The+Power+of+Words+-+Lily+&+Brooke

What should you do when someone uses mean or scary language on the internet? Vocabulary
 * Empathize: to understand and help someone who has been hurt.
 * Cyberbully: someone who is using technology to knowingly upset or scare someone.
 * Ethics: Ideas about how people should act or behave.

Important facts
 * If you ever receive a message that says something that upsets or scares you, you should immediately get an adult.
 * You should also delete the message.
 * Don't say mean things back, it will only make the situation worse.

What do our sources have to say? Our sources say that cyberbullying happens often and people receive hurtful messages very often. People have committed suicide because of this. Also, this is 60% more likely to happen with girls so try not to be the person who is being hurtful.

How can you protect yourself from getting these messages? Be sure to use a chatting website that your parents and teachers approve of. If you see that a conversation is getting a little aggressive, just exit the page. If the email is from someone that you don't know, just delete it.

If someone makes a threat towards you, what do you do? You can't prevent someone from actually going through with a threat. If the threat was very serious, the best answer is to call the police, especially if it was from someone you do not know. If the threat was very minor, tell an adult, but try not to let it worry you.

If this happens on a website, how can I let the people that own the website know? The best way to do this would be to check who owns the website with a parent. Ask them to send the owners an email about what happened. If nothing happens, you might want to consider chatting somewhere else.

So why do people say this stuff anyway? People say these mean things because they don't have to see how upset the other people are. People often use the internet as a tool to get something that they want out of other people. It is mean, and can sometimes scare you. This is called cyberbullying. It is a big problem in today's world. The recent protesting in Egypt started on the internet. When you use the internet, remember that a small thing you say can blow up to something enormous.

Why is this such a serious problem? This is a problem because people are being hurt. People can be emotionally damaged by these messages. Always think about what you are saying before you send a message. Don't be the one to hurt someone.

What might a cyberbully say or do? Normally a cyberbully will say something mean, such as saying you are ugly or dumb. Then, you might receive more and more of these malicious messages. Don't respond! Do not do the thing that hurt you, however much you want to.

How would you feel if you received one of these messages? Feel free to edit our page and tell us.

I would feel very scared and violated. I would immediately tell an adult about the horrid language. -Madison I actually have received these messages, and one threatened to kill me. I figured out that it as meant as a joke, but I was really scared before I knew. -Lily