TONAWANDA, N.Y. — Tonawanda mother, Toni Kurzdorfer has been sharing her painful story since she lost her son last year, in the hope that she can save other families from similar pain.
"It's just something that will never go away," admits Toni. "I miss my son everyday."
When 2 On Your Side spoke to her, last month, she explained how cyberbullying on social media apps contributed to her son's depression and eventual suicide, "This type of stuff happens where things get put on social media and you get caught up in a lot of drama."
Common Sense Media, a tech and media education non-profit, says it's easy for things to quickly turn negative on social media sites. This is why they recommend kids have their accounts set to private.
Also, if a geo-locator is active on an app, it would allow kids to target other kids at their school.
Toni says her son's phone exposed him to nearly constant harassment, and that apparently didn't stop after he died. In a 2017 interview, Toni explained how social media compulsion motivated kids to do shocking things at her son's funeral, "Some of the kids were there that were bullying my son, and wanted to take pictures of him and then put it out there on social media...like 'haha, look what I did.' And that was just a whole other type of evilness that I couldn't believe was going on in this world."
Common Sense Media recommends parents have open conversations with kids about the apps they're using.
For a list of the most popular social media apps for kids and teens and the dangers within, click here.