Is Cyber-bullying on the rise?
According to Jim Gibson of the Victoria Times, cyber-bullying is in deed on the rise. In a recent article Jim sites the New York's Mediamark Research and Intelligence (media-mark.com) which reported…
Teens Using Technology for Good
Unfortunately in our rush to respond to the horrific examples of online extortion, sexual exploitation and criminal harassment that a few have endured, we have raised awareness without balance.
Life Online in the Nineties was Fluid
Life online in the late-nineteen-nineties was fluid. I could be anyone, i could talk to anyone, argue any point of view. They called it the "information superhighway" then and I was working with 'street kids'. My frustration as a youth worker then was that the only people youth seemed to meet online were predators or or pedophiles. The people who care most about youth where NOT the early adopters of the Internet.
Bullies will wear pink shirts too!
Amongst the sincere sentiments today will be some girls and boys who know that they have sent hurtful or untrue text or humiliated someone online or forwarded a personal message to the whole school or re-shared nude pictures of one of the girls in their school. They too will wear their pink shirts.
Social Media Outlets Urged To Be More Accountable
Savvy web users have known the addictive popularity of reaction videos for quite some time, not always in the name of constructive causes, but in the wake of the Amanda Todd tragedy, the Fine Brothers decided to put this knowledge to good use by filming a reaction video of their own.
A Facebook Reprise
Since this could be the last blog post for the foreseeable future, I thought it might be a place to drop those smaller stories about Facebook that pop up now and again, stories which on their own are not quite deep enough for a full blog post, but might be interesting to readers presented as a kind of odds and ends thing.
Protecting… Teachers?
Well, here's an interesting new angle to the whole topic of cyberbullying and online harassment. The state of North Carolina has passed a law, the School Violence Protection Law of 2012, that criminalizes the online "intimidation" or "torment" of teachers.
Sexting in the news headlines again
It is important to make sure that young people understand sexual harassment, and the harm it can cause.
Polls Apart
There may be times when we appear, in this blog, to be swimming very much against the tides as far as our reactions to various internet panics go. It's important to stress that virtually none of these concerns is completely without merit, however, and indeed many pose a genuine threat to the wellbeing of our youth and their communities.
As Another School Year Begins
As the summer ends and another school year begins, parents and educators prepare the supplies to ensure a successful year for our youth. As each year passes, the classrooms and…