Reader Forum: Reigning in cyberbullying

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Seattle recently hosted the International Bullying Prevention Association’s 7th Annual Conference.This year’s theme was “The Challenge and Promise of the Cyberworld: Bullying Prevention.” By now we all know that the Internet and social networking sites can be extremely risky for children and teens, yet there’s an immense draw for them to participate. Over the past several months, numerous cyberbullying-related incidents have taken place. In fact, it seems that no matter where we turn, we hear about the devastating results of cyberbullying,
Technology is changing the very nature of kid’s friendships and how they communicate. The use of Facebook worldwide has exceeded the use of Google in overall traffic. Technology can help. Today there are apps on the market to help parents proactively monitor their kids’ online activity. Typically parents are aware of blocking or filtering software that prevents kids from accessing inappropriate content. Other tools include keystroke loggers, web activity monitors and screen capture programs. At the same time two-thirds of households with Internet access do not use any software at all to protect or limit their children’s online activity.
According to the National Crime Prevention Council, cyberbullying is defined as, “when the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person.” Since the number of social networks available to teens is on the rise, there are now even more opportunities for cyberbullying incidents to take place. From Facebook and Twitter; MySpace to FourSquare, teens are using these platforms to bully their peers.
Young people are encouraged by Facebook and Twitter to share a good deal of their lives online. Oftentimes privacy does not seem to be a concern. A recent New York Times article on bullying cited Daniel J. Solove, author of “The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet,” said society needed to work on education. He notes that while we teach people the consequences of practices like unsafe driving, we don’t teach that there could be serious consequences for what we do online.
Media outlets have strived to answer the real question many Americans want to know: Why do young people resort to cyberbullying? Unfortunately, finding the answer is not so easy.
When it comes to cyberbullying, kids are often motivated by a combination of anger, jealousy, revenge and frustration. Some experts believe kids resort to cyberbullying because they have too much time on their hands. Others say it’s because they have too many tech toys available to them. Some choose to bully to remind people of their social standing. Because there are so many motives, the solutions and responses to each incident must also differ.
Bullying experts continue to offer their opinions on this topic, but are not able to come up with one definitive answer. Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw has weighed in on the cyberbullying issue. With 42% of children in the United States having been bullied online, McGraw believes that educators, administrators and parents should be armed with the proper tools to prevent this and to intervene once it happens. Several states including New York, Missouri, Rhode Island, Washington and Maryland have already implemented cyberbullying curriculum within their school systems, as well as legislation geared at penalizing those who engage in cyberbullying.
It is crucial for parents to understand how and with whom their children are communicating on social networking sites. In some families the right to spend time online socializing is tied to chores or allowance.
Allowing parents to define their own ground rules and monitoring criteria sets the stage for an honest dialogue with their children on social media usage.
Bottom line, we need to know who is talking to our children and with whom our children are talking. While it is a positive fact that this troubling trend is receiving so much media attention, it is imperative that news outlets help educate parents, schools and organizations with the tools and knowledge they need in order to keep kids safe online. By placing a stronger emphasis upon the solution rather than the problem itself, we might be able to further curb this unfortunate trend that continues to plague the lives of young people across the nation.