People hide behind their computer screens spewing words that they would never speak in polite society. Words about their bosses, their spouses, their sports teams, politicians, or anybody they feel animosity towards at the time. Cyberspace is a playground and the bullies are coming in all shapes and sizes. Our children used to have to just deal with the physical world's menaces, now they have to beware of the cyber stalkers and cyber bullies that threaten them in their own homes.
The internet allows a normally meek person to stretch out, and feel comfortable, hiding behind their anonymity. However, it also allows bullies a chance to toss around hate words, and spread rumors to a much larger audience, an audience that will believe what ever they have in front of them. People tend to let go of all their inhibitions when they anticipate no repercussion. These bullies include hate groups and the like, these are cowards that could not grab an audience in the real world, but make themselves feel important starting their derogatory websites. Websites that toss out half truths, and in most cases out right lies, just to snare an unwitting youth or some other poor like minded soul to help further spread their divisional cause.
As a parent and a future teaching professional, it is my duty to monitor all my charges while they are on the computer. This includes instant messages and emails, especially if they are from new acquaintance.This may sound Orwellian, but I would gladly take the heat from my child for a lack of privacy, than to see them harmed physically or psychologically. I believe, as a teacher I need to monitor not only the physical classroom, but also keep an eye on the cyber realm also. We need to protect or children by informing them what is expected of them both in and out of the classroom. Start the process young, let the children know it is safe to come to the a teacher or parent if they are being bullied, even if the bullying is happening online. Try to instill a love for everyone, especially those children in their classroom. Create a family bond between the children, and let them know that means protecting your weaker siblings. It also means watching out for them wherever they may be at the time.
Today's children are so computer savvy they can connect to the internet in a variety of ways, including their game systems, phones, laptops, and desktop computers. Bullies use these objects also, they use chat rooms, "bash boards", instant messages, voting sites ( sites that allow users to place a poll about whatever they desire), and plain old e mail to harasses unsuspecting children. Below is a list of websites, blogs and articles that may help explain cyber bullying; as well as help you the parent, guardian, or teacher understand the dangers, and find solutions for this growing problem.
Judge Acquits Lori Drew in Cyberbullying Case, Overrules Jury
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/07/drew_court/
In this article the author describes how Lori Drew, the mother who along with a family friend, and her daughter harassed a classmate of her daughter's online and her trial. You hear why the judge overturned the jury and why the prosecutors of the case had to take it to California to file charges.
Cyberbully Organization
http://cyberbullying.org/
This website describes, and gives examples of cyberbullying, and provides information to help stop this harassment from occurring. The website also provides resources including other websites and readings to help educate the public.
One of these resources is http://wwwAbuse.net a website that is dedicated to helping people report cyberbullies and stop them from continuing these deplorable actions.
http://www.online-bully.com/index.html
This website has a lot of useful information about cyberbullying, and some ways to stop the situation. It also is an advertisement for Spector Pro, a software program that may be able to help by monitoring all the PC and internet activity in your home. This will allow the parent an opportunity to discuss these issues with their child.
The following is a 2005 article from the cover of USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-03-06-cover-cyberbullies_x.htm
This article gives many examples of cyberbullies, and explains how some bullies work. It also gives specific cases of bullying; ncluding a case of a student in St. Louis who was expelled for e mailing nude photos of a freshman at his school. (The charges were later dropped, and the school settled a lawsuit with the boy's family after it came out that the young girl placed the photos of herself on the school's server.) We have to be very vigilant about how we deal with these children. Always remember that we are dealing with young people. Many times the bullies are between the ages of 9-14.
http://cyberbully.org/
This website is for the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. It is very informative, it includes articles on sexting, articles for teachers and administrators on prevention, and articles that explain why most methods used today are not adequate.
The link found below is an article found on the cyberbully.org website.
http://cyberbully.org/cyberbully/docs/cbcteducator.pdf
This is a link to a paper published by Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D. from the Center for Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet. It is a great resource for educators, and students alike on cyberbullying. It gives examples, explains that not all internet taunting is cyberbullying, and provides information for the educator on how to handle these situations.
http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying
This link is to the National Crime Prevention Council (you know McGruff the crime dog).
It gives an overview about cyberbullying and prevention techniques. It is not that much different from a few of the articles above, however the NCPC is a well known group, and it thus it can garner a lot of attention to a cause.
http://thecyberhoodwatch.com/chwhite-paper/cyberbulling-research/
The cyberhood watch is a great website. It gives an abundant amount of information, including a booklet entitled Think It Wont Happen To You on many topics including cyberbully. The visuals of the website are a little off putting, but try to fight through for the content.
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/cyberbulling/
This is a nice little site that provides links to a plethora of blogs on cyberbullying. Not all are in English so read carefully.
http://www.beatbullying.org/index.html
This site is from Great Britain, and focuses mainly on bullying in general. However, since cyberbullying is a direct descendant from the real world version I believed it was applicable and very informative.
Friday, March 5, 2010
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