iGeneration and Cyberbullying

Editor's Notes

1. Hi my name is Caroline and today I want ot talk to you about the iGeneration and cyberbullying. I’ll be discussing what it is, where it happens,, how this differs from otehr types of bullying, the FOMO effect, cases that have gotten a lot of media attention, the by stander effect and what we can do to stop it (parents, school and through law enforcement). \n
2. Spreading rumors and bullying are nothing new but with today’s technology the iGeneration is dealing with something far more sinister than what we dealt with. Cyber bullying is defined as the willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices. In 24/7 digital world kids have many way to be cruel. Shield by anonymity kids can use instant messages, tweets, texts, youtube, to humiliate, hurt and harass each other. Its not just nasty comments but being the iGeneration are being exposed to demeaning text messages, snide opinion polls and embarrassing photos, webpage’s, videos and profiles on social networking sites making fun of others. Cases such as taking pictures in bedrooms, bathrooms and other private locations that have been posted and distributed online, case where videos have been recorded without the child’s knowledge and uploaded for the world to discuss, tag, rate, like and discuss. What makes it so disturbing is that it is constant, pervasive and public. \n\n
3. Where is this all happening? Cyber bullying occurs across a variety of venues. But it occurs where teenagers congregate. It initially started in chatrooms but in recent years youth have been drawn to social networking and web sharing’s sites such as Facebook and youtube. This trend has led to increased reports of cyber bullying occurring in those environments. In addition instant message on the Internet or text messages via cell phones are also common ways for kids to harass one another. There is also with portable gaming devices, in 3-D virtual worlds and social gaming sites as well as new interactive sites such as formspring and chatroullette. \n\n
4. \nWhile some people (and by people I mean opinionated journalist) believe that cyber bullying is a nonsense term. That bullying is bullying. However there is one major different between bullying and cyber bullying and that is anonymity. Bullies can have a voice without an identity, which is a very dangerous combination. in most cases kids do not know who the bully is or why they are being targeted. teh cyberbully can cloak his or her identity behinda computer or cell phoen using anonymous email address or pseudonymous screen anmes. Kids hack onto other kids IMS, my space, Facebook etc and pretend to be them. teh second main difference is that cyberbullying is viral a large number of peopel can be involved which gives teh perception taht absolutely everyone knows about it.third, bullies do not necessarily see the harm they are casuing. \n\n
5. There are two kinds of cyber bullying, direct attacks (messages sent to your kids directly) and cyber bullying by proxy (using others to help cyber bully the victim, either with or without the accomplice's knowledge). Because cyber bullying by proxy often gets adults involved in the harassment, it is much more dangerous. \nCyberbullying comes in many different forms. \nHeres are a few examples:\n1. instant messages/text messaging harassment – kids sending hateful or threatening messages to other kids, without realizing that while not said in real life can have serious conseqences. Also text wars or text attakcs are when kids gang up on a victim sending thousands of text-messages to the victim’s cell phone. Victim faced with huge cell phone bill and nagry parents. Kids sending death threats using IM and text messaging as well as photos/videos.\n\n2. stealing passwords and impersonation: stealing another chidl’s password and begin to hat with other people, pretending to be the other kid is abig problem. \n3. blogs are online journals and can be a fun way for kids to send message to their friends. As an example, look at the social network where mark zuckerberg trashed his ex gf online. \n4. kids creating websites – such as calling a person a lesbien etc. \n5. sending pictures through email or cell phones. There have been cases of teens sending mass email to other users, that include nude or dgrading pictures of other teens. \n6. internet polling – whose hot or not.\n\n
6. \ncyberbullying has beent linked to low self-esteem, family problems, acadmeic porblems, school violence, delinquient behaviour and many youth have reported having suicidal thoughts. and tehre are a number of examples where youth who were victimeized ended up taking their own lives.42% of teens and 97% of middle schoolars have been bullied online. Kids feel everybody is doing it so it becomes normal. So kids who wouldn’t ormally bully are in the mix. Because it is on the internet or cell phones cyber bullying often goes undetected by parents and teachers. \n» 64 per cent considered bullying a normal part of school life. \nWhat kids seem to forget that for every comment or image that is poted it can be copied, pasted and sent to thousands of people nad its next to impossible to remove. \n\n\n
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8. Fear of missing out: we’ve all felt it. this is a relatively new term but it does have a significant impact on youth decision making. It’s what causes us to go out to ale or the spot when we should be doing homework. It’s that constant need for inclusivity. It’s the fear that if we don’t go out we will be missing out on “the greatest night ever” and what’s worse there is ALWAYS photographic evidence of the fun we’ve missed. This can lead to another new term called: Facebook depression.\n\n
9. Tyler clementi was an 18-year-old student at Rutgers University who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. This occurred after his sexual encounter with a man in his res room was video streamed over the Internet without clementi’s knowledge by his roommate Dharun Ravi and a fellow floor mate Molly Wei. This was Ravi and Wei’s second attempt to record Clementi’s sexual encounter. Clementi had previous complained to his res don and two other officials stating that his roommate was spying and using a webcam to record his sex life. In addition he filed complaints to the university about his roommate. Ravi (in Wei’s room) tweeted about Clementi’s sex life on. In addition Ravi attempted to record Clementi for the second time on his webcam. He invited all his friends to watch the video stream. . While it has not yet been determined if Ravi’s actions were motivated by Clementi’s sexual orientation there has been an increase in suicide among LGBT youth relating to gay bullying and harassment. Ravi and Wei were charged with invasion of privacy. \n\n\n
10. Megan Taylor Meier was a thirteen-year-old teenager from Missouri who committed suicide after being cyber bullied through my space. A 16-year-old male named “Josh Evans” was bullying Meier. This was a fake account created by Lori Drew a mother of a former friend of Meier, her daughter and Lori Drew’s 18-year-old employee. However, there were several people who contributed to running this fake account. “Josh” was used to get information about Meier and later humiliate her in retribution for her allegedly spreading gossip about Drew’s daughter. Meier thought Josh was cute and nice until there was a shift in tone in the message sent. "Everybody in O'Fallon knows who you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a bad rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you." \nLori Drew admitted to having created the account and told a reporter that it was a ‘joke’. There was a gap of over a year from the time of the suicide until the media reported on it due to request by FBI who had been investigating the hoax. Drew was indicted and convicted in 2008 on the matter but her conviction was reversed on appeal in 2009. \n\n\n\n
11. There are two challenges that make it difficult to prevent cyber bullying. \n1) Many people don’t’ see the harm associated with it. Many people dismiss or disregarded cyber bullying because there are “more serious forms of aggression to worry about”. The other challenges are who is willing to step up and take responsibility for responding to inappropriate use of technology. Parents, schools, law enforcement? Parents often say they don’t have the technical skills to keep up with their kids’ online behaviour. Teacher are afraid to intervene in behaviour that often occur away from school; law enforcement is hesitant to get involved unless there is clear evidence of a crime or a significant threat to somebody’s physical safety. Cyber bullying incidents often slip thought the cracks – the behaviour continues and escalates because it is not quickly addressed. We need to get everyone involved and talking to create an environment where the iGeneration feel comfortable talk gin with adults about this problem. \n\n
12. Role of the bystander: the role of the bystander is critical. Those who witness’s cyber bullying generally do not want to get involved because of the hassle and problems they fear it might bring upon them. However by doing nothing, bystanders are doing something. The bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present. The excuse that someone else will do something is not good enough. However the greater number of bystanders the less likely it is that anyone of them will help. \n\n
13. What can parents do to stop Cyberbullying? Key thing: talk to you kids!\n1)Check in with your children regularly about their virtual lives. As Ben has discussed______. Victims are ashamed and only 10% of kids who are bullied tell their parents. Sometimes the easiest way to talk to them is by asking if they know someone who has been cyber bullied. They always do. \n2)Establish code of conduct. If you wouldn’t say it to their face don’t say it on myspace. Don’t hide behind your anonymity or virtual self. \n3)if they do contribute then there phone and computer privileges be taken away\n4)all private information can be made public. Don’t post it if you don’t want people to see it. Remember the internet is forever!\n\n
14. When schools try and get involved by disciplining the student for cyberbullying actions that took place off-campus and outside of school hours, they are often sued for exceeding their authority and violating the student's free speech right. They also, often lose. Schools can be very effective brokers in working with the parents to stop and remedy cyberbullying situations. They can also educate the students on cyberethics and the law. If schools are creative, they can sometimes avoid the claim that their actions exceeded their legal authority for off-campus cyberbullying actions. We recommend that a provision is added to the school's acceptable use policy reserving the right to discipline the student for actions taken off-campus if they are intended to have an effect on a student or they adversely affect the safety and well-being of student while in school. This makes it a contractual, not a constitutional, issue. \n
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