Tyler Clementi Family's Ongoing Mission: Stop Cyberbullying

RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — Tyler Clementi’s family continues to work towards ending cyberbullying and hope the results of a survey they've sponsored shed some light on the problem.

Clementi was 18 when he jumped off the George Washington Bridge more than five and a half years ago. Clementi’s Rutgers University roommate, Dharun Ravi, video-streamed him having a romantic encounter with another man in their dorm room and invited others to view it online. Clementi jumped off the bridge several days later.

The family founded the Tyler Clementi Foundation to help vulnerable people, including lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender youth.

According to a poll of 1,000 parents and teenagers in North Jersey and the surrounding New York City area, 48 percent of teenagers have experienced cyber bullying and eight in 10 people know someone who has been the victim the cyberbullying.

Slightly more than 40 percent of teens surveyed described the comments their peers post online are “mostly mean,” and that teens are targeted on electronic media mainly for being socially awkward, their choice of clothes, and their sexual orientation.

“These stats speak to the staggering problem of cyber bullying,” said Jane Clementi, Tyler’s mother. “It’s outrageous and unacceptable to allow this to continue. Aggressive behaviors in the electronic world can cause great pain and destruction to one’s spirit.”

Other findings from the survey include:

• 43 percent of teenagers said they would be “terrified” if their parents looked at their smartphones.
• Nearly half of parents, 47 percent, admitted they never look at their children’s electronic devices.
• Nearly 80 percent of parents surveyed said they have spoken to their children about online dangers and how to behave appropriate behaviors.
• Although almost 60 percent of parents said they thought their children would tell them if they were bullied, but just 33 percent of teenagers said they did.

The foundation is challenging students to create films for the All American High School Film Festival that address the impact of cyberbullying on teenagers’ lives.

"We must instill in our youth the knowledge that technology is only as good as the people who use it,” Jane Clementi said. “It can be a wonderful and useful tool or a weapon of great harm and destruction, as in the case of many young people today, including my son Tyler."

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Tyler Clementi — Tyler Clementi Foundation