In Neil's Blog entry, "Police Using Social Media to Catch Criminal", he wrote about how police can catch criminal by tracking them on social media area like Facebook and Twitter. This brought memories of the many "not smart" people who published videos of them beating up other people or doing very cruel things to others. Not very long ago some young people filmed themselves throwing things at a homeless man and calling him names. This happened in Alaska and the police caught them because they posted it online.
Thanks for bringing awareness to this Neil.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Why Cyberbullying?
I've never blogged, prior to this, but I have used social media in the form of Facebook, research, and dating. One of the things that I love most about Facebook is that I can communicate with my classmates from the American Embassy School, where I graduated from High School in 1979. If I would have thought about the odds of getting in touch with so many classmates of a school that had 38 different nationalities 10 years ago, I would have said that chances were not good. I have had a Myspace page and had much more success with Facebook, as far as communicating with friends. That is the upside of social media in my life.
I did a lot of research for this assignment and found the abusive nature of cyberbullying very disturbing, which I believe is a direct result of the addictive nature of over-use of the Internet. Young people communicate with their friends and classmates, and this can be innocent. Adding that they open themselves up to the cyber world, where people can pretend to be other people or where young people have found another way of bullying, is a recipe for disaster. If, as an adult, I would have been bullied on Facebook I would simply block the person bullying me. However, it would still be hurtful. When I was in Junior High I remember being bullied by this girl that I didn’t even know. She did awful things to me—threw drinks in my face, pulled my very long hair, and called me names. It wasn’t until we matched up for a game of “fisty cuffs” that the abuse ended. I had enough of the abuse and decided to fight back. I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone. However, I can imagine what it might have been like if she would have had access to me via the Internet. The Internet and social media is very powerful weapon, in my opinion.
My heart sincerely goes out to the young people that are being victimized by cyberbullying. I recently watched a movie about a girl that was a victim of cyberbullying. Her best friend had created a fake boy, in order to pursuade her friend from liking another boy. The victim was so obsessed with reading the terrible things that were written about her (terrible things) that she got on the Web anyway she could. Her mother had banned her from using her computer at home. The girl tried to commit suicide but her attempt failed. It took a long time for her to recover from the incident but she did, including bring attention to cyberbullying.
The primary reason I started writing about cyberbullying is because of a recent event in which a young 15 year old girl, Audrie Pott, committed suicide due to cyberbullying. She was sexually assaulted by some boys who claimed to be her friends, while she was passed out at a party. It wasn’t until pictures of the assault showed up on various social media location that she actually knew what had happened. Not only was she raped but she was victimized, beyond comprehension. Students had used cell phones to share photos of the attack, which were horrific. This story broke my heart. After all the research I did, I found many other stories of teen suicides related to cyberbullying. Some of their names and photos are listed below.
Audrie Potts
Rehtoeh Parsons
Ryan Halligan
Giovanna Plowman
Amanda Todd
Megan Meier
Sadly, there are many more like these beautiful children.
More information to share:
- Alaska has a cyberbully law
- Alaska does not have an electronic harassment law or a school sanction law.
- http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/alaska.html
Gaming and Watching TV
Johnson, S. (2001). Games. In S. Cohen, 50 Essays
(pp. 196-202). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Winn, M. (2011). Television: The Plug-In Drug. In S.
Cohen, 50 Essays (pp. 438-447). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
In Steven Johnson’s essay, he takes
a controversial approach of describing the effects of video games and reading
in children. He states that children
should read more because reading expands the minds of children. He goes on to say that everyone should spend
time playing games or partake in other social media. The reason for the dull approval is that he
claims that reading improved cognitive skills and that playing videos improves
visual intelligence and manual dexterity.
Johnson is presenting an argument:
Reading and playing games increases mental capacity.
There are
negatives and positives of both positions.
I believe that children are spending entirely too much time on the
Internet and playing games. Reading is a
requirement in college and there is a lot of it. If children do not read and chose to play
games instead, that part of the brain that is used won’t be worked. This will cause actual reading to be
difficult.
Another
social media issue is that people are watching far too much television. In Marie Winn’s essay she addresses the
earlier studies and the problems associated with television today. In the 1949 there was a study done and stated
that “television will be an asset in every home where there are children.” They predicted that television would change
children’s habits.
This is
exactly what happened. Winn discusses
further there are multiple televisions in just about every household and this has
pulled families apart. In today’s family
units dad is probably watching football, mom is watching a cooking show, and
the kids are playing games. Winn goes on
to day the television, a form of social media, has become an addiction. She states that it is very similar to alcohol
and drug addictions. She offers a sound
argument that families spend less time together at due to watching television.
Both essays discuss addiction issues. I have
also surmised that technology (social media) has become today’s “babysitter”
and, unless the adults make changes to bring the families together, the
distance between teens and family with only grow.
Internet Addiction
Safetyweb.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.safetyweb.com/internet-addiction
This website is dedicated to
Internet safety and geared towards young people. In the web article, “Teen Internet Addiction”,
Internet addiction is defined and Internet addiction statistics are provided.
Internet
addiction is not unlike other additions—it is a basic loss of control that can
affect one’s life. Addictions cover other
aspects of one’s life like mental illnesses, abuse, and loss. Addictions are a “mask”. Statistically young people are more apt to
become addicted to the Internet but adults can also suffer from this. The web article claims that the abuse of the
Internet, in terms of addiction, that it adds to issues associated with bipolar
disorder, schizophrenia, and borderline personality disorders. This is according to the American Psychiatric
Association. Although, as the writer of
this blog, I cannot agree with APA position because they have an agenda of
pushing meds of young people, no matter what the stakes! I can only quote what the article
quoted.
What this
article also covers is the harmful effects of Internet addiction. One problems is the amount of time that is
spent online. It is reported that young
people can spend up to 80 hours online, gaming, and that some report spending
up to 50 hours a week on Facebook or other social media websites. This is not only dangerous, in the world of
victim v. bully, but it is unhealthy. It
can hurt grades, personal relationships, and future social skills. There are many problems with Internet
addition because young people should be engaging in other activities for
sports, reading, and hanging out with their friends.
The best way to help a child with Internet addiction is step away from the Internet yourself. Find other activities that the family can do together, maybe outside. Also, set time limits for the child to be on the Interenet. Again, as suggested by most sites that I have found--be aware of what your child is doing online and monitor how much time is being spent with social media. You might be surprised to find out that there is too much time be spent outside the family.
Self-diagnostic test (or you can take on behalf of your child / teen)http://www.warningsigns.info/computer_addiction.htm
Cyberbullying Led to Teen's Suicide
Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen's Suicide. (2007, November 19). Retrieved from ABC:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1
This is a story
of a 13 year girl, Megan Meier’s, who suffered from low self-esteem and was
taking medication for depression. She
became a victim of a cyber bully, who happened to be the mother of a friend of
Megan.
A fabricated, “cute”
boy was created by a mother of this friend because she wanted to gain the trust
of Megan and to find out what Megan was saying about her daughter. The article claims that it started off “innocent”
enough and it then turned to an abusive cyber-relationship. The “boy” wrote to Megan, just prior to her
birthday, that he no longer wanted to be her friend. What soon followed was so tragic; resulting
in what has now become an epidemic. The
writer of the boy’s profile started calling her names and Megan believed it was
this boy that she liked.
Tragically,
Megan committed suicide by hanging herself.
She never made it to her birthday, she never got her braces off, and she
never got a chance to learn that the boy was the cyberbullying mom of her
friend. The mother was not prosecuted because
there were no laws in place. Megan’s parents have taken an active role to
change the laws and have created a website, as a support system for victims. http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/
When emotionally
vulnerable young people get online, they can be very easily manipulated,” said
Nancy Willard, who is the Executive Director of the Center for Safe and
Responsible Internet use.
Tina Meier Holding Pictures of Her Daughter, Megan
Cyberbullying
http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/cyberbullying.html
What
does Cyberbullying mean? It is the use
of technology, through social media platforms, to harass, threaten, embarrass,
or victimize another person. It is
addictive, where both by the victim and the bully, and often the roles can
become “muddied” when the victim turns his or her anger against the bully. Parents and adults cannot easily monitor these
horrific actions because there are many instances where the bully is often
pretending to be someone the child might know or might remain anonymous, just
to hurt the other person. A 2006 study
showed that 1 in 3 teens and 1 in 6 preteens were actually victims of
cyberbullying. I can only believe that
those figures have increased.
Reviewed by Michelle New, PhD
This article
states that bullying has found a new platform, as another form of social media—cyberbullying. It discusses the very definition, background
evidence, and most importantly—the signs that your child might be a victim of cyberbullying.
The signs that a
child is being victimized by cyberbullying:
·
Mood changes after being on the Internet
·
Secretiveness
·
Withdrawn
·
Bad grades
·
Bad mood
·
Changes in physical appearance and self-care
·
Changes in daily activities
What parents
(adults) can do to help:
·
Listen
·
Block the websites/bully
·
Limit access to the Internet
·
Know what your child is doing online
·
Look for support
In the
conclusion of this article, the approach is to also address the parent’s of the
bully responsibilities, which I find interesting. One of the top recommendations is to seek
counseling to assist the child in “coping with anger, hurt, frustration, and
other strong emotions in a healthy way.”
Saturday, April 13, 2013
High-Tech Bullying
Landau, E. (2013, March 3). When bullying goes
high-tech. Retrieved from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/27/health/cyberbullying-online-bully-victims
Elizabeth Landau starts with a story about a boy who was victimized
by fellow students he did not know, who threatened him on MySpace. The bullies actually threatened to beat him
up at school. She calls cyberbullying a “pervasive
problem” and presents that most bullying over the Internet because most bullies
believe that their actions are anonymous.
Laudau
suggests that there is more bullying going on in schools and that cyberbullying
is an extension of the bullying, a social media downfall. The purpose of the writer is to show
percentage of cyberbullying, the consequences, and the actions that can be
taken to cope.
Laudau
wrote that cyberbullies can attack 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the
effects are far more concerning. Bullying,
in general, have severe impact on victim’s mental and physical health. She also cites a study by Thomas J. Holt, in
which his researchers found that 27% of students have been bullied online and
28% of those consider suicide Holt also stated, according to Laudau, that both
victims and bullies were more likely to have long-lasting psychological effects—victims
have less trust and are more likely to suffer from agoraphobia; bullies showed
high risks of antisocial personality disorder.
Laudau also discusses ways to report cyberbullying. She noted that the “digital imprint” is
almost impossible to find but Dr. Justin W. Patchin, the Co-Director of the
Cyberbullying Research Center (http://www.cyberbullying.us/aboutus.php),
suggests the best way to report cyberbullying is to keep the evidence and show
it to an adult.
Laudau
closes the article with an interview of the boy, Brandon Turley, who she spoke
about in the beginning of the article. He
spoke about how the bullying made him feel and the actions that were taken
after. Laudau also discusses parental
control. One woman had to get the police
involved to bring her daughters Facebook page.
She concludes the article by discussing the many things that can be done
to solve cyberbullying: Apps that
control how much time the child can
spend online; groups to help victims with coping; programs that will detect offensive
language used by cyberbullies--“offensive statements”; a “bully button”, which
reports bullying directly to the social media groups in a timely manner.
Cyberbulling - A Study
Veronika Sleglova, A. C. (2011). Cyberbulling in
Adolescent Victims: Perception and Coping. Retrieved from Journal of
Psychology Research of Cyberspace:
http://www.cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2011121901&article=4
Veronika
Sleglova and Alena Cerna (2011) discuss the impacts of Cyberbulling victims,
how it impacts their lives, and how victims cope.
They explain the
definition of cyberbulling, which they claim it still debated by researches,
worldwide. The writers of this paper
define it “as an aggressive, intentional act or behavior that is carried out by
a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot
easily defend him or herself” (Sleglova and
Cerna, 2011). The purpose the paper is
discuss the people who are behind cyberbulling, the stessors associated with
the act, the reasons that victims become the victims, and the various coping
strategies that the victims use.
Sleglova
and Cerna successfully discuss the impacts, including the resulting “negative
emotions caused by bullying”, the “feelings of helplessness”, the “distrust of
other people”, the impact of “lowering self-confidence”, and the resulting of
the bullied becoming the bullyer. There
are different ways in which victims can cope with a cyberbully. These include contacting the administer of
the websites, ending the communication with the bully, blocking the bully,
support groups, and participating in activities that do not include Internet
activities. Their study was very
comprehensive and they were able to get their point across with interviews and
research
Sleglova and Cerna concluded that
their study was limited due to the size and victims unable to talk about their
personal experiences with cyberbullying.
However, I believe that their research was very compelling. They actually used the Internet to interview
most of the victims in order to protect them.
They also state that they had limitation in the study because it was “situated
in the Czech cultural context” (Sleglova and Cerna, 2011).
The strongest argument that I find
interesting is that victims who have a stronger family relationship have better
ways of coping and are able to communicate their situation better. The writers used a lot of research and data
collection, which took approximately 3 months.
They used ICQ and Skype for interviews.
Sleglova and Cerna included basic information about the respondents,
examples of the coding, and a Paradigmatic model of copying strategies and the
impacts of cyberbulling. They conclusion
was that many vicitims cope in various ways and that the connection is between
the victim and the bully.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
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