Educators, mental health advocates and school safety experts across Arizona say cyberbullying has evolved into one of the fastest-growing student safety concerns facing schools.
This is especially true in Maricopa County, where large districts continue to grapple with rising behavioral health needs, chronic absenteeism and increased social media exposure among adolescents.
Nationally, cyberbullying reports among youth have more than doubled since 2007, according to research cited by mental health and school safety organizations. But, experts at PACER warn the number may be significantly higher as cyberbullying often goes unreported.
In Arizona alone, nearly one in five teens report involvement in online harassment, and about 20% of students state they have been electronically bullied through texting or social media. Data from the 2024 Arizona Youth Survey found nearly 40% of Arizona eighth-graders and about 24% of 10th-graders reported being bullied on school property. Nearly 30% of Arizona students surveyed said they personally experienced bullying at school, while roughly 45% reported witnessing it.
Now, some advocates hope that technology itself may become part of the solution.
Fighting fire with fire
Organizations like Tiny Be Mighty in Phoenix are developing tools designed to document bullying in real time, preserve evidence before it disappears and instantly alert trusted adults during emergencies.
Mental health advocates say one of the biggest challenges schools face is the speed at which online harassment can spread — and disappear.
“Kids have problems outside of school through social media and then it leaks back into school the next day,” said Beth J. Sanborn, an instructor for the National Association of School Resource Officers. “Students stop coming to school, which complicates the issue with chronic absenteeism. It creates a complex issue that evolves over a very short period of time.”
Unlike traditional bullying, digital harassment can continue around the clock and rapidly reach large audiences through screenshots, reposts and viral sharing. These incidents begin online before spilling into classrooms, affecting student learning, attendance and emotional safety.
“AI can amplify online harassment, but it can also dramatically reduce it,” said Charles Cohen, Founder & CEO of Bodyguard.ai. “Technology today can detect harmful patterns, contextual threats, coordinated harassment, and toxic behaviors at a scale humans alone simply cannot manage in real time. The goal is to help platforms react faster, protect users earlier, and reduce the exposure to dangerous content before it escalates. Used correctly, technology can make online spaces safer without limiting healthy conversations.”
Inside the ‘Bullying Buddy’ app
Tara Lynn Townes, a developmental therapist, bullying prevention consultant and founder of Tiny Be Mighty, said many students are targeted through temporary or anonymous accounts that vanish before schools or parents can document them.
“Snapchat disappears in 24 hours,” Townes said. “Students create fake accounts, harass someone, then remove the account before adults ever see it.”
Townes said the organization’s “Bullying Buddy” app was specifically designed to preserve evidence and provide emergency support during bullying incidents.
The app includes a voice-activated emergency feature known as emergency bullying button or BBB that can begin recording audio and video in less than three seconds while simultaneously alerting trusted adults connected to the account.
The technology also sends GPS location data and live video feeds to approved users, allowing parents, teachers or emergency contacts to immediately see where a student is and what is happening.
“It records, directs and pins the exact location,” Townes said. “People can see and hear what’s happening immediately.”
Townes said future versions of the technology are being developed to assist with identifying deepfake harassment and harmful online activity connected to social media accounts.
The app also can preserve screenshots, user account information and digital evidence that might otherwise disappear from platforms like Snapchat or FaceTime before investigations begin.
Townes said her work became personal after her son, who was born with achondroplasia, commonly known as dwarfism, experienced severe bullying.
“My son was hospitalized and on suicide watch for four years,” Townes said.
She said Tiny Be Mighty has received thousands of messages from parents nationwide who have lost children to suicide connected to bullying and online harassment.
The organization has also developed an empathy-based school curriculum called “Be Brave,” focused on bullying prevention, inclusion and emotional safety.
The mental health impact on students
Mental health advocates say the emotional effects of prolonged bullying can become severe, particularly for adolescents already struggling with anxiety, depression or social isolation.
Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found students involved in bullying — both victims and perpetrators — are at higher risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Bullying can also leave lasting effects on students who repeatedly witness it, particularly online where threats, videos and harassment can spread rapidly through social media and group chats.
Townes refers to those bystanders as “watchers,” saying prolonged exposure to bullying can contribute to anxiety, chronic stress and emotional trauma, even among students who are not directly targeted.
Research from the American Psychological Association backs this up, and advocates say prolonged exposure to bullying can contribute to a broader culture of fear, emotional withdrawal and chronic stress within schools.
Arizona advocates say those risks are becoming increasingly visible in local communities, and schools have reported growing concern about adolescent suicide trends.
In a recent article examining youth mental health and bullying concerns in Arizona schools, advocates and educators described increasing alarm over the emotional toll social media harassment and cyberbullying can have on students, particularly when incidents continue outside school hours.
Growing call for prevention, accountability
As previously reported by Capitol Media Services, Senate Bill 1508 would have required school district bullying policies to include specific definitions of bullying behavior.
However, during floor debate, Sen. Mitzi Epstein, D-Tempe, argued the proposed language could unintentionally exclude lower-level behavior that may later escalate into more serious harassment.
Epstein specifically objected to language defining bullying as conduct “sufficiently severe, persistent and pervasive” enough to create “an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment for a student.”
“I think that this is a good definition for when something is a big problem,” Epstein told colleagues during debate. “But bullying starts out as a little problem. And our schools need policies that will address the little problems.”
While SB 1508 ultimately failed to pass the House, supporters say they remain hopeful lawmakers will introduce similar anti-bullying legislation in future sessions.
School safety experts say cyberbullying creates unique psychological pressure because students often feel they cannot escape the harassment. School safety experts say cyberbullying has fundamentally changed how schools approach student behavior and campus safety as many student conflicts now begin online before escalating inside schools.
“Kids have problems outside of school through social media and then it leaks back into school the next day,” Sanborn said. “Students stop coming to school. It creates a complex issue that evolves.”
Advocates say the combination of social media exposure, anonymous harassment, AI-generated abuse and constant digital access has transformed bullying from an occasional school discipline issue into a broader adolescent mental health and public safety concern.
At the same time, educators say schools are increasingly expected to manage online conflicts, mental health crises and social media investigations while facing severe counselor shortages and growing behavioral challenges.
“One thing we can’t do is make teachers’ jobs even harder by expecting them to manage the issue on their own,” Sanborn said. “They already have too much on their plates.”
The Arizona Department of Education Bullying Prevention Resources defines cyberbullying as “electronic communication used to intimidate, threaten or harass another person through phones, computers, gaming systems or social media platforms”.
However, legal authority over off-campus online behavior remains complicated, particularly when incidents originate outside school grounds but still disrupt classrooms and student learning.
As schools continue navigating AI-generated harassment, disappearing social media evidence and growing mental health concerns, advocates say cyberbullying can no longer be viewed as simply an online discipline issue.
“We do need to educate, there need to be consequences, we have to investigate,” said Sanborn. “But we also need connected adults and positive relationships invested in kids.”
Cyberbullying has become a broader student safety and public health challenge — one requiring schools, families, law enforcement and technology companies to respond together.
Editor’s note: A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Stacy Mantle
Education Solutions Reporter
smantle@iniusa.org
Meet Stacy
Stacy Mantle is joining the team at Independent Newsmedia, Inc. as an Education Solutions journalist, thanks to a grant from the Arizona Community Collaborative. She has a long history in education that ranges from teaching junior high and middle school to developing curriculum and standards-based assessments.
Community: A longtime advocate for animal welfare, Stacy is deeply involved in rescue efforts and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.
Random Fact: Once upon a time, she shared her home with a pet coyote and two wolf hybrids. The experiences were wild enough to become the subject of her first book!
Education: She holds a BA in English with a minor in Political Science, a Post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with a emphasis on Marketing.
Hobbies: In her spare time, Stacy writes fast-paced urban fantasy novels, crafts small-batch artisan soap, and is always up for hiking or off-roading through the Arizona wilderness with her husband of 23 years.
