This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 17 Sep 2008, by Anne Bubnic.
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17 Sep 08
Anne BubnicKids can be mean.
It's a fact of life we've all experienced. Gone are the days, however, when avoiding a bully meant ducking out of the back door at school. Thanks to personal computers, cellphones and instant messaging, it's now easier than ever for children to attack each other, often anonymously.-
Yet with so many different types of cyberbullying, ranging from online impersonation to e-mail hacking and distributing embarrassing materials about a person, it can be difficult for kids, let alone those trying to help them, to know how to respond and stop the 21st century bully in his or her tracks.
"Awareness about the issue is high, but awareness about what to do when it happens is mixed," says Michele Ybarra, president and research director for Internet Solutions for Kids (ISK) and an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
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Research suggests that those on the receiving end of traditional bullying may be more likely to cyberbully as a form of retaliation. Kids involved in the more severe instances of cyberbullying also tend to have more psychosocial problems, exhibiting aggression, getting in trouble at school and having poor relationships with their parents, says Nancy Willard, an expert on cyberbullying and author of Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. And while traditional bullying appears to peak in middle school and drop off as kids reach high school, cyberbullying tends to slightly increase among kids in high school, a trend researchers can't yet explain.
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Research is also beginning to show that just like traditional forms of bullying, cyberbullying can lead to anxiety, lower rates of self-esteem and higher rates of school absence, says Patti Agatston, a licensed professional counselor with the Prevention/Intervention Center, a student assistance program serving more than 100 schools in suburban Atlanta, Ga.
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One of the tricky things about helping cyberbullying targets is that they aren't always willing to talk about the problem. Teens often cite a fear of having their Internet privileges revoked as a reason for keeping quiet, Agatston says. Kids who receive threatening messages in school may not divulge what's happened for fear of getting in trouble, since many schools ban use of cellphones during the day.
To get around that problem, Willard recommends having a frank discussion with your children about cyberbullying before it happens.
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