Cyber Bullying

Last night I was wasting time on facebook. I was looking at the profile of a friend from my freshman year and I saw that recently, another freshman year "friend" had written a mean comment about me on the wall. I was floored because I haven't really talked to either of these people for about 3 years and I don't ever remember offending them. And, as silly as it is, my feelings were kind of hurt. And I was embarrassed. I wished there was a way I could erase that comment so no one else I know would ever see it, even though the vast majority of the people I know now wouldn't care one bit what those girls said. I really have moved on from my freshman year, but I still spent a few minutes feeling sad.

Anyway, it got me thinking. I know cyber bullying is a huge problem and now I understand why a little better. I mean, if one little comment from a person who's opinion I don't really care about anymore bothered me that much, what must it feel like to be a teen who has horrible comments made about them from people who they do care about? I can see why it's so effective and damaging.

I think the biggest problem with cyber bullying is the lack of ability to regulate it. I really can't think of a singe thing that can be done to fix the problem, besides trying to influence the teens in my life to refrain from it.