Arts & Entertainment
St. Charles 7th-Grade Student's Video on Bullying 'Touches a Nerve,' Gets Worldwide Attention
Jonah Maxwell's video focuses on the effects of bullying in an age of iPhones, Internet and social media.
ST. CHARLES, IL - Seventh-grade student Jonah Maxwell is getting his five minutes of fame as a video he wrote and produced about bullying, where he talks about how bullies in the age of social media can “get you anytime, anywhere,” has been viewed nearly 540,000 times in its two weeks on YouTube.
Jonah appeared on WGN Morning News with his father, Dave Maxwell, last week where they talked about the success of the video, titled "The Bully," and just how prevalent bullying has become. With the use of social media among middle school students, bullying can be “constantly back and forth for some people,” Jonah Maxwell said.
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David Maxwell told WGN he was amazed at how many different apps there are available for children to chat on. Those apps, he said, can become conduits for bullies.
“It’s really, really scary,” he said.
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Jonah Maxwell's mom and dad helped him with the writing and producing of "The Bully," and Jonah also got help from classmates and friends who participated in the video, according to Kane County Connects.
The YouTube video is 6 minutes and 37 seconds long and focuses on the effects of bullying in an age of iPhones, Internet and social media. It has been viewed more than 265,000 times since it was uploaded to YouTube on Aug. 21.
“My dad told me that when he was a kid, the bullying would stop at 3:30 every day. I told him it’s not like that anymore. They can get you 24/7,” Jonah said in the video. “They can get you anytime, anywhere.”
The video calls on kids to take a stand against bullying: “If you are not a part of the solution, you can still be part of the problem.”
Jonah and Dave Maxwell have received e-mails from schools across the World that are planning to show Jonah’s video to their students.
“Quite a few schools are going to play it for schools. It has touched a nerve,” Dave Maxwell said.
As for what’s next for Jonah, the seventh grader is working on a music video for his school that features 80 teachers “dancing and having fun” to the music of Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop a Feeling.”
You can check out Jonah’s video below or on YouTube.
Photo credit: YouTube
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