Public educated on cyberbullying, sexting, human trafficking

*Editor’s note: Even though the story below could be similar to a real situation, the name used in it is fictitious.

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Sitting at his computer, 12-year old Michael* glares intently at the screen studying a message sent to him just an hour earlier.

Suddenly, Michael’s mother enters the room and tells him five more minutes on the computer. She asks what he is what is doing and he hesitates, then replies just reading something sent from a friend of his. But she senses something is wrong and moves closer to the screen.

As she does, the truth is revealed, he is reading several messages from this "friend" and they contain words like "idiot" and "worthless" in them.

Read more about cyberbullying and the ways parents, teachers and students can deal with the problem in the October 30 issue of The Wright County Monitor!