OUR VIEW: A new kind
of bullying
Cyberbullying hits kids hard — so hard that many young people can’t deal with it on their own. That’s why we — the media, parents and schools — all have a responsibility to fight it.
Cyberbullying involves messages or images intended to demean someone that are distributed via social networking, cell phones or any online device, sometimes anonymously.
The National Crime Prevention Council reports that 43 percent of teens have experienced cyberbullying in the past year. In fact, the subject has attracted nationwide attention recently after several boys committed suicide after digital gay bashing, and a Massachusetts girl killed herself after intense harassment by her classmates.
The first line of defense against cyberbullying should be parents — both of the victim and of the bully — but almost 80 percent of teens surveyed say they either do not have parental rules about Internet use or they find ways around those rules.
One reason may be that the situation is as new as the ‘net. Middle and high school probably weren’t easy for parents but they didn’t have to contend with Facebook and they may not understand how widespread and how painful it can be to be the victim of a cyber attack.
“With Facebook, there is no six degrees of separation,” says Peter Wininger, principal of Bristol Eastern High School. “They all have access to what’s being said — be it rumor, threat or otherwise.”
As a result, schools find themselves in the position of having to educate young people. Even the meanest of the mean girls is unlikely to anticipate the possibly deadly consequences of an anonymous taunt — or a barrage of them — when a clique gangs up on its victim.
The Bristol school district recently updated its policy on bullying to make the practice off limits on school computers or from nonschool computers if it “markedly interrupts or severely impedes the day-to-day operations of the school.”
That’s a good first step, as is the media campaign by celebrities ranging from Michelle Obama to Ellen DeGeneres, denouncing cyberbullying. They’re using television to get the message out that these ‘pranks’ can be deadly and, in the process, they are educating parents.
The Internet, like radio and television before it, is a potent medium and its users need to understand both its evils and its potential.
Whether we succeed in getting the message out on cyberbullying may, indeed, be life or death for some youngsters.
Cyberbullying involves messages or images intended to demean someone that are distributed via social networking, cell phones or any online device, sometimes anonymously.
The National Crime Prevention Council reports that 43 percent of teens have experienced cyberbullying in the past year. In fact, the subject has attracted nationwide attention recently after several boys committed suicide after digital gay bashing, and a Massachusetts girl killed herself after intense harassment by her classmates.
The first line of defense against cyberbullying should be parents — both of the victim and of the bully — but almost 80 percent of teens surveyed say they either do not have parental rules about Internet use or they find ways around those rules.
“With Facebook, there is no six degrees of separation,” says Peter Wininger, principal of Bristol Eastern High School. “They all have access to what’s being said — be it rumor, threat or otherwise.”
As a result, schools find themselves in the position of having to educate young people. Even the meanest of the mean girls is unlikely to anticipate the possibly deadly consequences of an anonymous taunt — or a barrage of them — when a clique gangs up on its victim.
The Bristol school district recently updated its policy on bullying to make the practice off limits on school computers or from nonschool computers if it “markedly interrupts or severely impedes the day-to-day operations of the school.”
That’s a good first step, as is the media campaign by celebrities ranging from Michelle Obama to Ellen DeGeneres, denouncing cyberbullying. They’re using television to get the message out that these ‘pranks’ can be deadly and, in the process, they are educating parents.
The Internet, like radio and television before it, is a potent medium and its users need to understand both its evils and its potential.
Whether we succeed in getting the message out on cyberbullying may, indeed, be life or death for some youngsters.
The New Britain Herald
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