New Media: beating cyberbullies at their own game
With advances in technology, individuals can use it for good or for evil. An unfortunate result of online communication is cyberbullying.
Today CNN is featuring a success story in which a bulled teen was able to turn the tables by using new media aganst her attackers. A video of a student being filmed was posted on Social Media sites YouTube and CNN ireport. The video received many views, including one by a local reporter, who notified the authorities. A clip to the video can be viewed here.
Cyberbullying is a term that can relate to many things: A chat room discussion. Fake profiles on a social networking site. Unflattering video or image posts. Hurtful instant messages. These are all ways to harass, ridicule, embarrass or threaten another person.
The problem is that what used to happen on school grounds has spread to the masses. Cyberbullies can enroll other students to join in that may normally not be an active participant on school grounds. The end result that unseen people who wouldn’t normally bully don’t take it as seriously because there is an sense of anonymity behind a keyboard or mobile device. As we’ve seen in recent headlines, the end result of Cyberbulling can be deadly.
A national law enforcement survey released some alarming statistics. Their poll of children and teens found that one in three teens and one in six preteens have been victims of cyber bullying. Estimates show that more than 13 million children aged 6 to 17 were victims of cyber bullying. Read more for some additional alarming statistics:
— One-third of all teens (12-17) and one-sixth of children ages 6-11 have had mean, threatening or embarrassing things said about them online.
— 10 percent of the teens and four percent of the younger children were threatened online with physical harm.
Most alarming statistic? More than 2 million of those victims did not report the cyberbullying.
Through social media, the victim was able to use the same tools in order to report the problem. Well done.
Coldfeet619's Blog 
on December 13, 2009 on 1:46 am
Cyberbullying deserves much more attention and when discovered the perpetrators should face severe penalties. What frustrates me is that the parents of the bullies often try to deflect the quilt back to the victim or as a last ditch effort try to minimize the problem by saying “kids will be kids” or maybe go as far as to say “I didn’t know what was going on.” That is the point – new and emerging media can and should be viewed as powerful tools and parents need to be aware of what their children are doing with it, and what is being directed at their children from others.
Good stats. Thanks!
on December 16, 2009 on 3:17 pm
That video brings a lot of emotions to the surface. As the parent of young children, I hate to think that they might one day be the target of a bully. I’m glad that kids have camera phones and other tech to record bullies in action and the ability to quickly contact someone to help them. I just wrote a post about GPS tech for marketing. I think keeping kids safe is a much better application.
-John