Rachel Whalen remembers feeling gutted in high school when a former friend would mock her online postings, threaten to unfollow or unfriend her on social media and post inside jokes about her to others online.
The cyberbullying was so distressing that Whalen said she contemplated suicide.
Once she got help, she decided to limit her time on social media. It helps to take a break from it for perspective, said Whalen, now a 19-year-old college student in Utah.
There is a rise in cyberbullying nationwide, with three times as many girls reporting being harassed online or by text message than boys, according to the US’ National Center for Education Statistics.
The US Department of Education’s research and data arm this month released its latest survey, which shows an uptick in online abuse, though the overall number of students who report being bullied stayed the same.
“There’s just some pressure in that competitive atmosphere that is all about attention. This social media acceptance — it just makes sense to me that it’s more predominant amongst girls,’’ Whalen said.
Many school systems that once had a hands-off approach to dealing with off-campus student behavior are now making cyberbullying rules, outlining punishments such as suspension or expulsion, according to Bryan Joffe, director of education and youth development at AASA, a national school superintendents association.
That change partly came along with broader cyberbullying laws, which have been adopted in states like Texas and California in recent years.
The survey showed about 20 percent, or one in five students, reported being bullied, ranging from rumors or being excluded to threats and physical attacks in the 2016-2017 school year. That is unchanged from the previous survey done in 2014-2015.
However, in that two-year span, cyberbullying reports increased significantly, from 11.5 percent to 15.3 percent.
Broken down by gender, 21 percent of girls in middle and high school reported being bullied online or by text message in the 2016-2017 school year, compared with less than 7 percent of boys.
That is up from the previous survey in 2014-2015, the first time cyberbullying data was collected this specifically. Back then, about 16 percent of girls between 12 and 18 said they were bullied online, compared with 6 percent of boys.
The survey does not address who the aggressors are, though girls were more likely to note that their bullies were perceived to have the ability to influence others.
Lauren Paul, founder of the Kind Campaign, said 90 percent of the stories she hears while working in schools are of girls bullied by other girls.
The California-based nonprofit launched a decade ago to focus on “girl against girl” bullying through free educational programming that reaches about 300 schools a year.
Paul recalls meeting one girl who was obsessive about her social media accounts because, a group of girls excluded her if she did not get enough likes or follows in any given week. She went so far as to painstakingly create fake profiles just to meet her quota.
“Most of the time — if not almost all the time — it’s about what’s going on with other girls. It’s this longing to be accepted by their female peers specifically and feeling broken if they don’t,’’ Paul said.
Though Paul primarily hosts assemblies and workshop exercises at middle and high schools, she said there has been more demand to help younger and older students in recent years.
The Kind Campaign has gotten more requests for elementary school presentations and now also regularly gets called to universities to work with sororities.
The latest national data may spark new conversations about Mean Girls behavior, Joffe said, referring to the 2004 movie starring Lindsay Lohan.
“It’s a school issue, but it’s just a reflection of broader societal issues. I’m not sure schools have any better answer than say, the Twitter company or Facebook. They’re also trying to find answers to what to do about abuses online,’’ Joffe said.
Some tech companies also are taking a stab at what seems like an intractable problem.
Instagram last month unveiled its latest feature that uses artificial intelligence to try to stop abuse. Users typing a potentially offensive comment on a photograph or video will get a notification that reads: “Are you sure you want to post this?’’
Meanwhile, many school districts are beefing up social-emotional learning curriculum beyond just teaching children how to share and express their feelings in the early grades.
That is something Manuela Slye, a Seattle mother with three teenagers, says is a must to prevent cyberbullying.
The president of the Seattle Council Parent Teacher Student Association called on her school district to expand its “soft skills” lessons through high school, as is done in a neighboring school district.
Seattle Public Schools is working to expand such offerings, although a district spokesman said there has not been a noted rise in cyberbullying among its students.
“There needs to be social-emotional development teaching before it goes to cyberbullying, before it goes to doing something online and anonymously, and before you have a problem with someone,” Slye said.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing