Cyber Bullying Meets Mob Mentality
How would it feel to be 15 years old and have the entire world literally turned against you? How would it feel to have large groups of people that you have never met absolutely hate you and inflict a relentless stream of cruelty at you?
You really can not answer the above questions unless you have lived through it. You could ask Phoebe Prince, Ryan Halligan, or Megan Meier (may they RIP), but they are no longer living. They took their own lives after relentless cyber bullying attacks. In the view of many these children are heros and we will not let their passing be in vain….
Anyone who thinks that Cyber Mobbing and Cyber-Bullying is not real, or that those who are victims of it are somehow not tough is unbelievably naive. To those I ask: Do you have the guts to take your own life, to hang yourself? Could you handle having hundrends of people relentlessly torment you with insults you could never dream of? How would you feel if it were a family member that had taken their life because of this? Get your heads out of the sand, children are dying because of this stuff, and it should not be happening.
This is not a bunch of kids at the playground ganging up on someone out in the physical world – that would be far easier to deal with. Cyber-Mobbing is far more damaging. It is constant, it is psychological, and it is far more difficult to stop. Getting in a fight at the playground is relatively minor compared to the damage that can be inflicted in cyberspace, and at least on the playground you can fight back and see your adversary. Bullies thrive in the non-physical confrontation world of cyberspace, and it is very easy for a mob to form as others jump on the bully bandwagon in order to lift their own low self-esteem.
But how can parents raise children that have the judgment and skills that keep them safe and successful as they grow up? How do parents fulfill their responsiblity to keep their kids safe and still provide them with the skills to prosper in the world?
The world is a much different place than it was just 15 years ago. Information technologies have now taken a large portion of a child’s interaction away from the awareness of parents.
Parents must now take an active role in their child’s cyber-space. Be their friend, they must know that it is ok for them to come to you for guidance when it is needed. Until they are old enough to have the skills that keep them out of trouble, parental control software for smartphones can alert you to potential dangers and help you teach them the cyber-skills necessary to avoid becoming victims, or preventing them from becoming aggressors in cyber-bullying, and this is becoming increasingly important as many states and schools have regulations against this, and children can be thrown out of school for cyberbullying offenses.
Children are using smartphones and other technology at increasingly younger ages. Technology is not going away, and children need cyber-skills in order to be safe and successful in the world. We cannot and should not treat children as luddites. Instead, parents should be partners with their children and help them to utilize technology in the right ways, and be there with them if action needs to be taken.
