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As I‚m sure many of you
are aware, Bullying has gone high-tech with many of
our new communication technologies now used by children
to bully others.
Cyber-Bullying can take place through community webpages,
e-mail and instant
messaging, cell phones and blogs as well as on-line
polling sites. In some
cases websites have been built specifically to mock
and humiliate others.
There is growing evidence that „cyber bullying
is worse than the regular
schoolyard kind because it knows no bounds of time,
space or geography. A
bullied child used to be able to go home to escape.
Now, bullying can happen
when a child is in his or her own bedroom with a cellphone.‰[1]
i-SAFE America is confronting the issue of Cyber-Bullying
head on. We added
supplemental Cyber-Bullying lesson plans to our curriculum
as well as
bullying content to our Professional Development Program.
In addition,
i-SAFE will present at Cyber Safety at the „New
Jersey Cares About Cyber
Bullying Conference‰ this coming May 17th.
Here are Basic tips on dealing with cyber bullying:
· Guard your contact information.
· Don‚t send a message when you‚re
angry.
· If you are being harassed, do not reply.
Log out. Immediately tell an
adult.
· Save harassing messages and forward them
to you Internet Service Provider
(ISP).
· If bullying includes physical threats, notify
police. Do not tamper with
anything that may serve as evidence in a police report.
Leave the computer
as it is, and do not shut it down. This will maintain
the integrity of the
message, time/date stamps, etc.
· Talk about the issue. Kids need to know what
is appropriate and not
appropriate as well as that there is help available
to them. Kids being
bullied are not alone.
Thanks again for all
of the work that each of you has done to help
kids make
better choices and stay safe online.
James Deiter
i-SAFE America
760-603-7911 ext 13
Cell: 760-672-5413
Fax: 760-603-8382
[1]Mitchell, Alanna.
"Bullied by the click of a mouse".
The Globe and Mail
Jan. 24, 2004:
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