Bullying has forever been a fact of life for school kids, but the advent of social media and the Internet has extended the reach of bullies into the victim’s homes. Attorney Andre Agatston of Marietta, Ga., wants to raise awareness of cyberbullying and give parents and kids the tools to stop the harassment. Agatston is a former member of the Executive Board of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia and currently serves on their Advisory Board. His practice has a special focus on children’s advocacy issues and victim’s rights.
Junior high school was a special hell for me, a daily torture made especially terrible by one particular boy I’ll call “T.”
He delighted in standing behind me and pointing out to everyone in the band room that, though I was in eighth grade, I didn’t shave my legs or wear nylons. (My mom had five kids, worked full-time, and had an alcoholic husband. My beauty regime -- or lack of it -- was the least of her worries.)
Anyway, those days were spent with my nose in a book. As I devoured Gone with the Wind, every page convinced me that if Scarlett could survive the burning of Atlanta, I could attend another horrible day at Lance Junior High in Kenosha, Wis. Dealing with T was bad, but I’ll never forget that bus incident involving “Miss M.” Since my dad was already at the factory and my mom was at work, I rode the bus home to babysit my four younger siblings.
You may remember Megan’s story from the many news reports over the past four years. Megan Meier took her life in 2006 after being bullied online by Josh Evans, a fictitious 16-year-old. Josh befriended Megan on MySpace, flirted with her for a month and then dumped her stating, “The world would be a better place without you in it.” Thirteen-year-old Megan hanged herself in her bedroom. At the time of Megan’s death, Missouri did not have any anti-bullying or cyberbullying laws. Soon after her suicide, it was discovered that Josh didn’t exist.
We all know that bullying is unpleasant, but new findings suggest it could lead to long-term social anxiety for the person being bullied. Recent experiments at Rockefeller University found that consistently bullied mice showed signs of exaggerated anxiety and nervousness around new mice. They also experienced higher levels of sensitivity to the hormone vasopressin, which controls social behaviors. "The identification of brain neuroendocrine systems that are affected by stress opens the door for possible pharmacological interventions," Yoav Litvin, the study’s coauthor says. "Additionally, studies have shown that the formation and maintenance of positive social relationships may heal some of the damage of bullying.”
The vasopressin hormone is associated with aggression, stress and anxiety disorders in humans. Earlier studies suggest that human brains can bounce back given time. You can read the full study here.
See this story in Sunday's New York Times of 14-year-old Margarite's mistake in 2010 that led to her own humiliation and altered the lives of so many around her.
In conjunction with President Obama and First Lady Michelle's Conference on Bullying Prevention, Facebook DC Live will host a live conversation from the White House about "how we can all work together to make the Internet safer and promote a culture of shared responsibility and of strong digital citizenship." It starts today at 12:00pm EST. Guests Include:
Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan: Joe, a former federal prosecutor and founding member of the Justice Department's Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Units, oversees safety and security for Facebook's more than 500 million active users. Melody Barnes: Melody is the President’s Domestic Policy Advisor and the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, which coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House. Stephanie Cutter: Stephanie is Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor at the White House.
President Obama and First Lady Michelle will convene an anti-bullying conference at The White House, tomorrow, Thursday, March 10. The White House says the Conference on Bullying Prevention will include top officials from the Department of Education and Health and Human Services as well as students, parents, teachers and others who are trying to address the issue from across the nation. The conference will also include breakout sessions on proven policies that prevent bullying. The White House has been eager to engage a wider and younger audience on the issue, reaching out to people through social media. The president announced the conference on his Facebook page and has encouraged people to participate in the conference via live chats.
A room full of lawyers got a strong message from Dr. Phil McGraw, TV’s family therapist. There is “no safe place for kids anymore,” Dr. Phil told a panel on bullying at the American Bar Association’s Midyear Meeting. “Kids can’t go to their room to get away from [bullying],” he said in the videotaped address on Friday. “Bullies can still get to them through Facebook and the Internet.”
Dr. Phil said the victims of bullying need help. “We need all hands on deck,” he said. “This needs to be addressed and this needs to be addressed now.”
Other panelists echoed the call to action. Richard Katskee of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, called bullying a “systemic problem that requires a systemic response.”
“Punishing a bully is not enough,” he said. “They need therapy to help end the behavior.”
“This is a time when we can make progress and institutionalize change,” said Michael Lieberman, Washington Counsel for the Anti-Defamation league. Watch this anti-bullying PSA produced by the ABA that was featured at the conference:
The ABA’s Commission on Youth at Risk is seizing the momentum. They won support for a resolution to the House of Delegates that urges state and federal officials to take action in eliminating bullying. Dr. Phil called the resolution “top notch.” Key points of the resolution include:
Discourages inappropriate referral of youth to juvenile court
Labels expulsion and out-of-school suspension "inappropriate" punishments
Urges officials to prevent the causes of bullying
The resolution also calls for the identification of victims of bullying, a departure from current zero-tolerance policies in schools that do not distinguish between the bully and the victim. Clayton County Juvenile Court Judge Steven Teske advocates reversing these policies. “Zero tolerance policies are contrary to our fundamental right to self-defense,” Judge Teske writes in an op-ed on JJIE.org
In a panel discussion titled Bringing Youth Justice to Georgia, Judge Teske called for a reduction in school referrals to juvenile courts.
