When cyberbullying kills: Suicide's mom warns of social-networking dangers

Josh Evans seemed to be the perfect kid. His photo showed brown, wavy hair, blue eyes and chiseled features.

But Josh Evans wasn't real. He was the invention of Lori Drew, who allegedly conspired with her daughter, Sarah, to see if Sarah's friend was spreading rumors about her on the social-networking site MySpace.

That friend, Megan Meier, who was taunted online by the fake Josh Evans for weeks, killed herself in October 2006 in Missouri.

Tina Meier, Megan's mother, told teachers and counselors yesterday at the Montgomery County Fire Academy, in Conshohocken, about her daughter's suicide as part of the Anti-Defamation League of Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware's cyberbullying conference.

"Now that we have this technology they're able to hide anonymously behind a computer, and people don't realize that the things that they say can be devastating to the person on the other side," Meier said.

Meier said that the problem goes beyond how kids treat one another online, saying that many don't think about the kind of information they put up on their MySpace and Facebook pages.

"Kids always think of today," Meier said, "They don't think of tomorrow, and they forget that what you put on the Internet stays on the Internet."

Meier believes that the solution lies with education on the dangers of cyberbullying or misuse of the Internet.

That commitment to change and education is something to which Sally J. Moore, a teacher at Ludlow Elementary, in North Philadelphia, can attest.

"It's critically important to do the teaching to the children because they really don't understand the kind of harm they can bring or experience," Moore said at the conference yesterday. "They are just thinking about the fun of the moment."

For now, Tina Meier tries to take the tragedy of her daughter's suicide and turn it into something positive.

Meier created Megan Meier Foundation in memory of her daughter to educate people and promote awareness about cyber-bullying.

"It took me about a year to be able to think even partially straight," Meier said, "but I knew that I wanted to do something." *