PARENTS of Australian teenage girl Jessica Cleland never thought their daughter would end her life as a result of cyber bullying. The19-year-old girl was not talking to others as she was depressed by the continuous bombardment of hate and contempt messages sent by her peers to her Facebook pages. Jessica's parents have continued their legal battle against the two teenage boys to hold them responsible for allegedly bullying their daughter to death in 2014. They also enlighten the public about the danger posed by cyber bullying to their loved ones and educate teenagers about the dangerous effect of hate messages on their peers. Growing suicide cases among teenagers due to cyber bullying have taken a lot of media attention in the West where authorities seek a viable solution for the problem. Jessica's death highlighted the impact that social media could have on the lives of young people, and that both Facebook and text messaging were problematic for the teenager. Easy access to the Internet on her phone meant that she was exposed to potentially upsetting communications 24 hours a day; and she was able to return to, and re-read, the upsetting messages at a later time and therefore appears to have continued to ruminate about them. Although it is not possible to identify, with any degree of certainty, the factors contributing to a person's decision to take his/her own life, it is evident that messages received by Jessica online proximate to her death... were precipitating factors, one expert said. The impact of cyber bullying on our children cannot be underestimated. Its effect will not be limited to within the four walls of schools or residential districts and the victim of such cyber attacks would be able to read those insulting words several times as they appear on different websites. Such repeated hate messages will not only create sorrow but also fear. Despite the occurrence of such unhappy incidents around the world why cyber bullying is still on the increase? The main reason is that people think it would be easier for them to confront their opponents on the cyber space rather than face to face as the electronic environment gives such people courage to make damaging comments. Many people disseminate hate messages through the social media without knowing its consequences. We know that only a few studies have been conducted in the Kingdom on the impact of cyber bullying among teenagers in the form of spreading rumors, publishing pictures and blackmailing, especially against young girls. In contrast, several sites of government agencies and private associations have been set up in the US and Europe to discuss the negative impact of this phenomenon. These sites also publish programs to enlighten parents and children on the dangerous effect of cyber bullying on society. School regulations in the West also enlighten students on the dangerous effect of misusing the Internet and computer inside and outside schools. During my research in Saudi Arabia I have noticed that major international schools deal with cyber bullying issue with utmost responsibility and educate parents and students to use cyber space with responsibility and take precautionary measures to protect their students from possible cyber bullying. These schools highlight the dangerous impact of cyber bullying on teenagers through their websites. It is high time our public and private schools launch a campaign to educate children and teenagers about the dangerous effect of cyber bullying and how to deal with this phenomenon. Many of our children are obsessed with Snapchat and Instagram exchanging messages. Victims of cyber bullying have been on the increase during the last 10 years. Chubb, an international insurance company, has launched an insurance scheme in 2015 to give protection against cyber crimes in Britain and Ireland. The insurance policy offers customers with experts to confront cyber bullies and restore their fame and reputation. It also offers cyber security experts to take legal action against such bullies. Insurance companies are expected to make a lot of money due to growing cases of cyber bullying in our society. At the same time, the trend would also help parents and teenagers deal with the issue in an effective way, especially in the absence of government programs to be provided by the Education Ministry and research centers. — Al-Jazirah
