Cyberbullying

This topic hits close to home for me.  A teenager in our neighborhood committed suicide after getting in trouble for cyberbullying.  He was completely shamed and shunned by his school.  So, the victim is not the only one that this can hurt.  Everyone involved feels the impact.  Educators, parents and children all need to be well educated on this topic.  I think it is great that the schools are getting involved and taking the lead in educating children and parents about this.  I learned a lot from this article.  There are forms of cyberbullying that I had never even thought of. 

Harassment or repeated insults through various forms.

Defamation of a person’s character through derogatory postings, rumors, or images.

Flaming or fighting messages using anger and vulgar language. 

Outing or deceiving someone into sharing secrets or private information.

Polling such as posting an image on a voting website to make fun of a person’s looks.

Impersonation or identity theft to embarrass or destroy a person’s identity.

Cyber Stalking including sending intimidating or threatening messages.

Sexting including sexual solicitation and/or exploitation.

Unsafe digital communities with shared interests, such as social communities that validate eating disorders, violence, or drug use. 

Cited From: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/15-strategies-educators-can-use-to-stop-cyberbullying/#ixzz2WcNXy8Xs

Polling is one I have never heard of.  I have seen polls on Facebook, for political topics.  I have never thought of kids using this to harass other kids.  This article was very informative of the different types of bullying that can occur. 
Also, the article lays out ways educators can teach their classes to be good digital citizens.  I learned that Microsoft offers a class on digital citizenship.  I think that is great.  Microsoft has a huge network and should be able to reach many children with that message. 
Letting children know how important it is to report abuse was the key take away for me after reading this article.  Children need to know that they will not be in trouble or have their technology privileges taken away for reporting an issue.  Schools should be using the approach mentioned in the article:

Respond always, Research facts, Record documentation, Report findings, and Revisit the issue to make sure it is resolved.

Cited From: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/15-strategies-educators-can-use-to-stop-cyberbullying/#ixzz2WcPaxyrz

If schools would use this approach, and I think a lot of them are moving toward it, I think we as digital citizen can get a handle on this issue.