CyberBullies and Social Networking: A Slippery Slope

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As indicated in our introductory piece, this will be the first of a three part series on the cyber-bullies, trash-texting and happy slapping. While every generation seems to find its own way of “doing its own thing,” the recent popularity of social networking, absent responsible background checks, seems to have placed countless children and younger teens in the way of harm that none of them could either anticipate or control.

I hope, by identifying some of the concerned parties and laying out some of the basic considerations involved, that this series will generate more interest in conducting reputable criminal background checks, as these should sharpen parental awareness and place teens ahead of the curve so they can act more responsibly.

That said, we’ll begin our discussion in the usual way, by defining a few key terms.

Part 1: The Slippery Slope of social networking
Also known as virtual communities or profile sites, a “social network” is a website on the internet that brings people together to one central location where, from the comforts of their own home (or basement, it depends), they can talk, gossip, share ideas, photos, videos, stories, their journals, make new friends and so on.

Some of the more popular social network sites include Bebo, Facebook, MySpace (which, I’m sure, you’ve heard of), YouTube, and Yahoo 360. More of these types of sites are being launched every day, especially catering to smaller niche areas (i.e., bodybuilding, sewing, specific colleges, etc).

” . . . there are increasing reports of youth suicide, violence, and abduction related to cyberbullying and cyberthreats.” - Nancy Willard, Internet safety expert

Over the past few years, social networking sites have become especially popular among younger kids/ teens (8 - 16). Some, as a result of which, have unfortunately become popular destinations for cyber-bullies and online predators who intentionally prey on younger kids.

Internet safety expert Nancy Willard, and author of the newly released, Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Aggression, Threats, and Distress, gives parents and others the tools they need to help keep their children and teens safe from online threats such as sexual predators, pornography, and cyberbullies.

“Online communications,” she explains, “can be extremely cruel and vicious. They can cause great emotional harm and can take place 24/7. Damaging text and images can be widely disseminated and impossible to fully remove.”

Willard doesn’t lead parents to believe they can fully prevent their children from using these sites, but they can use positive, practical strategies (including criminal checks) to teach their children to make safer, more responsible choices online.

On the one hand, her book spends considerable time explaining to parents the dangers that lurk online; on the other, it shows parents that the best way to protect their children is to give them the information and strategies to make good choices, and to simply remain engaged with what their children are doing online.

I’m not sure about you, but I have small children in my family. I was not blessed with children of my own, but have nieces and nephews who are all affected by the ways their friends and neighbors handle themselves. Technology’s not the culprit, no more than it’s ever been. It’s people who use poor judgment with whatever technology is at their disposal, and sometimes, they commit unspeakable acts of violence on innocent others. None of us want to see these things happen, but if we don’t talk about them responsibly and before-the-fact, we just set ourselves up for whatever comes down the pike. I believe we can do better than that.

If you feel likewise, take a quick minute while you’re here, and leave a comment below. Voice your anger, your outrage, your interest, your questions, whatever — or are you one of those people who just want to rely on the rest of us to do all the heavy lifting, while you sit back and not even care whether we fail our youth by not schooling them properly on something as fundamental as “how to play nice with their neighbors”? Tell the truth!

Next Post: Social Networking Cyber-bullies