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In recent years, technology has given
children and youth a new means of bullying
each other. Cyberbullying, or online social
cruelty or electronic bullying, can happen
through use of emails, instant messaging,
text or digital imaging messages sent on cell
phones, web pages, chat rooms or blogs.
Cyberbullying can involve sending mean,
vulgar or threatening messages, or posting
sensitive, private information about another
person. Cyberbullying can occur any time of
the day or night. Cyberbullying messages and
images can be distributed quickly to a very
wide audience. And, children and youth can
be anonymous when cyberbullying, which makes
it difficult (and sometimes impossible) to
trace them.
Parents often lament that they can't keep up
with the technology their children are using.
However, parents are also the number one line
of defense against cyberbullying and the
number one resource for a child who has been
bullied. A strong parent-child relationship
is the best way to identify and help a child
who has been cyberbullied, or to prevent a
child from engaging in cyberbullying behavior.
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Recent studies have found that cyberbullying
is a problem faced by many of our youth.
Changes in your child's behavior is a clue
that he or she may be the victim of a
cyberbully. Most children are reluctant to
tell their parents about cyberbullying. The
most frequently given advice is for parents
to take note if their child: spends more time
than usual online, changes his or her group
of good friends or stops spending time with
them altogether, or seems withdrawn or
depressed and uninterested in spending time
with family or on hobbies that he or she used
to love.
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According to Parry Aftab, Executive Director
of WiredSafety.org and an authority on
cyberbullying, parents can draw on their
"old-fashioned" knowledge of how to deal with
the schoolyard bully to help in dealing with
a cyberbully. Aftab suggests common sense
prevention tips such as:
As parents, it is important for us to explain
to our children that the words they send out
via the Internet are never really private
again. It can be a challenging concept for
many children to understand that their online
behavior potentially has as many, if not
more, consequences as face to face contact.
Youth need to understand that they need to
behave as carefully online as they would in
every day contact with another person.
Before they say something cruel or get angry
with someone in an email or on an Internet
site, children should think twice before
sending those strong words. Once words are
on the Internet, they are there forever and
others whom they do not want to see those
words may end up seeing them.
The key for kids is knowing enough to stop
and tell their parents, and for parents to
keep a close eye on their children both
online and off.
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For more information on cyberbullying, visit:
www.stopcyberbullying.org www.stopbullyingnow.org (US Dept. of Health and Human Services) www.ncpc.org (The National Crime Prevention Council) References:
Kowalski, R. et al (August, 2005). Electronic Bullying Among School-Aged Children and Youth. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC. Opinion Research Corporation (2006). Cyber bully pre-teen. Available at: www.fightcrime.org/cyberbullying/cyberbullyingpreteen.pdf. Wolak, J., Mitchell, K., & Finkelhor, D. (2006). Online victimization of youth: Five years later. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Ybarra, M. L., & Mitchell, K. J. (2004). Youth engaging in online harassment: Associations with caregiver-child relationships, Internet use, and personal characteristics. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 319-336. |
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Don't forget to visit our website for helpful
tips,
information about workshops, and much more.
Don't
miss an opportunity to
be the
primary sexuality educator for your
children.
Sincerely,
Parent Education
Planned Parenthood League of MA
email:
[email protected]
phone:
(617) 616-1658
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