Monday, January 14, 2008
'Teenage hell': What to do
What is it going to take to convince teens of how important it is to think about the impact mean behavior can have online? For example, just annoyed with a high school friend, three teens "placed an ad in [the 15-year-old's] name soliciting sex with men, listing his home phone number," the San Jose Mercury News reports. They also somehow "hacked into his MySpace profile" and changed it to say he was gay. People answered the ad at his house, reaching his is sister and mom. "Mortified, angry and distraught," the boy dropped out of school. The article cites the view of some school officials who say they're not sure the Net is increasing the amount of bullying, but rather that it's providing a "paper trail." Young people just don't realize that they're not as anonymous as they think they are. And that's exactly what can help them think before they're mean online. For example, the Mercury News refers to the shock felt by "some students at one San Jose middle school who created a MySpace 'slut list' of 23 girls and asked viewers to submit comments. Within 36 hours the site was shut down, and the culprits discovered." As for the boys who took out the abusive ad above: Working with police, officials at their school them found them out. They "were tried and sentenced to probation and community service. They also had to write an essay about the pain they caused."
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Ann, I wonder how many parents are aware of cyber bullying. Unless they are alert to what's going on, they really aren't able to help their children understand the consequences of being a bully - or being bullied.
ReplyDeleteI believe the message must be heard and understood by parents and guardians so they can guide their children and help them understand the possible consequences of mean and improper behavior - wherever it takes place.
Fortunately, local Law Enforcement, School Administrators, Public Broadcasters, Bloggers like you, and astute politicians have taken on the task of informing parents of
cyber-bullying.
But those efforts will no doubt fall on a lot of parental deaf ears, simply because parents may not be listening for the message.
If everyone who is aware would share their concern with other parents of teenagers, the buzz might help save a few teenagers and their families from a lot of grief.
Thanks for commenting, Richard. I agree! One reason for blogs and email newsletters like NetFamilyNews is to give parents and schools real-life stories they can use as examples in discussions about cybercitizenship - as well as data (like the fact that one-third of US 12-to-17-year-olds have been bullied or harassed online - from studies by both the Pew/Internet Project and 2 criminology professors in WI and FL).
ReplyDeleteAnne