people can post anonymously, allows cyber-bullying, but the company told CBS News that has systems to counter that, including "automated efforts to the flag and automatically block" content inappropriate. In addition, "each user can dial, block and report any message or comment" which is sent to a real human for review and possible elimination.
So, what can parents and children when faced with a cyber stalker? Experts offer the following tips:
- Take a screenshot or save a text message.
- Block or Unfriend bully.
- Report the bully to the website.
- Tell a trusted adult such as a relative or teacher.
Samantha Milan and his classmates are starting a club after school called "The fear of the fierce" to help other bullied teens. "If you're out there right now," he said, addressing the bully who taunted her about her weight, "I want you to know I'm fierce and I can not lose me."
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