Thursday, June 23, 2011
Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) June 23, 2011
A new study from the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) at Bridgewater State University reveals 90% of our nation's children over the age of 8 are online. As a result, cyberbullying now poses a greater threat to our kids, as more hop into cyberspace at a younger age.
According to a report by EnterpriseNews.com, the study found "general incidences of cyberbullying, or using the Internet or cell phones to send or post text or images intended to hurt someone, spike in the middle school years," and "more than half of middle and high school students reported having been bullied."
These new findings, when coupled with the recent Consumer Reports poll, which revealed 7.5 million underage kids (ages 10-12) on Facebook, can only mean one thing: a lot of young kids will be online this summer and cyberbullying is sure to increase.
"For victims of yesterday's school-yard bullies, summer vacation was a break," explains Jamie Leasure, co-founder of Pandora Corp. "But today bullying continues throughout the summer vacation months. The results of the new MARC study indicate we are sure to see a rise in cyberbullying activity as kids have more idle time on their hands, especially amongst the middle school crowd. But we want parents to know there is a way to stop it."
Leasure says parents absolutely must be aware of what their child is doing online and what is happening in their digital lives: "Just as much as parents should be concerned when their child is a victim, they should take steps to make certain their child is not an aggressor in any way."
Pandora Corp. is the maker of PC Pandora computer monitoring software. The program records all computer activity through screen snapshots and data logs. Parents are able to review their child's Facebook activity, instant messenger conversations, web histories, peer-to-peer activity and much more. Whatever a child does on the computer, good or bad, PC Pandora will show their parents everything.
Leasure says computer monitoring software will help put an end to the cyberbullying epidemic by showing parents exactly what their kids are doing online, specifically, how they are interacting with others.
"Cyberbullying thrives on anonymity," explains Leasure. "Not only are the bullies anonymous online, but they are working in secret in their own homes. PC Pandora takes that away from them and exposes their activity. If there is a bully in your house, PC Pandora will let you know, quietly and discreetly, so you can resolve the situation before law enforcement gets involved."
State governments are in the process of amending and adapting laws; schools are wrestling with boundaries of involvement and trying different education techniques. But Leasure says the real key to ending cyberbullying is zero tolerance from parents.
"Cyberbullying will not stop until the parents of the bullies know what their children are doing online, and care enough to step in and stop it. While talking to your children about civility and teaching them to be nice to others is and always has been essential, monitoring Internet activity is the best way to make sure they are not bullying others online."
For more information on PC Pandora visit www.pcpandora.com. A free trial is available for download.
About PC Pandora: Pandora Corporation was formed with one goal - to help our customers monitor, control and protect their families and themselves online. First released in mid 2005, PC Pandora has been constantly upgraded to industry-leading specifications and has received accolades from users, reviewers and even school districts and law enforcement agencies, who use the program to help in the day-to-day supervision of the children and citizens they are charged with protecting. The company website devotes space to helping parents by providing them with 18 Tips to Safe Surfing and Pandora's Blog, where current news in the world of online safety is discussed regularly. In addition, the Pandora Corp. has made the PD Pandora Internet Safety Symposium available to schools and law enforcement as a free resource for spreading internet safety awareness to parents. Over the past few years, PC Pandora has vaulted into a leadership position for parental control software by boasting a combination of features that are unparalleled in the monitoring industry. In 2010, Version 6.0 was released, again widening the spectrum of coverage and protection offered by the program. Concurrently released with 6.0, the web-based PC Pandora LIVE! service affords parents the ability to keep their kids safe from anywhere at anytime. PC Pandora is also now available through the Pandora Corp. store at Amazon.com.
Reporters and Producers: Looking to cover this topic? We are your technology solution component. Software is available to journalists for review and testing. Staff members are available for interviews. Let us help you show your audience how easy it can be to keep their kids safe on the Internet.
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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/6/prweb8595202.htm
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/06/23/prweb8595202.DTL#ixzz1QBkf7EVD
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