Why Are Teenagers Committing Suicide Over On-Line Bullying

Today logged on to Twitter for my morning peruse on the view of the world through the eyes of those that tweet about it. It was the usual mix of news, sport, satire and happy clapper celebrities with their shameless self-promotion. Then I came across this from Jeremy Vine:

Who is Dolly?

Initially, I didn’t know who Dolly was but clicking on the hashtag soon brought me this BBC news story – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-42631208#_=_. It made me shudder. I shed a tear and it brutally brought home to me how vulnerable my own 14 and 13-year-old daughters actually are.

I re-tweeted Mr Vine’s tweet adding my own thoughts:

Retweet

I got a bit of a surprise when Mr Vine re-tweeted my re-tweet of his original tweet (you may want to read that twice!). My phone started lighting up like a Christmas tree with notifications. People who follow him liking and further re-tweeting my re-tweet. It was then I realised this subject really has struck a nerve.

When I was at school I suffered some low-level bullying. Nothing that ever went too far (unless you count the “boxing match” I was persuaded to get into where I got walloped in front of an amused crowd) but sometimes enough to mean I was grateful to reach the sanctuary of my home in the afternoon after school. 

Teenagers today, or rather those using social media (which is most of them), no longer have that sanctuary. They are still connected to all those people they left behind at school or on the school bus. There is no escape. They could turn their phones off, but then they have to use the computer for homework. The temptation to check in on social media is there. Or emails, yes they are still a thing to teenagers!

When our eldest was born I was 23 and it was 2003. Social media wasn’t really on my radar although I think I was aware of MSN Messenger which essentially was an early form of social media. My research tells me that there was a social media platform called Hi5, launched that year, but some 15 years later I’ve never heard of it! I had been working in IT for 3 years when she was born and the internet for me was for email and a source of information when asking Jeeves was still acceptable.

I did use Friends Reunited, and of course looking back this was an early form of social media. It wasn’t until 2007 did I join Facebook. Going back further still though I didn’t experience the Internet at all until I was 16 and started work and it was a while later before I got it at home.

Social Media and Teens

My point being is that I, nor my wife, didn’t go through our teenage years with social media and all the negativity it can bring. There is no doubt that social media is a good thing and has positive sides (where else would I get my daily dose of cat videos?) such as keeping up with family and friends for example. But everything has a dark side; social media platforms are like cities and all cities have really nice areas and really shitty ones, they have really nice friendly people and those that you’d just rather not share oxygen with.

Our teenage girls weren’t allowed the platforms they are on until they reached the age requirement of 13. That’s a start as far too many parents allow their kids to sign up using a false date of birth and I know of 9/10 years old on Facebook and Instagram – that’s wrong, totally wrong. They also know they are only allowed to use it on the proviso we as parents have access to their accounts and police it – how many parents do that? I recently saw a post on Facebook (oh the irony) from a friend who was saying happy birthday to his teenage son (he was 13 – the age requirement for Facebook) and he stated he didn’t know which one of his sons Facebook accounts was in use – the one that says he is 18 or the one that says he is 23! Shocking!

But of course social media has long arms. You might not realise that YouTube is essentially a form of social media with comments and messaging. My girls watch vlogs, and I take not of what they’re watching and check on that. Just last week we had a YouTube celebrity post a video of him discovering the body of a suicide victim in Japan.  He actually posted that on YouTube. Kids are watching this shit you know! That channel is banned in our house now but realistically can we police everything they could see?

What can we do?

But what can we do about it? If social media platforms increase the age requirements people will just keep faking their date of birth. Limit it to 18 and verify age with a debit or credit card? Maybe, but I really can’t see that happening this side of never. I have no solutions to offer. But if parent’s are going to allow their children on social media then you must police it, you must monitor it, you must talk to you children about it and you must ensure they are safe. If you are not prepared to do all of that then don’t let them have it – it’s that simple. And, the moment you sniff that something is wrong take it away. Don’t be afraid to do that at all. 

Statistics of where cyber bullying takes place
Cyber bullying

I’m focusing on social media but of course cyber-bullying isn’t limited to that. There is text and other instant messaging apps and gaming of course. It’s everywhere and unavoidable unless you cut yourself off completely.

Teenagers, or children, and social media will forever be a talking point and one that will constantly raise issues. What’s your view? Let me know in the comments.

I’ll leave you with this infographic. It summerises what we need to get into our kids heads when it comes to social media.

Thanks for reading.


Brilliant blog posts on HonestMum.com

18 thoughts on “Why Are Teenagers Committing Suicide Over On-Line Bullying”

  1. Haha! Well I don’t post links to it on my Facebook for a start. But now family have found me on Twitter and here you are!
    I still have second thoughts about the teenagers having social media. But I had a chat with them about it tonight (well I talked, they grunted) and it’s cool. I hope they read this though – maybe they will.

  2. Your life sounds like an almost exact parallel to mine in that, I too worked in IT for a few years while my boys were very young and as such, was there at the birth of the Internet.

    As they grew up to go to primary school, then secondary (2011/12) that’s when the explosion in cyberbullying began.

    It’s a fine line between protection and letting them discover what the world is like, and I remember my wife and I constantly being made aware of who was saying what – continuing from class to home – and the walls of our home echoing the words ‘oh just block them!’

    Words which are easier said than done when it isn’t you, but your child, facing the other kids daily.

    Thankfully, our lads were receptive to our advice and have turned out happy, carefree young men (eldest is now 18 and at Uni, youngest in 6th Form college) but the crux is this: If we hadn’t had those chats – those ‘its ok to ignore / block / report / unfriend’ etc – I honestly believe the situation would have been a lot different.

    Moral of this story : talk to your kids. Keep talking. Never stop. Let them know it won’t be like this forever. Let them know that you are still their sanctuary; even in 2018!

  3. Very well written and touching post, on an important subject! Difficult for me to find words right now, too emotional…
    #ThatFridayLinky

  4. Bullying terrifies me. I worry for my children when they’re older and cyber bullying in particular. I’ll do all I can to protect them from it. Thanks for joining #ThatFridayLinky

  5. Bullying is massive point at the moment in relation to children we need to do all we can to protect our children educate them about the internet from an early age. Awesome read mate Thank you for linking to #Thatfridaylinky please come back next week

    1. Glad you found it a good read. I wanted to be thought provoking and I hope I achieved that. I’ll be back for this week’s Friday linky!

  6. I completely agree. This is such an important subject. I don’t have kids (yet), but I’ll make damn sure to do my best to protect them from these kinds of things. This is a really great post, it always makes me so sad to see the damage it can do.

  7. This is so important. Teaching your children to stay safe online is as important to me as teaching them to use cutlery and learn to swim. It’s right up there and needs to be openly discussed at the right time for your children. It is just so, so indescribably sad that youngsters feel that suicide or self harm is the only way out. I wish I could wrap them all up in cotton wool and protect them all from harm. It terrifies me the world in which I am bringing up my children sometimes. #TriumphantTales

  8. I hadn’t heard about this. It’s so awful. Bullying scares the life out of me and I dread the day my son i old enough to go online. Thanks for sharing with #TriumphantTales!

    1. It’s one I’ll keep sharing over and over. I was lucky and Jeremy Vine retweeted this for me when I first wrote it. Thanks for reading.

  9. this is something that really scares me (and a lot of parents) since we just don’t have the tools to understand what our kids will be going through. Like your heart is outside of you and you just don’t know how to protect it. Really hope we can find ways to combat this. #ablogginggoodtime

  10. What an incredibly sad story, and an incredibly important post. I will be sharing like crazy. To think that smile is no longer — unfathomable. Thank you for writing this. #ablogginggoodtime xoxo

  11. My boys aren’t on social media. My oldest is 16 and he chooses not to mostly. He does periodically post a comment on YouTube but he does so through my account so I’m always notified of it, haha! He doesn’t have his own. He does go to a fan site that he periodically posts comments to old cartoons and such but I also get those notifications. That is my way of monitoring what’s going on. My youngest plays Minecraft on the PC and while he does sometimes chat with some of the other people, I periodically check in with him and have had many conversations over the years with him about online bullying. He’s 12. Thankfully neither boy seems interested in the other forms of social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. But I still check with them and will sometimes watch the chats to see what is being said. They know I’m doing it too. I make no secret about it. While it is hard for me as part of the older generation who didn’t grow up with the internet, I think as a parent these days we have to keep ourselves informed of these things and be aware, as well as vigilant about our children’s social media lives. #ABloggingGoodTime

  12. I had MSN in my teens. I could only use it on the family computer (so anyone in the family could come into the room at any time) and only talk to people that I knew in person.

    But with the boom in social media sites, and the fact that they’re all accessible via phone, tablet, etc, it’s so much more difficult for parents to police these days. And, as you say, there’s nowhere for our kids to take a break from it if they need to.

    Thank you for raising these important points and getting people talking about it. It really is so sad to hear of this young life lost.

    Someone chose to add your post to the BlogCrush linky to share it with more people. Feel free to bob over and collect your “I’ve been featured” blog badge #blogcrush

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.