subject: How Can Schools Help Prevent Cyber Bullying? New E-book Gives Ideas [print this page] Online bullying is becoming an increasingly prevalent form of harassment among school children. A coalition of students, parents, and schools could be beneficial in stopping the online stalking of children by children. The e-book could generate ideas to help you organize a campaign to protect kids.
The e-book defines cyber bullying as the use of technology, such as webcams and cell phones, to damage the reputation or embarrass a victim. Postings such as can be found on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other video blogging and online chatting sites provide evidence of online stalking and harassment.
Not only is bullying distressing to the victim, but, as the e-book points out, it often exposes the victim to danger from adult predators when personal information is revealed on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, video blogging sites or while online chatting. Pictures from webcams or cell phones allow easy identification of the victim. Such revelations can lead to online stalking from dangerous individuals. As the e-book notes, cyber bullying goes far beyond juvenile harassment.
Schools often feel helpless to combat online bullying, because as the e-book states, activity is often not conducted on school property. Schools feel they have no legal right to interfere in the student's participation in video blogging or online chatting, and cannot order them to avoid sites like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. They fear that efforts to control cyber bullying, online stalking, and harassment could result in lawsuits against them.
However, there are things that schools can do to help prevent cyber bullying. One is to make a contractual agreement with the students, providing penalties for those caught engaging in online stalking, harassment, or cyber bullying. They can also educate students about the risks of sites like Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and of video blogging and online chatting. They can warn students about posting video from webcams, and ban cell phones from school property. They can provide information, in the form of an e-book, for students who need to learn to keep themselves safe online.
Schools could offer a course or an e-book explaining the dangers involved in online bullying in the hopes of dissuading students from engaging in this type of harassment and online stalking. They can also teach those who are being victimized how to talk to their parents about cyber bullying. They could also provide an e-book teaching parents the warning signs that a child has become a victim of cyber bullying and how they can most effectively fight the harassment. They could educate all parties of the various ways that cell phones and webcams can be used for harassment.
Peer groups could be formed to monitor instances of cyber bullying, confront the perpetrators, and counsel the victims. An e-book for the general school population could make them aware of the problem and urge them to resist those who engage in online stalking and harassment. They could warn their fellow students on the dangers of being secretly filmed on webcams or cell phones. They could also encourage victims by convincing them that no one pays any serious attention to what they find on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, video blogging sites, or while online chatting.
As the e-book points out, cyber bullying is not child's play, but a harmful type of harassment that needs to be stopped. Enlisting schools to help in the fight could be very beneficial.
