Experts say oversharing on social media spurs stalking, harassment

Feb. 9—The number of teens stalked or harassed may be alarming, but the rate of harassing or stalking by adolescents themselves is just as high.

A School of Public Health study in 2020 found that 48 percent of 12- to 18-year-olds have been stalked or harassed by a partner, while 42 percent have stalked or harassed a partner.

Officer Marcus Sams, director of operations for Tahlequah Behavior Modification Placement, said he deals with more cases of harassment than stalking.

"They can come to the school resource officer to take a report. If the incident occurred outside the city limits, they would get referred to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office," Sams said.

The SRO who took the report would forward it to detectives with the Tahlequah Police Department.

"I have never had to deal with a stalking case since I've been here, and it's one of those deals you hear about, but I've never personally had to deal with one," he said.

The definition of stalking 20 years ago is different than it is today, in a digital age wherein phones are practically glued to everyone's hands.

"I figure it's prevalent now because of social media, and we see a lot more harassment that falls in line with cyber-bullying. I don't know at what point stalking, harassment, and cyber-bullying interchange," Sams said.

There are five types of stalking: the rejected, the resentful, the intimacy-seeking, the incompetent, and the predatory stalker.

Stalking is defined as a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a person to feel fear.

"I'm old enough that stalking, to me, is someone standing outside your house, and every time you go to Walmart, they're there," Sams said. "It's somebody physically following you around [who] always knows where you're at."

Teens and young adults — as well as a majority of people in general — overshare on social media, often posting their every move.

"They take pictures that have the background in them, and someone could see where they're having supper or whatever, and it's almost like privacy went out the window," Sams said.

Some teens will document their locations and times, while sharing that to the World Wide Web.

"It's normal to this younger generation," Sams said.

Consulting and Counseling for Community Change owner Levi Keehler explained how social media is compulsive to not only teens, but also adults. He said young child are taught positive reinforcement and will exhibit good behavior when they're told, "Good job."

"Take that 'good job' idea and move it to a phone, and imagine that you have partial control of how that happens. Now we're looking for positive reinforcements from 'likes' and from followers," he said.

February is National Teen Dating Violence Month, and Help In Crisis Executive Director Laura Kuester said one in three teens experience some type of abuse while in a dating relationship.

She said the technology of the abuse is worse, as partners are using texting and social media to bully, harass, intimidate, or stalk a partner.

Kuester said a red flag that may go unnoticed but may indicate an unhealthy relationship raises when couples share their location 24/7.

"That is not healthy, and you shouldn't have to tell your partner where you are at every single moment of the day," she said.