Eric Esteves from Tech Boston sent over a couple of interesting articles about cyberbullying today. The first article comes from eSchool News and suggests that cyberbullying is on the rise. The article refers to a study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that approximately 1 in 3 U.S. children were ridiculed or threatened through computer messages. This statistic mirrors the results of a similar study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project last year which also stated approximately 32% of children were being bullied online in some fashion. Techlearning.com posted an article that gives a good background on what cyberbullying is and the different types of bullying kids encounter.
The issue of cyberbullying is not a new one, but more and more high profile cases, such as the Megan Meier tragedy, are being publicized and lawmakers around the country are beginning to act. Some states have already passed cyberbullying laws whiles others are proposing bills to help prevent online bullying and harrassment.
The other article that Eric sent over wasn't about cyberbullying, but how some Australian schools are using high tech equipment to catch in school bullying. Read the article and you may want to get a "bully button" for your school!
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Cyberbullying is even worse than the bullies of yesteryear. You can be more vicious, and hide in total anonymity. You don't need to be big and tough, you can just be bored and angry. The rise of this trend is yet ANOTHER reason parents need to be involved with and monitor their child’s online activity. Parents need to know if their child is the victim of a cyber bully – or worse, the instigator. I use monitoring software (PC Pandora) and have seen first hand what kids say about each other online. Thankfully, mine was neither the target nor the bully and was smart enough to not get involved… but not every child is like mine (cliché, I know). Kids just don’t understand the power of the Internet – they take it for granted because they never knew a world without it. That is a bad thing. Parents need to step in more and monitor the activity.
That is a really good point. I think that parents also need to be educated about what is going on. I know parents that have no idea what kids say to each other online, and would be shocked to find out.
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