Chella, a young person, shares her experience with cyber
bullying.
Hi I'm a young W.A girl and this is my story of Cyber-bullying
and How I overcome it.
At the end of year 8 I made a huge life choice to
leave my mothers house and move in with my father, Unlike my mum's
house however my dad had access to the internet.
Being out of the city and still getting to know
people and trying to make friends again I started surfing the net
and came across chat rooms to feel my free time and give me someone
to talk to.
The people on there became my new friends. People I
shared my thoughts with, chatted on msn with, had on my Myspace
(Facebook wasn't known of as such).
It all went well until one
day. A girl came into the chat room and started abusing me she
called me names every time I logged on and some how even got my
email address and was flooding my inbox with horrible nasty emails
saying she was going to get me, going to kill me etc. I spoke with
admins of the chat rooms and they taught me how to block ppl but It
seemed as much as I blocked her the more she was out to get me, she
kept appearing in the chat room under different names, and soon she
had turned some of my chatroom mates against me, one which I had
add on Msn they started writing horrible things, stealing my photos
of Myspace etc. One day the bully and her friends stole a picture
of me and my friends in our bathers that I had been tagged in and
posted it on a site for prostitutes with my email address, this
hurt cause I kept getting creepy emails from men of all ages, lucky
the site took the picture down.
I know I should have spoken with
my parents but I couldn't. I was already having hard times at my
new school with bullying as well. It seemed that a lot of girls got
their noses out of joint cause Id come down from another country
town and fitted in so well into the school so they to decide to
make my life hell by putting notes on my desk, graffiting toilets
with rumours about me. It really got hard I stopped eating cause I
thought I was fat, I stopped going to modelling with my friend on
Tuesday nights cause I thought I was hideous, I stopped being the
bubbly girl I once was. People kept asking me what was wrong but I
kept pushing them away. I couldn't realise that this had to stop. I
blamed myself. I kept what if I had done this. Why do people hate
me etc etc.
The bullying online got so bad that in over a month I
had deleted and remade my Myspace page over 4 times. I still didn't
have the guts to leave the chat-rooms though cause there was people
on there that made me feel okay plus it was my escape as well as my
nightmare.
Eventually though things came to a stop. I fainted at
school due to not eating and was told to see the chaplain. I was
scared stiff that my parents would loose it at me but luckily the
chaplain said he'd keep this confidential unless I was at risk of
doing damage to myself or others. At the start i was afraid to tell
him what was going on but over time I let it out. He helped me to
realise the things being said about me were untrue. He showed me
steps to keep myself safe online and gave me a contact number for
people to call in case I was at home and need to let things out.
I
eventually got of the chat-room I was in and found a safe one which
was more moderated. I made myself a new msn and was careful as to
who I added. I learnt not to post as many pictures on Myspace and
how to report abuse online as well as save any abuse that happened
into a folder just in case I decide it was ever need as evidence in
court.
I think the biggest thing I learnt though was not to reply
to the abuse as I did in the being. The more I responded and showed
I hated it the more of target I was to them cause they could see it
was getting to me.
As much as it may sound silly I urge anyone
who is being cyber-bullied to speak to a trusted adult don't worry
about not having time on the net or certain sites being banned, its
about taking care of your well being and making sure you keep safe.
We need to stop bullies, we need to Stop the amount of victims that
suffer each year, we need to turn things around and make a positive
online community. I'm lucky to be a survivour of cyberbullying.
Please note my story of my abuse is not everything that happened as
I'm to embarrassed to share with you the nitty gritty on what went
onHi I'm a young W.A girl and this is my story of Cyber-bullying
and How I overcome it.
At the end of year 8 I made a huge life choice to leave my
mothers house and move in with my father, Unlike my mum's house
however my dad had access to the internet.
Being out of the city and still getting to know people and
trying to make friends again I started surfing the net and came
across chat rooms to feel my free time and give me someone to talk
to.
The people on there became my new friends. People I shared my
thoughts with, chatted on msn with, had on my Myspace (Facebook
wasn't known of as such).
It all went well until one day.
A girl came into the chat room and started abusing me she called
me names every time I logged on and some how even got my email
address and was flooding my inbox with horrible nasty emails saying
she was going to get me, going to kill me etc. I spoke with admins
of the chat rooms and they taught me how to block ppl but It seemed
as much as I blocked her the more she was out to get me, she kept
appearing in the chat room under different names, and soon she had
turned some of my chatroom mates against me, one which I had add on
Msn they started writing horrible things, stealing my photos of
Myspace etc.
One day the bully and her friends stole a picture of me and my
friends in our bathers that I had been tagged in and posted it on a
site for prostitutes with my email address, this hurt cause I kept
getting creepy emails from men of all ages, lucky the site took the
picture down.
I know I should have spoken with my parents but I
couldn't. I was already having hard times at my new school with
bullying as well. It seemed that a lot of girls got their noses out
of joint cause Id come down from another country town and fitted in
so well into the school so they to decide to make my life hell by
putting notes on my desk, graffiting toilets with rumours about
me.
It really got hard I stopped eating cause I thought I was fat, I
stopped going to modelling with my friend on Tuesday nights cause I
thought I was hideous, I stopped being the bubbly girl I once was.
People kept asking me what was wrong but I kept pushing them away.
I couldn't realise that this had to stop.
I blamed myself. I kept what if I had done this. Why do people
hate me etc etc.
The bullying online got so bad that in over a
month I had deleted and remade my Myspace page over 4 times. I
still didn't have the guts to leave the chat-rooms though cause
there was people on there that made me feel okay plus it was my
escape as well as my nightmare.
Eventually though things came to
a stop. I fainted at school due to not eating and was told to see
the chaplain.
I was scared stiff that my parents would loose it at me but
luckily the chaplain said he'd keep this confidential unless I was
at risk of doing damage to myself or others. At the start i was
afraid to tell him what was going on but over time I let it out. He
helped me to realise the things being said about me were untrue. He
showed me steps to keep myself safe online and gave me a contact
number for people to call in case I was at home and need to let
things out.
I eventually got of the chat-room I was in and found a
safe one which was more moderated.
I made myself a new msn and was careful as to who I added. I
learnt not to post as many pictures on Myspace and how to report
abuse online as well as save any abuse that happened into a folder
just in case I decide it was ever need as evidence in court.
I
think the biggest thing I learnt though was not to reply to the
abuse as I did in the being. The more I responded and showed I
hated it the more of target I was to them cause they could see it
was getting to me.
As much as it may sound silly I urge anyone who is being
cyber-bullied to speak to a trusted adult don't worry about not
having time on the net or certain sites being banned, its about
taking care of your well being and making sure you keep safe. We
need to stop bullies, we need to stop the amount of victims that
suffer each year, we need to turn things around and make a positive
online community. I'm lucky to be a survivour of cyberbullying.
Please note my story of my abuse is not everything that happened as
I'm to embarrassed to share with you the nitty gritty on what went
on.
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