New website causes rise in cyberbullying among teens

Fri, 07 May 2010 18:50:58 GMT

By Ashley Camaraza/Staff Reporter

photo illustration by Amilynn Soto

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Most teenagers are familiar with the new social networking site, known as Formspring.me, a website in which anyone can write on a specific person’s page. The catch however, is that the person writing on the page has the choice whether to send an anonymous message or include their username before sending it. Recently, a young girl by the name of Alexis Pilkington, 17, at West Islip high school allegedly killed herself because of the detrimental comments she began receiving on this website. The action of posting derogatory and hateful comments against a person online is known as “trolling.” People who do this are classified as the “trolls.” Trolls are hard to find because they can be anyplace around the world and the anonymity makes the situation more difficult. This tends to happen a lot with social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Formspring was originally just a site where users could go and ask questions to their peers; but it has progressed its way into a site where people make statements rather than ask questions. According to Communication Nework (CNET), the family states that Killington was already troubled before she made a formspring, but the investigators are looking into how the anonymous “hate” comments influenced her suicide. Her parents do not believe formspring was a major factor Alexis’s suicide. “I believe in my heart that cyber-bullying wasn't the cause of Lexi's death…this is a mistake,” said Pilkington’s mother. (www.nydailynews.com) Students at West Islip High School are boycotting formspring.me in respect to Alexis Pilkington’s death. They believe it should be banned from the internet to lower the risk of teenage suicides due to cyber-bullying. The organizer of the boycott, senior Billy Crawford said, “We just want it off the internet. If you have anything to say to somebody, there's no reason you shouldn't say it to their face.” ( www.wtop.com) On the other hand, there are those that believe formspring should not be banned. Formsprings are originally created out of curiosity, to see how one’s peers view them or simply out of shear boredom. “A friend of mine had a Formspring and I was curious as to what it was. Soon after, it became very popular,” said sophomore Alexander Rodriguez. Junior Amanda Dilella created her own Formspring. “I thought it would be interesting to read what people had to say and it gave me something to do, it’s also entertaining,” she said junior Amanda Dilella . Some of the comments are insulting to the user and since they are publicly published, other anonymous members may want to finish what the former person started. Cyberbullying can help contribute to suicidal thoughts in teens. “It’s going to impact attitudes but it’s not going to, by itself, drive your behavior. It’s only a problem if you take it personally; if someone is suffering from critical depression, it will add on to that illness. We’re hypersensitive to things that negatively affect us in society since this can happen to a regular, mentally healthy person who is being trashed; people forget that they themselves determine the outcome,” said Psychology teacher Mr. Peter Caroddo. Recently changing its settings as to what users are able to do on the website, users are now able to decide whether they will answer or ignore each question. People using formspring are also able to choose whether they want the person sending them a question to also be a member of the website or if they want the person sending them a question to be an anoynymous user or not. Formspring’s new settings make current users feel more comfortable. This may be a harder way for cyberbullying of spreading from one question to another, now that the question will not be public, luring others to continue the cyber-drama. “Investigators are monitoring the postings and will take action if any communication is determined to be of a criminal nature,” said Suffolk County Deputy Chief of Detectives Frank Stallone. (newyorkinjurynews.com)

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New website causes rise in cyberbullying among teens