Meet Jake! He is a tenth grade STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) student at a public high school. Jake and his friends all love to use social media and explore things using their technology.

However, Jake and his friends are not well versed in internet safety, specifically cyber bullying. Jake thinks it is just like "trolling", which he sees in Youtube and Facebook comments. People saying silly or mean things to other people by hiding behind their anonymity. Unfortunately, cyber bullying is becoming a bigger issue at Jake's school.

One day in class, Jake's teacher had them use padlet for a discussion. Students responed to a prompt by posting a sticky note with their thoughts. The students in the class all have accounts so the teacher can keep track of who is posting and give them credit for their discussion contributions. While Jake was constructing his response, he saw a new sticky note pop up from an anonymous user. The comment was directed at a specific student, and it was very offensive. This student was not popular, and Jake remembered him getting made fun of by others in the past. What surprised Jake the most was that this anonymous student had done this in class, during a school assignment, right in fron of the teacher who was monitoring the situation.

Eventually, the student who posted the offensive comment was caught, but it did not lessen the negative impact it had on the bullied student. This situation made Jake think about how much of an impact cyberbullying can really have, and why things that may seem like just fun and games are much more harmful.

In order to help students understand the impact of cyberbullying, they must first know how to recognize it in order to prevent it. The following are resources to help students and teachers combat and talk abou cyberbullying.

ADL Cyberbullying Lessons

Ophelia Project Cyberbulling Resources

Common Sense Media