Back in the good old days bullying only happened on the play ground at recess. Your arch nemesis chasing you around, calling you names like “weirdo, or freak.” Well unfortunately, times have changed and bullying has modernized, right along with the rest of the world, cyber bullying. Recent study’s claim that 58% of kids have had something mean said about them online, and 58% of kids didn’t tell there parents if something bad was happening to them. How do parents get informed if their child is being bullied? Should parents really be able to have access to their child’s internet account passwords?

As some families found out the hard way, cyber bullying can be fatal, Ron Meier, father of a teenage girl who was cyber bullied and committed suicide, advises parents to, “Be as watchful as you can.” When the decision between life and death is the current issue, I believe that parents should know all passwords so they can monitor what’s going on in their child’s life. I predict that if every parent in the U.S knew their son or daughters passwords, then we could potentially cut our country’s teen suicide rate in half!

Another fateful real life story about cyber bullying is the one of Ryan Patrick Halligan. He was a middle school student in the state of Vermont that had been bullied in many different ways, including cyber. He was continuously being bullied online until; he couldn’t take it anymore and took his own life because of it.

Look at both sides of the argument. First your parents, could you envision the sorrow and sadness they would go through, seeing their child commit their own dead because of cyber bullying that could have been impeded and stopped? It’s a heart breaking image! If only they had access to the email account or Face book account that their child was being bullied on.

Quite frankly, this sounds too simple. Face book and MySpace are personal sites where you can express your self. Teens don’t want their parents invading their personal space! Hasn’t anyone ever heard of privacy! I know for sure that I would feel the same way. Yes I would want my parents to make sure I was ok, and I don’t know about you but I don’t want my parents to know everything I put on those sites.

I think compromises have to be made to preserve the privacy of the teens and the loving, protective instincts of parents. Make sure your parents know your passwords, tell them you don’t want them intruding in your personal life, nobody wants to be spied on. Have them make a promise to only check up on you only if they think something is seriously wrong. I mean come on, if it’s between your life and death, what would you want? It’s obvious isn’t it?

The internet is constantly being used to manipulate the minds of teens, just like you and me from cyber bullying to online stocking. If having your parents know you’re MySpace or instant messaging password stopped you from committing suicide, it would be the greatest decision in your life. Take a stand about cyber bullying! I mean, 42% of teens have been bullied online. Give your parents your passwords, because unfortunately cyber bullying can happen to anyone. That includes you. You only have one life, don’t let bullying get in the way.