Famecrawler
Hope Witsell Tragedy: Should Parents Stop Letting Teens Have Cell Phones?
Hope Witsell Was A Vicitm Of Cyber Bullying
Hope Witsell was an innocent 13-year old girl who tragically chose to end her own life after an explicit photo of her wound up in the wrong hands and was shared all over her hometown. The photo was originally intended for her boyfriend, and was sent via text photo message over her cell phone.
After the photo got out, Hope began being bullied, and was reportedly afraid to be alone and always had to have someone with her. She was the victim of both verbal and physical attacks. After a hate page about her surfaced on Facebook, she ultimately chose to take her own life.
In the wake of the latest major case of cyber-bullying involving Rutgers freshman, Tyler Clementi, CNN is running a week long special about the subject, and Hope’s mother, Donna Witsell, spoke out today on ending school yard bullying.
Donna reminds parents, “It happened to my daughter, it can happen to yours too. No one is untouchable. No one is untouchable.”
It’s obvious that cyber-bullying is becoming a huge epidemic, and there is no doubt that cell phones are a huge contributor to the problem. Teens feel much more uninhibited as far as what they will share with others via text and photo messages, and make themselves much more accessible to other kids who don’t have the best intentions.
Should parents stop letting their teens have cell phones in order to help cut down on this awful problem? On the one hand, cell phones are seen as a safety net as far as parents and kids being able to contact each other away from home, but on the other hand, it opens up teens’ lives to a whole host of other possible compromising situations.
I guess that the best we can do as parents is to teach our children to make the right decisions, and to hope that they listen.
Christopher Rogers 
Shana Aborn 
Joanna Mazewski 
Sunny Chanel 
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