Almost everyone has a MySpace page, but for a 16-year old sophomore at CHS, the networking site became a torment to her.

To protect her privacy, I’ll call her Jessica. Jessica’s story began when she started dating a guy she met at school. They were going out for a couple of weeks when Jessica felt he had changed.

“I noticed that he wasn’t interested in me and he just stopped talking to me,” she said. “He told me he just wanted to see other people – I didn’t expect that.”

It turned out that her ex was involved in another relationship. A couple of weeks later Jessica went on her MySpace account and read, “You better leave him alone. You’re such a slut. You probably have been with all the guys in Chelsea lol.”

“When I read that I was so mad,” said Jessica. “I wanted to find out who was writing this about me.”

Jessica later found out it was the girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend. This problem affected her in her work she started getting bad grades.

“I failed some tests and I stopped bringing in my homework,” she said. “I had a B in my English class and it went down to a D-. I felt so sad because what she said about me is not true.”

Jessica is trying to get over this and move forward.

Cyberbullying is a growing problem that is affecting the lives of almost half of all American teens. If a person has ever bullied you using interactive technologies such as cell phones, text messages, e-mails or websites, you’ve been a victim of cyberbullying.

For example, a cyberbully might make a website and post a bulletin showing pictures of students she claims are the ugliest people in school. Or a Cyberbully might violate one’s privacy by posting one’s personal contact information on the Internet. The bully might try to steal a victim’s identity and do harm to others posing as the victim. Cyberbullying may include the use of threats, slander or hate speech.

Unlike an incident of bullying in the schoolyard, cyberbullying lasts longer then you want it to and it follows you around wherever you go on your phone or the computer. Cyberbullies can be anyone, but they mostly remain anonymous.

Many might ask what are the causes of cyberbulling? “The social causes of bullying come from different aspects of a child’s surroundings like their family or friends.” according to http://aphroditewomenshealth.com

A child will begin modeling themselves after the people they are around. If a child’s family is disrespectful to one another, arguing, and making fun of each other at home, the adolescent will believe that these actions are normal. Later she could become like her family and think it’s okay to treat others so badly. In other cases, a teen can feel pressured to act a certain way because of the desire to fit in with a group.

Probably the best-known case of cyberbullying happened in October 2006 in Missouri, where teenager Megan Meier made a new friend on MySpace. A cute older boy named Josh contacted her through her e-mail. Megan was 13 years old and suffered from depression. Megan and Josh were talking on the Internet for more than a month before Josh suddenly told her that he didn’t want to be friends with her anymore because she wasn’t a good friend.

Tina Meier noticed that something was bothering her daughter and she told Megan to get off the Internet. After Tina had left to run an errand, Megan called her very upset to tell her that someone was putting up bulletins that read,”Megan is a slut, Megan is fat.” Josh told her that the world would be better off with out her.

Tina Meier returned to find Megan hanging in her bedroom closet, and she died the next day. The police got involved and soon found out that it was a hoax. Josh was not real; a woman down the street created him because her daughter and Megan didn’t get along.

Megan Meier’s suicide should have never happened. To make sure something like this doesn’t happen to you or someone you care about, find out more about detecting and stopping cyberbullying. Several websites that address the topic are http://stopcyberbullying.org and http://wiredsafety.org. They provide information about how to safely navigate the Internet, which is relevant to everyone – especially young teens.