 P:I know bullying over the Internet is a problem (…) I still don’t know what I can do about it.  C:Well, why wouldn’t you treat a cyberbully like any other bully?  P:Well, I cannot control the Internet or what students do on their own computers at home, and this kind of bullying happens using anonymous user names. You can’t tell who’s who and who started what.  C:But the kids know who’s who. They can tell you.  P:Maybe. But if I can’t get the school board to give me some guidelines to compel them to do so…  C:Well, you must have some kind of policy.  P:A vague one, created by insurance companies to protect the school from liability. Half the time I don’t know where I stand legally.

 I don’t know why everybody hates me so much, but maybe I do, because now I hate me too, and right now, I really don’t see the reason for trying, or for talking or for breathing… I’m just done.

 Being bullied online… that can push a kid over the edge. It’s like a group assault, very traumatic. Anyone with a computer can see it. It’s always there 24/7. Makes the victim feel even more trapped; unable to escape from it.

 C:(to Lindsay) You and your friends have been harassing my daughter for weeks now (…)  My daughter tried to commit suicide because your daughter was bullying her.  F:If my daughter expressed her opinion about anything, that’s her right, at least according to the Constitution.  C:Excuse me? Are you going to defend her?  F:It’s called freedom of speech.

 I just felt so alone, you know? When all those people started saying stuff about me I felt like such a freak. Like I was the only one. Like there had to be something wrong with me for them to do that. But today I found out this happens to a lot of people. Like these really normal people. I don’t know… I wish I’d known that.

 P:This seems like a good time to talk about how to handle it, when you run into unpleasant comments about you online.  G:You mean besides getting even going all bully on them?  P:Which only adds fuel to the fire makes everything worse.  G:I don’t know what to do when I read that stuff. I just fall apart.  P:It’s fine to fall apart for a little while; it’s fine to acknowledge that it hurts. But there are things that you can do, that you should do.  C:Like print out everything?  P:Yes. You see something negative about you, print it out. Save the evidence.  G:Block them, you know, block the sender.  P:Now there’s one more thing you can do, probably the most important thing.  C:Speak up man, tell someone.

 J:What was going through your mind when you were doing it, the cyberbullying?  S:It’s hard to picture myself like that. You know, I’d always thought of bullies as people at school who pick on you. But when you do it online, you don’t even realize that you’re doing it. You can’t see the other people and you can do or say anything and it doesn’t seem to matter. It doesn’t feel real.

 Taylor:I’m not gonna ignore them anymore. Hey Lindsay, I know you think you’re being funny, but you should know that your words actually hurt, and I think you should stop attacking people online.  Caleb:You seem to me just like any other bully. Spreading hate wherever you go.  Scott:I’ve gotta say the way that you guys hurt people, maybe you need to talk to someone and get some help.