It’s Not So Funny When Bullied Kids Read Mean Tweets
Since 2012 we’ve been chuckling at the occasional Jimmy Kimmel Live! segment “Mean Tweets.” The nightly talk show’s had everyone from Kathy Griffin to President Obama read aloud the cruel (and sometimes completely insane) comments directed at them by Twitter users. But cyberbullies don’t just save their vitriol for celebrities and the President of the United States. As a parody video from the Canadian Safe Schools Network shows, it’s no laughing matter when tweens and teens are being humiliated by their peers on the social media platform.
In order to remind us that cyberbullying isn’t all that funny, the Toronto-based nonprofit teamed up with Canada’s advertising and entertainment communities to create “Kids Read Mean Tweets.” The clip shows how with the help of social media, for too many kids, bullying doesn’t end when the school day is over. Negative comments about a youth’s race, ethnicity, weight, or sexual orientation can be tweeted at any time.
A 2012 study from the National Crime Prevention Council found that more than 100,000 bullying tweets are sent every week on Twitter. Three years later, there are more Twitter users, and more teenagers have smartphones, making it likely that the number of disparaging, hateful, and insensitive comments being put into 140 characters is much higher.
Of course, the sad suicides of young people such as Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who took his life in 2010 after his roommate live-streamed his sexual encounter with another male student online, are evidence that electronic harassment isn’t limited to Twitter users. And as Clementi’s case proved, cyberbullying should be taken seriously—the outcome can be fatal.
To that end, the Canadian Safe Schools Network has launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise the funds it needs to show the clip on other online platforms. “It’s a serious issue that we want everyone talking about,” reads the fund-raising page.
Perhaps Kimmel will see the clip and decide to run it as an extra-special episode of “Mean Tweets.” That sure would put how damaging cyberbullying is for kids in the national spotlight.