Virginia mom Summer Bushman faced bullying as a child. She understands how difficult the adolescent years are and how mean kids can really be. Her 10-year-old daughter, Autumn, faced similar bullying at school. The mom claims things got particularly bad when Autumn got braces. Sadly, her daughter was suffering much more than Bushman truly understood.
The child died by suicide on March 21, 2025. Now Bushman wants to warn others about what she believes was a direct link to her daughter’s tragic death.
Bushman told CBS News that Autumn was an outgoing and fun-loving child. “She really turned my living room into a dance floor,” the mom said. “She never sat still … She really did care about others more than she cared about herself.”
But things changed when she got braces and the bullying began. Her mother claimed it started at school and then carried over onto her smartphone. As we know, kids say very hateful things and often aren’t aware of the potential consequences.
Bushman said Autumn liked to take her phone to bed with her at night. Even though she didn’t love the idea, her tween daughter convinced her she needed the alarm. Before her death in her bedroom last March, Bushman said Autumn had been using her phone. Evidently, she had been receiving bullying comments about her braces on social media.
A new Virginia Tech study shows a direct link between nighttime screen time and over-the-counter medications and suicide attempts. The study revealed that two-thirds of teens attempted suicide after 8 p.m., and most of them had been on their phones prior to their attempts, per CBS News.
“It is very distracting and disturbs your sleep,” Dr. Abhishek Reddy, a clinical psychiatrist and professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, who conducted the research, explained to CBS News about bedtime screen usage. Reddy added that nighttime usage is particularly bad “because during the daytime, you can talk to people, you can talk to school counselors, you can talk to your family members, friends. But at nighttime, all that access is cut off.”
Bushman recently shared a post on Facebook regarding suicide. Her caption is truly heartbreaking.
“Going through Autumn’s phone and she definitely felt excluded a lot. I myself felt exclusion as a child. In middle school I would [eat] lunch in the library so everyone didn’t get to see me sitting alone at the lunch table. My wings just hadn’t blossomed yet. I wish I would’ve known how lonely she felt,” she wrote.
As parents, these are the hard conversations we need to have with our children. A wise person once said, “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” If we can get our kids to understand that early on and feel comfortable speaking out, it could save their life or the life of someone they care about.
Note: If you or any of your loved ones are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can always reach out to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling 988. They are available 24/7 by phone or online chat.
