Hiding Behind the Screen

This past week I watched a PBS special called Growing up Online. There were many great points made in this informative video but the one that stuck out to me out the most was about cyber bullying. With all of the recent suicides in the gay community it is hard to ignore the fact that teens are using the internet as a way to further bully their peers. 

At Rutgers University persistent cyber bullying by classmates of Tyler Clementi drove him to jump into the Hudson River. In the month of September alone five gay men from the ages of 13- 19 have committed suicide due to bullying through Facebook, twitter, skype,  etc. 

New media is now fully integrated into many of our lives and it is a great tool for communication, but there needs to be an end to bullying though these means of technology. It is a horrible occurrence when someone is led to suicide in result of opinions and comments of others. We can only hope that good will come out of the awful suffering that Clementi and others had to face daily and there will be full awareness of cyber bullying so it will not continue.