Last November 2012, several girls started bullying 12 yr old Rebecca Ann Sedwick, they tortured and harassed her endlessly and she began cutting herself. After filing complaints with the school board and sheriffs office, nothing was done to the bullies. "Becca" however was moved around to different classes at Crystal Lake Middle School but the bullies would assault/ attack her on school property including the halls between classes. When the bullying began last December, she began cutting herself. When her mother noticed the slashes to her wrists, she had Rebecca hospitalized for three days with counseling. Again, NOTHING was done. Tricia, Becca's mom, took away her phone. Put the her in counseling, even pulled her out of Crystal Lake Middle School for the rest of the school year and home schooled "Becca" trying to prevent the bullying! When she returned to school, Rebecca complained that she had been pushed in the hallway and that another girl wanted to fight her. At the beginning of the new school year Tricia (Becca's mom) moved her to another school, Lawton Chiles & she seemed happy and  she was preparing to audition for chorus and thinking of cheerleading again. So her mom gave her back her cell phone, it seemed like "Becca" was doing much better! But Becca opened accounts on applications that her mother – and most parents – are unaware of, such as Kik Messenger, ask.fm and Voxer.Becca even told me, her grandmother, that she was fine! The bullying continued the whole time online on different social media websites, instagram, Kik Messenger, ask.fm and Voxer, it NEVER ended. She could not escape, she felt helpless and even though all of us, her family, asked repeatedly, she insisted that she was fine. Maybe she didn't want to worry us, and felt like there was no use in reporting it. Her mother did everything she could think of with NO HELP from the system, NONE! Then when it just got too much for her she sent texts two friends that morning saying goodbye forever, went to an abandoned concrete plant, went through the fence, climbed to the very top of the tower and jumped, taking her own life. She had previously said that no one would notice if she was gone! For over a year, at least 15 girls ganged up on her, told her to "Just go kill yourself!"  "You seriously deserve to die!" "You should die!" "Why don't you go kill yourself?" Before her death, she changed her name on one of her mobile phone applications to “That Dead Girl,”and messaged a 12-year-old friend in North Carolina saying, "I'm jumping, I can't take it anymore."The last time her mother saw her alive, she was texting.  And it is those text messages, and Rebecca’s cyber-life, that police are sifting through as they try to piece together what led our precious girl to commit suicide.For more than a year, the girl was bullied online. The Lakeland Ledger reports that detectives found multiple social media applications where Sedwick was constantly bullied with messages, including "Go kill yourself," and "Why are you still alive?"She was “absolutely terrorized on social media,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd at a news conference last week.Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case.  Over the last two years, there have been at least half a dozen suicides prompted, at least in part, by cyberbullying. This has led Governor Rick Scott and state legislators across the country to enact new laws against online bullying.And as of July 1st, Florida's new law gives schools jurisdiction in cases of cyberbullying that occur outside of school.  However, each day it becomes abundantly clear that schools cannot handle this alone.Despite her mother’s vigilance, Rebecca was still suffering. A police search of the girl’s mobile phone and computer uncovered internet searches like, “What is overweight for a 13 year-old girl?” and “How many Advil do you have to take to die?”Detectives also found photos of Becca with razor blades lying on her arms and one of her screensavers was a photo of her head resting on a railroad track. It is impossible to determine whether Rebecca’s depression and her subsequent suicide were solely due to bullying; however, there is growing concern – and mounting evidence – that kids are just too involved online.  Perhaps the distance and anonymity of online interactions inspires cruelty. Social media is a powerful tool, one with the power to bring people together like never before. But it is also incredibly dangerous and maybe especially in the hands of kids who have not yet developed empathy – destructive.As a community, we have to place greater value and importance on personal interactions, rather than virtual ones.  Maybe it is okay to tell a child that they are too young for a mobile phone and too young for social media. Maybe then we’d talk, instead of text, and maybe someone would have heard Rebecca crying out for help.  Maybe someone would have told an adult about the bullying.  Maybe the bullies’ parents would have put a stop to the torment. 

Rebecca wrote this in her journal:  

“How many lives have to be lost until people realize words do matter?” 

 Thank You for your love & support!