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Internet Meanies

Rebecca Sedwick

Rebecca Sedwick

One day I happened to be flipping through the New York Times when I came upon a story titled Dealing With Digital Cruelty by  It had been a year since I had written a post about a particularly sad incident of internet cruelty.  Back then, 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick had leaped to her death after being cyberbullied by a coterie of 15 middle-school children who urged her to kill herself.  Upon reading the Times story, I decided to revisit this issue.

The Times article begins, “Anyone who has ever been online has witnessed, or been virtually walloped by, a mean comment.”

Because communication on the internet can provide anonymity and invisibility it can lead many to feel uninhibited. If someone is sitting right in front of you, there is a chance that a mean comment could lead to the insulter ending up with a fat lip or witnessing streams of tears running dowTextingn a sweet face.  Not so when all you see is some letters.

 

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About the Author

Jeffrey Rubin grew up in Brooklyn and received his PhD from the University of Minnesota. In his earlier life, he worked in clinical settings, schools, and a juvenile correctional facility. More recently, he authored three novels, A Hero Grows in Brooklyn, Fights in the Streets, Tears in the Sand, and Love, Sex, and Respect (information about these novels can be found at http://www.frominsultstorespect.com/novels/). Currently, he writes a blog titled “From Insults to Respect” that features suggestions for working through conflict, dealing with anger, and supporting respectful relationships.

2 Comments

  1. School Bulling is unacceptable…Please encourage your children..to be kind always.. I have a teenage boy in Brisbane..good manners is so important..in raising our children

  2. Hi Janetta Waller. Much thanks for your comment. I completely agree with you that it is valuable to teach children to be kind. I wrote a post last month that discusses how to go about doing this. It’s called “Empathy, Kindness and Maturity.”

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