Cyberbullying on Watch: Boston Takes Action With Hot Line

BOSTON, April 3, 2010 — -- Like most high school seniors, Jamila Hussein and Jonathan Delgado are almost always online but lately, they've wanted to disconnect, after finding themselves the targets of cyberbullying.

Both teens recently logged on to Facebook to find their pictures along with anonymous postings, calling them names so ugly, neither wanted to repeat what had been written.

"I cried. I really cried. I screamed," 18-year-old Hussein told ABC News. "It was my face, and that's what made me angry. They took my picture without my permission, and they wrote some things about me that were hurtful and disrespectful."

"They really try to hit you from everywhere and you know, hurt you whenever and however they can," Delgado said. "It's just something that's so cruel, like, why would you do this?"

He and Hussein agree that the anonymity of the Internet combined with the public forum that sites like Facebook provide make the harassment even worse. Many of the attacks against girls accuse them of being promiscuous. Those against boys question and often attack their sexual orientation. Hussein says the hateful online posts are so common, students at Charlestown High School in Boston check the site regularly.

"Everyone, the first thing they do when they do when they go home, is look on the Facebook page, try to find out who's on it next. Who's their next victim?" Hussein said.

School officials say cyberbullying has exploded at the high school. One in 10 has been targeted online.

Unrelenting bullying -- online and off -- drove South Hadley High School freshman Phoebe Prince to hang herself in January. Hussein says she and other students can relate to Prince.

"I know a friend who didn't even come to school the next day [after being harassed online] because she didn't want to deal with it. She felt too hurt to get out of bed. Let's just say she didn't ever want to get out of bed. What happens next? Suicide?" Hussein said.

Now, 90 miles from South Hadley, Boston is trying to prevent a similar tragedy. The city became so concerned about bullying in its own schools that it set up an anti-bullying hot line.