Cyberbullying- A Important Story

Instructions

I am disappointed that I have to even post this project. Please note that this project only has a thumbnail, and what I want to say is included in here. So I guess I should start with my story. In the last three months I have had three hate accounts created for me and my friends. The first was pretending to be a side account of one of my friends. While that was a issue, I didn't really care that someone said they didn't like me. When you think about it, "I don't like xXBrambleSwirlsXx" isn't the worst thing that could be said. So I moved on and the account was taken down by the ST. Yesterday I went on Scratch and found that two new accounts were following me. I noticed something was off about them. Even the account name was mean. To protect the people involved, I will only say those accounts were called blahblahblahShouldDie and blahblahblahSucks. I realize that I am protecting the people who are hating, but it is important to me that they don't receive hate in return. Anyways, I crinkled my eyebrow and decided to check my comments. One of the hate accounts commented on my profile "fake". I wasn't too upset at this point because I realized they don't know me. Therefore their judgement is invalid. Then I checked the other hate account. This is what got me upset. In the account "what i'm working on" they said that me (and two of my friends) should die. This is not okay. As I've stated before, they do not know us. One of us could be fighting mental battles everyday and could've taken that as a sign to harm ourselves. Life is precious, and Scratch is supposed to be a safe place. Enough about me- let's talk about how to deal with cyber bullying and some other related things. -How to deal with cyber bullying on Scratch 1) Don't fight back. Standing up for yourself and insulting them back are two completely different things! Under no circumstance should you insult them. The situation will escalate, and you will also be at fault. Instead you could say something like, "Actually that isn't true!" or even just ignore the messages. It is also okay to ask a friend for help (shoutout to Mooni- you know who you are!). 2) Report anything that is classified as cyber bullying. Even if you aren't getting cyber bullied, it is still important for the ST to know of any situations which have come up. 3) If the problem continues inform your guardian or directly contact Scratch. 4) Remember you are an amazing individual and this person doesn't really know you. They don't know how great you are :) What is Cyber bullying? The dictionary defines cyber bullying as, "the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature." *But cyber bullying can be more than that. Anything that seems mean, hurtful or anything of that nature can be classified as cyber bullying. It is also important to know that some people don't mean to hurt your feelings. If a friend says something that seems hurtful, it is best to talk to them about it. But remember there is a line between a funny joke and a mean comment. Statistics about cyber bullying- Cyber bullying is very common these days. People can say hurtful things without being face to face with the person over the computer, phone, tablet, etc. (Facts are from Dosomething.org) -Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online. 1 in 4 has had it happen more than once. -81% of young people think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person. -Bullying victims are more likely to consider harming themselves. *I chose these facts because I feel as they support my point. They are also very sad and show why cyber bullying is a problem.