Do you belong to one of them who thinks that bullying in an online environment cannot possibly cause any damage being not ‘physical’? Think again today and think hard!
Consider this, if it was not serious enough, why do you think FBI has a section dedicated to kids online safety? Check out their site below -
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/parent-guide
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/january/online_011111/online_011111
Take a look at this report from a study conducted by isafe.org -
- 42% of kids reported of being bullied online
- 35% of kids reported of being threatened online
- 21% of kids reported of having received mean or threatening email
- 58% of kids reported of having being told mean or hurtful things online
- 53% of kids admits of having said something mean or hurtful to another person online
- 58% of kids have not informed their parents about hurtful experience online
The case of Megan Meier -
Read the story of Megan Meier here.
This is not the only one, there are indeed other cases, other stories. If you are a parent the next time you plan to gift an internet enabled gadget to your teen, think again. Yes we live in the cyber age kids will have access to the internet one way or the other. So as parents what do we do? This is the time we can’t afford to ignore anymore! this is the time we can’t afford not to educate ourselves anymore! We need to regularly get updated ourselves to the latest happenings online especially in the areas concerning kids online safety.
Start right now with this article from The University Of Alabama – http://www.ua.edu/features/abcsofeducation/cyberbullying.html
We need to know what and how to use which tools to let us monitor the activities of our kids online. It is obviously not practically possible to watch over them 24 hours a day on our own without the use of technology.
The good news is that thanks to latest technology there are indeed tools and services which can arm parents to battle against these very conditions and threats brought about by technology itself.