You’ve probably seen Jimmy Kimmel’s hilarious segment “Celebrities read mean tweets.” It’s hard not to laugh at the outrageous things people tweet about celebs. Now picture kids reading mean, degrading, abusive tweets from other kids. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.
The Canadian Safe School Network has launched a campaign to show that cyberbullying is no joke. Their new video shows a group of students and teen actors reading mean tweets written by and directed at kids. At first, students laugh off the tweets. But as the messages become racist, sexist, homophobic and worse, it gets more difficult for the kids to read the words aloud. The teens aren’t chuckling anymore—they’re visibly shrinking and trying to hold back tears.
The emotions in the video are real. The students were given the tweets to read for the first time while they were on camera. Anyone would cry having to read this: “No one likes you. Do everyone a favour. Just kill yourself.”
When you’re cyberbullied, the whole world can see you being humiliated. It’s not just the kids at school. Anyone can retweet or like the post and you’re powerless to stop it from spreading. There’s a certain mob mentality on the internet and many kids feel they cant stand up to what can be a relentless attack. Maybe this video will help more kids stand up for those who are being bullied, and make us all think twice before we laugh at those mean tweets.
Read more:
How your kid can help stop bullying>
An open letter to the kids bullying my daughter>
Is your daughter a mean girl?>