"The Elephant in the Room"

Hi Everyone!

For some of us the semester is coming to a close and others it's just frenzy all the way around. The last week or so following Black Friday, life has jumped into hyper-drive, every waking moment is filled with something to accomplish and every sleeping moment is spent figuring out the next step. Anyways, let's get away from all that and focus on something that I feel isn't talked about enough. It seems that in our culture people aren't aware of pressing issues until someone dies, a phenomenon happens or news stories are splashed in front of our eyes for more than a 24hr period. None of these occurrences should have to happen in order for our nation, government or school system to wake up to what is really going on. Cyberbullying is a huge issue in our culture today and we need to start taking action to teach our youth the importance of creating safe, respectful online presences for themselves. Unfortunately, cyberbullying is so prominent it causes children to hurt themselves in many ways.

An article I found in the Huffington Post, Cyberbullying: The Elephant in the Room,  talks about Cyberbullying and the rampant movement of people, kids especially, being tormented and eventually leading to a non-reversible act. Many bullies prefer to harass online because it's virtually, no pun intended, anonymous. Today, we have the power to post things without sharing our names. So when someone does throw someone else down hard, it's difficult to figure out who is talking. Personally, I'm glad I didn't get a Facebook page until college. High school was bad enough without social media. 

In a nutshell, as parents, supervisors, guardians, teachers, older siblings etc. we all need to become better role models for those still growing up. We need to be "cyber-shields."  We NEED to be more aware of what is happening on the internet.  Lets inspire our youth to be loving instead of hateful.

To help protect yourself online you can:

- Keep your information private online and keep private information offline altogether
- Report users with abusive comments to website personnel, generally there is a "report user" button on websites that allow comments
- Tell someone you trust if you are being cyber bullied, a teacher, parent, friend or adult who can help
- If you see someone else being cyber bullied tell someone

--Ruth Jackson

It Can Start with You (part 2)

In continuation of my last post, I wanted to talk more about what you can do about bullying. I found this article, Creating a Cyber-Shield Through Parenting and Awareness, on Huffington Post which is directed at parents in particular, but it's a good read for all of us.

Huffington Post has a number of articles surrounding the topic of bullying and this one discusses cyberbullying. Since the beginning of social media, there have been cyberbullies. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, of even here on Blogger. Bullies still say hurtful things in person, but it's become more prevalent to throw even more lashes online. What can you do about it?

The article linked here talks about parents being a "cyber-shield' for their children. Personally, I believe this is a great way to monitor what your children are saying and receiving. There is however, a right and wrong way to do this. As children are growing older, they should be allowed to make decisions on their own, but at the same time be mindful. I love the fact that this piece gives examples and advice to parents in order for them to be a cyber-shield and cyber-role model for their kids.

Growing up, I'm glad I wasn't on Facebook. I was more of a reader and enjoyed playing soccer in my downtime. Even so, keeping young kids away from social media might not be such a bad road to take. The younger they are, the more susceptible they are. While they are in high school, even though bullies can be more vicious here, giving them access to social media, but being a cyber-shield can be beneficial. This gives the tweens and teens ability to talk to one another and share ideas, pictures, videos and even articles. There are some things that texting just isn't capable of doing.

Granted, I don't have kids of my own right now, but I hope when I get to that point I will be able to be an effective cyber-shield for my children. All it takes is for the parent/guardian to understand the implications of bullying and be willing to take the time to teach their child how to behave in person as well as online. It can start with YOU! What will you do in the fight against bullying?

--Ruth Jackson