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Family Tech

Online bullies Harassment extends beyond the schoolyard. By Genevieve AntonPublished: May, 2007

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The tradition of home as a refuge from bullies on the school playground is over. The Internet is the new playground, and there are no off hours. The popularity of instant messaging, email, webpages and blogging means kids are a target 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Even worse, 58% of kids have not told their parents or any adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online, according to research from i-SAFE America, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to protecting the online experiences of youth.  Defined as verbal harassment that occurs during online activities, cyber bullying can take many forms. These are a few:  A threatening email  Nasty instant-messaging session  Repeated notes sent to the cell phone  A website set up to mock others  “Borrowing” someone’s screen name and pretending to be him or her while posting a message.  Forwarding supposedly private messages, pictures or video to others.  Just how prevalent is the harassment? The latest assessment by i-SAFE surveyed more than 1,500 students nationwide, ranging from fourth to eighth grade. They found:  • 58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online  • 53% of kids admit having said something mean or hurtful to another person online  • 42% of kids have been bullied while online  i-SAFE offers these tips to youth who are being cyber bullied:  • Tell a trusted adult and keep telling them until they take action.  • Never open, read or respond to messages from cyber bullies.  • If it is school related, tell your school. All schools have bullying solutions.  • Do not erase the messages. They may be needed to take action.  • If bullied through chat or IM, the bully can often be blocked.  • If you are threatened with harm, call the police.   This report is courtesy of i-Safe. For more information, visit isafe.org.

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