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Internet Gives Bullies Weapons to Wound

            The fight started at school, when some eighth grade girls stole a pencil case filled with makeup that belonged to a new classmate, Amanda Marcuson, and she reported them.

            But it did not end there. As soon as Amanda got home, the instant messages started popping up on her computer screen. She was a tattletale and a liar,” they said. Shaken, she typed back, “You stole my stuff.” She was a stuck-up bitch,” came the instant response in the box on the screen, followed by a series of increasingly ugly epithets.

            “It seems like people can say a lot worse things to someone online than when they’re actually talking to them,’” said Amanda, 14, of Birmingham, Michigan, who transferred to the school last year. The girls never said another word to her in person, she said.

            The episode reflects one of many ways that the technology lubricating the social lives of teenagers is amplifying standard adolescent cruelty. No longer confined to school grounds or daytime hours, cyber bullies are pursuing their quarries into their bedrooms. Tools like e-mail messages and Web logs enable the harassment to the both less obvious to adults and more publicly humiliating, as gossip, harsh criticism and embarrassing pictures are circulated among a wide audience of peers with a few clicks.

(The New York times: 1/13/2004)

　

Summary: Internet hurts teenagers’ mind when it is not used in wise ways. Some girls stole Amanda’s pencil case full of makeup. Her report to school made the girls very angry. In return, they said a lot of worse things online which could show adolescent cruelty and humiliating harassment from e-mail messages, gossips, critical comments, or even embarrassing pictures all to be seen on computer screen.

　

　

　

　　　　