Online Teen Photo Bullying Is A New Trend
In a recent phenomenon, teen girls have been posting silly photos of themselves altered to include blunt advice to each other, about things like how to dress more appropriately. Some of the photos have then gone viral, and led to what some are calling a new form of teen bullying.
In sites like Facebook, pages such as “Hey Girls, Did You Know” feature these types of photos, which have sadly gone viral.
Alley Guscott, 17, told ABC News:
“Girls will take raunchy pictures of themselves and after that, [other] girls will repost pictures and kind of make fun of them.”
Experts say this is a new form of cyber bullying — posted publicly and targeted at specific teens who know very well that they are being shamed.
Parry Aftab, Internet privacy security lawyer states:
“Everyone thinks they can do anything they feel like doing online. They can’t. Free speech has its limits. If you defame somebody and you harass somebody, if you target them — that may be against the law.”
Author Dr. Logan Levkoff said that until parents step in with proper discipline, teens will continue to use technology to taunt others anonymously, says Yahoo News. Much like the classic adage “when the cat’s away, the mice will play”.
Levkoff adds:
“It’s our responsibility to teach young people not to judge anyone else.”
Sarah Mays, 16, said that she feels the taunts reveal more than the harassers want to admit:
“To be bashing somebody else, that means that you have your own insecurities that you’re dealing with, so you take them out on other people.”
Sarah sounds quite wise for her age, and has a good point.
