Cyber Bully Prevention
Ah? You’re here? At last! Yokosou*[1], everyone! Thus you’ve arrived at nearly the last segment of your journey through the world of cyber bullying. By now, you have read reports from my other associates detailing what cyber bullying is (see introductions); the effect it has on victims (see victims post), and personal solutions (see solutions post). This post will tie-in closely to personal solutions. Here in these pages, I will be talking about preventing cyber bullying. Let’s get started, ne?
Personal solutions was directed towards those who are the victims of being bullied. This post, on the other hand, is dedicated to adults, kids, and educators, and it will talk about what they can do to help prevent and counter cyber bullying. We’ll start with home, first. There are a lot of things that parents can do to help their children be cyber bully-free, but we’re not going to talk about all of them. Instead, we’ll talk about the most important ones and then link you to sites that deal with others not mentioned.
One of the first rules of computer ethics states: “Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people,” (Scheuermann & Taylor, 1997, p. 270). Well, cyber bullies generally tend to ignore that rule because they make use of the web to do the exact opposite. Cyber bullying is victimization (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008); willful harm that is repeated inflicted through an electronic medium (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008). Yes, yes, I know you’ve already seen the definition of cyber bullying; or you’ve heard it time and again, but I ask that you bear with me. Seeing that cyber bullies tend to ignore this rule, what can adults do to counter it? Both stopbullyingnow and the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) list tips for parent and educators alike.
One of the most prominent tips is talk to your children about cyber bullying and making sure they understand what it is and what it entails (National Crime Prevention, 2008 & stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov, 2008). Did you know that thirty percent of teenagers and forty-five percent of pre-teens receive bullying messages while at school (stopbullyingnow,hrsa.gov, 2008)? That’s a scary percentage, if you ask me. So, educators should also take charge and teach the children about cyber bullying (stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov, 2008). If you’re a school psychologist, you have every opportunity to work with the school and advocate knowledge of cyber bullying (Diamanduros, Downs, & Jenkins, 2008). Talking to kids about cyber bullying and making sure they understand it is extremely important, because most kids who are victims of cyber bullying aren’t sanguine about telling adults that they are being bullied (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008).
So we have talking to your children. Well, yes, of course, you’re telling me. And what else? Just talking to kids about it might not garner much. I hear you. The National Crime Prevention Council also suggests that home computers are kept in active places within the house (www.ncpc.org, 2008). Wait, wait, spying? No, it’s not spying. It’s monitoring. When I was high school, way back when in the late ‘90’s, lunch time was a noisy affair and there were two options. Either endure it and walk away with an inevitable headache, or vacate to somewhere quiet. My school separated lunch times to lunch A and lunch B. I was always in lunch B—I would have four classes, lunch and two more classes before being dismissed for the day. Since it was so late, it wasn’t necessarily worth it to eat, so I would go to the library instead. There were three computers there, all of them old and slow, but also with in plain sight where the librarians could monitor what students were doing. And monitor they did. So educators, keep watch of what the kids attending your schools do when they use the Internet on premise (stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov, 2008).
One of the presumed draws for Internet sites is the anonymity that accompanies them (Rosen, 2007), and that’s another reason to monitor your children’s activities online. If you’re children want to set up an email account or chat account—really any type of account in my opinion—make sure you participate in that venture with your children; make doubly sure that you know their user name and passwords, just in case (www.ncpc.org, 2008).
Along this line parents, you should also go over who you’re kids are talking to online. Look at your child’s buddy list frequently and ask them about the people there (www.ncpc.org, 2008), because anonymity doesn’t just work in your child’s favor; it also works in favor for bullies, too (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008). The anonymity of the Internet frees bullies from the constraints of the world around them; they’re no longer pressured by society norms (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008). Back to you, educators, when you talk to children about cyber bullying, make sure you talk with them about the effects that cyber bullying can have on them as students attending school, because it affects them there, too (stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov, 2008). Parents, you might also want to seriously consider parental controls on the Internet (stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov, 2008).
Let’s turn now to kids. Kids, don’t just think that educators or adults are the only ones who can be pro-active in cyber bully prevention. You can help prevent it to, even if you are a victim. Let me start by saying this: don’t ever forget, that just like you, there’s a human being operating the computer (Scheuermann & Taylor, 1997) so be nice to others online (Wagner, 2008). Izzy Kalman, a school psychologist comments that you can’t expect niceties from people online if you’re mean to them first (Wagner, 2008).
What else can kids do to help themselves? They can work with schools and school psychologists to come up with guidelines (www.ncpc.org, 2008). Also, when you’re online, don’t give out any personal information, anywhere (www.ncpc.org, 2008); don’t give out your passwords, either (www.ncpc.org, 2008). What? Yes, I know, you can stop with the ‘are you nuts?’ expression. I’m not.
You might give a scornful scoff and say, but we already know that. Well if you do, that’s great. But saying you understand and practicing what you know are two different things. For example, when people sign up for social sites under the impression of anonymity, they tend to give out more information than they withhold (Rosen, 2007). Also kids, understand that there is no eraser on the net; “people can see everything” (Conlin, 2006, p. 2). Anything you put on the net can be traced (Conlin, 2006).
Let me illustrate this for you all by giving you an example of online and offline no longer being two separate entities (Conlin, 2006), I was talking to a cousin of mine on AIM one time and I asked him just before signing off if he happened to have the home address of another family member. I wanted to send said family member a card for the holidays and my cousin, instead of leaving the computer for a few seconds to ask his wife who worked for that particular person, googled him. And he successfully found him, too. That, if anything, should be an eye opener. Anonymity? Where? There are many more things that parents, educators, and kids can do to help prevent cyber bullying from happening. We’ll be providing links to some of the websites with the best tips. So let’s review what’s we’ve touched upon thus far. Parents, educators—you all should talk to your children about cyber bullying and make certain they understand what it and what impact it can have. Parents, in the event that your children come to you with the news that they’re being bullied, help them understand that it’s not their fault, nor are they going to lose their Internet privileges (www.ncpc.org, 2008). Parents, keep home computers in an active place where they’re easily seen and keep an eye on what your kids are doing when they’re online. Help them set up their emails and chat profiles, and parents, make certain you know their passwords just in case. Look over whom they talk to and ask your kids about them. Also parents, think about parental controls for when your kids surf the net. Kids, be nice to others online. Remember that there is no longer any anonymity, so be careful about the information you post. Don’t share anything personal. Educators, right along with parents, you should talk to the students about cyber bullying.
Well? Are you ready to take the next step to the last part of your journey for cyber bullying? Then don’t let me keep you! Have a good trip and thanks for visting! Be sure to check out our resources page where you’ll find all sorts of cool links and stuff packed full of helpful tips and more information!
References:
Conlin, M. (2006). You are what you post. Business Week, 3977, 52-53.
Diamanduros, T., Downs, E., & Jenkins, S. (2008, September). The role of school psychologists in the assessment, prevention, and intervention of cyberbullying. Psychology in the Schools, 45(8), 693-704. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.
Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2008). Cyberbullying: An exploratory analysis of factors related to offending and victimization. Deviant Behavior, 29, 129-156.
National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from Stop Cyberbullying Web site: http://www.ncpc.org/topics/by-audience/parents/bullying/cyberbullying/stop-cyberbullying/
Rosen, C. (2007). Virtual friendship and the new narcissism. The New Atlantis (electronic version). Downloaded on Sept. 25, 2007 from http://www.thenewatlantis.com/archive/17/rosen.htm.
Scheuermann, L., & Taylor, G. (1997). Netiquette. Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, 7(4), 269-273.
What Adults Can Do, Cyberbullying. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from Stop Bullying Now! Take A Stand, Lend A Hand Web site: http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/adult/indexAdult.asp?Area=cyberbullying
[1] Yokosou is an extremely informal way of saying ‘welcome’ in Japanese.
