Did you know that all the kids putting efforts into creating a YouTube video day in and day out, every single day to be able to create that one video that would be able to put them on the map and enable to earn hundreds of thousands of views, to get them recognized in the world and let the people know what they are capable of.

Indeed, none of this is bad. Music reps have special people on board who look for the next big stars on portals such as this, which is why young and talented people show the world their abilities through this portal as well. With that being said, there was someone like Amanda Todd, a simple 13 year old girl from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada wanted to, just like many kids out there, make a name for herself in the music industry.

Unfortunately for her, her cover of many songs that she put up on YouTube and other similar websites did not give her the fame she was looking for, but her one tiny little adolescent mistake did.

Amanda and Her Webcam

While her mother was adamant ON not getting Amanda the webcam she coveted to make her YouTube videos, her father purchased one for her. Initially, she did use the webcam for its intended use, but eventually, call it her teenage mistake or peer pressure, but one night in the company of her friends, she went on a website very similar to ChatRoulette and started chatting with strangers.

What she saw as a way of making new friends, for others it was a way to exploit other young innocent girl in ways she couldn’t even think of. What used to be a fun activity for a group of girl having a sleep over, soon turned into what Amanda liked doing all by herself, in the privacy of her own room.

What Did She Do?

Eventually, she was coerced by someone whom Amanda thought as her new friend turned out to be a boy who did not care about Amanda’s well fair at all, to share inappropriate images. At first she said no but when the boy repeated asked and then dared her, Amanda couldn’t back down. She had to do it and she did it. Little did she know that the boy will blackmail her afterwards.

Consequences of Her Actions

What seemed like an innocent encounter at first soon turned into something straight out of any teens’ or their parents’ worst nightmare. A couple of months later Amanda got a message on her Facebook account that contained details of the school, she attended and her address and asked her to repeat her earlier actions for the boy three times or he would send her nude picture to all her friends and family.

He insisted again and again, but this time, Amanda held her ground and said no. Soon enough the guy uploaded the picture to an Adult site in the middle of the night and send the link to all of Amanda’s Facebook friends, including her mother, in the middle of the night.

Her parents were divorced and then she was staying with her father, who were forced to wake up that night when the police came knocking that their door, and asked to see if Amanda was okay.

What Happened Next?

Once the picture had surfaced, Amanda was bullied incessantly at school by her peers, due to which she isolated herself from her peers and eventually moved schools. At her new school, she remained distant from her peers at first, but she soon started to make friends, but a year later the same guy stepped back into her life by creating a sock puppet Facebook account with Amanda’s inappropriate picture on display.

It forced Amanda to move schools once again since the bullying got out of hand again. Life still remained hard to Amanda at her new school because by now she knew what to expect of her life.

An old friend contacted her and hinted at wanting to be in a relationship with Amanda. At that point Amanda was so lonely that she didn’t say no to his advances. When his girlfriend later found out that he had cheated on her with Amanda, he blamed Amanda for everything and she, along with her friends, assaulted Amanda at her new school, which lead to Amanda contemplating suicide.

Decision of Suicide

Her first suicide attempt comprised of her trying to drink bleach, but was saved and her stomach was pumped when her family found her. After that it seemed for a while like Amanda was doing okay as she made a video about what happened to her and posted it on YouTube, the very YouTube channel she had created to show the world her musical talents.

At that point, even though she was being incessantly bullied by her peers using memes and comments like “she is a waste of space” and that “she should kill herself”, there were others who could relate to her story and supported her. This gave her the strength she needed to move on and get past the whole thing.

But eventually, she attempted to commit suicide a second time, and this time she succeeded. On October 10th, 2012, Amanda Todd committed suicide, in the privacy of her home. She was 15 years old. The cause of death was not released at the request of the family.

The Bottom Line

Even though there is nothing they can do now, Amanda’s parents wish that they could have known about it all, so they could have helped their daughter before it was too late. You, as parents, still have time. Do whatever you have to do, physically monitor your child’s internet usage or use spy applications to do it for you, as a responsible parent do whatever you can to protect your child.

The world cannot afford the loss of another innocent life, another Amanda Todd.

Guest Author: Aline is an author, and content manager at TheOneSpy. She entirely fills in with deep research on cyber bullying, trolling, employee legal facts, social media and Instant messengers. You can follow her on twitter @Alinecarrara7