Internet Safety, Cyber-bullying

There was a long time, while growing up in a relatively safe suburban neighborhood, that I was very careful about walking around the block. This is because a boy about my age who lived there had pushed me around once. To me, he was a bully. This is not my son’s experience. He is more likely to get roughed up on a gaming site online than have this problem in our neighborhood. 

Indigo awareness ribbon for cyber-bullying

The city where I grew up had a down town area that was relatively small. It was very depressed economically and needless to say it was a part of town where you wouldn’t want your kids to go. Between porn shops, pawn shops and the street people, the area was deemed unsafe by my family, so it was an area we avoided. Things have changed. The down town area is now a vital place to go and people’s attitudes have changed. But it is this image from my past that comes to mind when I think of the dark side of the internet. That part of the internet and the virtual world we work to keep kids from experiencing.  

Internet safety, like a part of town you would want to avoid, a place you would not want your kids to go, a place from which they would need protection. Internet safety is not just about places on the intent that may be dangerous but keeping an eye out for threats coming on to your computer and devices from devious sources. This was the topic for week eight AAU Integrating Technology Into Art Education Settings.  As teachers introducing technology into the classroom we need to make sure, not only are our classrooms safe but that the environment within the technology we are introducing is safe as well.

There is so much to be said on this topic of Internet Safety as a parent, I find myself filling with dread and guilt. Did I do enough, am I doing enough? There are so many websites and blogs devoted to the topic. I’m using the focus of this week be the inspiration to find out more. 

Cyber-bullying has not been a direct experience in our family. We do hear stories about difficult experiences from my son’s schools. Girls ganging up on each other using social media. A boy normally thought of as a nice guy posting pictures of a fellow student in an unfortunate situation. 

It is a rather overwhelming topic and there are many websites and blogs devoted to helping victims, parents and the community.  

Kids Safe is a great cyber safety site with lots of information for parents and children. 

I spent some time looking at some bully prevention programs that include reporting apps. It took me a while to realize that these are comprehensive bully programs. The cyber component of the program include an app for reporting bully events or event potentially leading up to a bully event. 

One of these services is called STOPit. STOPit is a service and software application configuration that works in coordination with a participating school. Students download an app to their phone and configure the app know who a trusted adult is for the student. If an incident occurs the student can contact the trusted adult among other things. Another similar service is called Cyber-Bully Hotline. 

These both sound like a good initiative for a school with a large pool of students increasing the possibility of a bully threat cyber or otherwise. It does seem that there is quite bit of overlap between cyber bulling and traditional bullying. 

Another App, Bully Block was designed with bullies in mind for people using Android phones. Different from the apps above, this is a stand alone product. The app is  designed to block specific people’s phone calls and text messages once that person has been identified as a bully. 

Another app I found is called Visr. This is app that monitors a child’s smart phone activity in order to detect in unsafe activity. Their focus is on social media settings and other indicators of insecure exposure for a child’s phone. The app let’s parents know when one of these indicators come up without sharing details that a child might consider spying on them. This seems like a reasonable approach and worth considering. Parent’s taking this kind of responsibility for their child’s social media would take a lot of pressure off schools dealing with the same issues. 

I also spent some time on a website featuring iRules, a Janell Burley Hofmann website. Hofmann writes about parenting and technology for the Huffington Post. A contract she called iRules, written for her 13 year old son to go with his first iPhone was posted on the Post website and went viral. She now has an elaborate website devoted to parenting and cyber issues.  

Here is a beautiful little anti-cyber-bullying video I found on the JanellBurley Hoffmann’s blog

It was posted by a European group called Delete Cyber Bulling. They have their own app that is usable is several countries from the Euopean Union. There are a handful of interesting videos on their site as well. 

The topic of internet safety and cyber-bullying is an important one that needs to be addressed by parents, teachers and students on an on going basis. Cyber space presents new challenges to being good citizens. None the less, being that good citizen is something we want to make sure our students and children have the skills and insight to become.