Dubuque teens try to take the sting out of cyberbullying
Three Dubuque teens have channeled their heartache over cyberbullying into a website to help others.
Friends Alexis Lonning and Erin Scott, both 13, along with 14-year-old Katherine Engelken, said they understand what it feels like to be bullied online.
“People, I don’t think they realize that it actually hurts,” Alexis said. “And they don’t think that they’ll ever be discovered that they’re doing this.”
Alexis and Erin were victims of cyberbullying recently when their friends began to drift apart. The girls said some mean comments were made via direct messages on Instagram.
“These were people that we knew and that we were friends with, and it was really hard to see these people saying really mean stuff about us,” Erin said.
Their friends apologized. But at first, Erin said the apology “didn’t cut it.”
“They would call us mean names or tell us that we shouldn’t have any friends,” Erin said, later adding, “Those comments hurt. I never thought about suicide or anything or, like, cutting, but some of those comments almost make you want to do bad things to yourself because they are so personal. You’ve told these people everything.”
Alexis said the group of friends shared their feelings and forgave each other.
“We’re lucky that it got resolved and we’re still friends,” she said.
Their experience, combined with classroom lessons, inspired Alexis, Erin and Katherine to create a website and video to help others who have been cyberbullied.
“If we’re going through the same pain and we know how it feels, then we should try to help other people who are feeling the same way,” Erin said.
Launched earlier this month, the website includes cyberbullying statistics, tips on what to do when cyberbullied and a message board to share thoughts. The teenagers moderate their website, and they plan to ask a guidance counselor or other adult for advice if people on the message board seem like they might harm themselves.
“We feel that we kind of understand what it’s like because we’re kids and we can connect to kids,” Katherine said.
Connections already have been made. Strangers posted comments of encouragement on the message board within days of the website going live.
“It’s pretty cool, because it means people are actually seeing it,” Alexis said.
