Cyberbullying

I am 12 and on Facebook. I am not supposed to be there, because I am under 13, the legally required FB age. But they make it so easy to lie, so I'm here, with my entire class and all the other parallel classes. I have not 'friended' any kids I don't like, only the ones that seem nice. And cool. It's very important to be cool on FB. It's like another hallway in school, where kids can bump in to you, and check you out. Only, it is much easier to check you out. And call you names. Someone tagged a pretty dumb picture of me the other day. So that picture showed up on my wall. Including the comments. 1. Hey dude, you look soooo lame! 2. Aren't you the most popular kid in school, wahaha!! 3. Dumb f*ck!! 4. Gawd you're ugly XD..... And so on. One comment followed another. I deleted the picture from my wall, but the writing continued, as I heard from kids in school. It seemed the most popular pastime. And I can't do anything about it....

An excerpt from an online diary. The case seems innocent enough; some remarks on a picture. But the willfull and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices is nothing less than cyberbullying. Why do kids do it? Because they can. Bullies, both in the classroom and in cyberspace, need attention themselves and have only learned to get it the nasty way. If parents are not aware of their children, then the teachers have to be all the more so. A teachers's job in the 21st century has to include digital awareness, in all its aspects. Knowing what social networks are, and how kids communicate. As much as the classroom has been extended into hyperspace, so has the school hallway. And both parents and teachers need to keep their eyes wide open. Discuss cyberbullying in the classroom. Ask the students to write an essay about the topic, and see what happens. If there are problems, try to tackle them through role-play and discussion groups with mediators.

The above diary excerpt is fictious, but could be written by kids any time. The Cyberbullying Research Center informs students that cyberbullying is when someone “repeatedly makes fun of another person online or repeatedly picks on another person through email or text message or when someone posts something online about another person that they don’t like.” Using this definition, about 20% of the over 4,400 randomly‐selected 11‐18 year‐old students in 2010 indicated they had been a victim at some point in their life.