One of the main points I cover in all of my CyberSafety and Internet Awareness Classes is the importance of not using social media as a gauge for popularity or the quest to gain it.
Hiding the number of friends where you can, having private accounts specific to age and maturity growth and not being a numbers hound are so important for good grounded children.
As you can see in the following article, one child actually created an Instagram account to increase her real life popularity…the cost? Her account became a bully pulpit and the police, schools and media became involved.
Parents, in the iconic words of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, “Teach your children well.”
A Hollister girl was arrested for creating an Instagram account that bullied students at San Benito High School, Marguerite Maze Middle School, and Rancho San Justo Middle School, police said Wednesday.
She did it to become more popular, according to investigators.
The middle school student uploaded 27 videos showing other students engaged in violent fights before and after school. The account’s profile photo showed a half-naked underage girl whose shirt was ripped off, Capt. Carlos Reynoso said.
The girl, who police described as quiet and not popular at school, realized she could gain a lot of attention on Instagram.
She asked her 2,000 followers to send more violent videos, and a domino effect was created as one fight led to another, Reynoso said.
“This caused a large amount of bullying and posting of extremely negative comments about students attending local schools. Subsequently the bullying and comments posted to the account caused a large disruption to the local schools,” Paddy said.
Hollister School Resource Officer Michael Paddy found the Instagram account on Feb. 6. But when police contacted the social networking app’s company to shut the account down, Instagram did nothing, police said.
“Instagram Inc. made no efforts to remove the content, close the account, or assist officers with the investigation,” Paddy said.
“It’s horrible that we reached out to Instagram, and they wouldn’t do anything. They didn’t care. We have had no response back to this point,” Reynoso said.
As a result, the girl continued to post violent videos and the account gained notoriety among students across Hollister, Paddy said.
With the collective efforts between the three schools, the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office and the Hollister Police Department, the girl responsible for the account was identified and arrested on charges of soliciting others to fight.
Reynoso said once officers explained to the girl how much emotional damage she had caused, and the laws she had broken, the girl felt badly about what she did.
“Kids do things without thinking of the consequences. We are not talking about someone who is mature,” Reynoso said.
Police declined to release the girl’s name, but said she was less than 14 years old.
Police were able to shut the Instagram account down recently because the girl gave officers her passwords.
On Wednesday, the Hollister Police Department said, “Police want to remind parents to be aware of what social media applications their children are viewing and participating in. Hollister police also want warn people using social media in a negative or criminal manner will be caught and prosecuted.”
Anyone with additional information on this case is asked to call Officer Paddy at 831-636-4330. Persons wishing to remain anonymous can call the WeTip Hotline at 800-87-CRIME.
