Cyberbully is a must-watch movie for parents with teenagers

I stayed up late last night to watch the ABC Family original movie Cyberbully. I've been meaning to get around to it for a couple weeks now and boy am I glad I finally did.

Cyberbully tackles the growing issue of bullying on the Internet. More specifically, on social networks like Facebook (they call it Clicksters in the movie). And let me tell you, this movie hits you with the issue dead in the face—exactly as it should.

Cyberbully is targeted for teenagers, specifically teenagers in high school. And in my opinion, every parent with a middle school (not too early) or high school teenager should sit down and watch Cyberbully with their child.

Just be cautious of one thing. Cyberbully doesn't sugarcoat the language used on the Internet. So be prepared for words like wh*re, b*tch, sk*nk and sl*t. While I don't condone these words, I think they were absolutely necessary to get through to teenagers how harmful real words like these can be.

More to do after the movie

When you are done watching the movie, take some time to visit the Cyberfully page on ABC Family's web site. Once you get past the annoying auto-play video (click pause in the lower left corner of the video to stop it), you'll find a lot of great content regarding cyberbullying including a Cyberbully Conversation Starter for parents to use as a starting point for an open and honest conversation with their children.

Another site to visit is Stomp Out Bullying which is mentioned at the end of the Cyberbully movie.

My boys are a bit too young to watch this movie but if cyberbullying is still as big of a problem in a few years as it is now (I hope it isn't), I will definitely be sitting down with them to watch this movie.