Nelson Muntz in cyber space
Cyberbullying November 19th, 2007Today’s bullies don’t just want your lunch money, they want to trash your reputation.
Yikes this was the first line of an article by Elissa Baxter in ‘The Age Online’ titled: “Cyber intimidation and the art of bullying.” I’d hoped my first foray into the world of blogging would have had a more positive tone, however this article and several similar recent articles piqued my interest:
What is the impact of cyber bullying?
What are we doing in response? What can we do in response?
What can we do legally?
What is the impact of cyber bullying?
In Baxter’s article, she quotes a 16 year old student who was a victim of cyber bullying, using SMS: “One of the things I found so upsetting was that after I had been bullied, home was no longer a refuge….You can be at home or at the shops, anywhere really, and be getting threatening messages. You don’t know where the bully might be so you don’t know if you’re in danger. You really have no idea what’s happening.” To not feel safe in ones own home is shocking to me. Cyberbullying is sneaky and could be considered more insidious than the more traditional form of physical bullying. And who is this bully? The modern bully is no longer the Nelson Muntz character of the Simpsons (Bart’s chief protagonist), as Melanie Epstein noted, “our preliminary research shows that students who bully online are not the same children who bully face-to-face….It’s anonymity that is the key to it - they don’t think they’re going to get caught.” Clearly there seems to be a perception that with anonymity “personal responsibility is diminished, so antisocial things can occur.”
The traditional type of bullying typically occurred between students i.e. both the perpetrator and the victim were students. With cyberbullying this is no longer the case, teachers are often the victims, and with the anonymous nature of these attacks, the perpetrator could be a student, colleague or even a parent. Many of the recent law suites in the states have been education departments defending their staff, the victims of cyberbullying. More often than not, they have been unsuccessful on the grounds of ‘freedom of speech’.
What are we doing in response? What can we do in response?
Clearly cyberbullying is different to traditional bullying, and as such must be handled differently. While the bullying often occurs outside the school, we are not absolved of responsibility. This would be hypocritical since we constantly promote that cyberspace provides an extension to our classrooms. So what can we do:
o Develop a clear and comprehensive ‘Technology Code of Conduct’. Our code includes a paragraph :
The school expects that students will not publish inappropriate materials. Inappropriate publishing includes, but is not limited to, personal attacks, harassment, illegal activities, and publishing private or personal details. This information should not be posted on any network. (I like the wording, but it is not clear that this policy covers infractions both on and OFF campus)
o Raise awareness through a CYBERBULLYING poster campaign around the computer labs. I particularly like a strategy used atWilliam Penn School to tweak a student’s conscience, the IT Director placed a mirror in a lab, bearing the caption “Are you a cyber bully?” with action steps for kids who think they’re victims as well.
o Present the ‘Cyberbullying-Talent Show’ video on assembly, and speak about the associated issues, implications of cyberbullying and consequences for both the victims and perpetrators. If you haven’t seen the video, it’s worth the 52seconds to watch it.
o Educate faculty by speaking at meetings, advocating that we are responsible for ensuring all curriculum areas promote positive peer relationships, communication and social skills.
o Where possible, know when bullying has occurred. This is easier said than done, when students are operating within a ‘Code of Silence’ (or is that Cone of Silence?). We are now trialling monitoring hardware that tracks key words that are associated with cyberbullying.
What can we legally do in response?
Scott McLeod over at Dangerously Irrelevent created a fascinating multi-media presentation “Administrators Guide to CyberBullying” (about 20 minutes long), while focussing on laws and cases within the US legal system, it looks at students’, teachers’ and school’s legal rights and precedents with regard to CyberBulling. In this presentation, Scott identifies 5 principles:
- School have an affirmative obligation to protect students and/or employees from harassing, threatening and/or bullying conduct.
- The default rule is that student speech in schools is protected.
- Schools may discipline students for out-of-school conduct that substantially interferes with the normal operations of the school.
- If they have a strong acceptable use policy, schools can regulate student cyberspeech if done during school time and/or using school computers.
- Schools have more leeway with employees
Malaysian law considers cyberbullying a crime, under Section 211 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998: “No content applications service provider, or other person using a content applications service, shall provide content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person.”
While I have much to learn about blogging, I guess the best way to start is to jump in head first. I hope this first post promotes discussion about Cyberbullying and even better some action.
Below are some recent news articles as well as some links to sites addessing the issue:
POKIN AROUND: A real person, a real death
Cyber intimidation and the art of bullying
Cyber Bullying: No Muscles Needed
http://www.bullyingnoway.com.au/
www.cyberbullying.org
www.stopcyberbullying.org
November 19th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
We had an interesting discussion about internet safety with the 6th grade parents last week. It is evident that parents are concerned about the safety of their kids on-line. Parental education, and discussion opportunities such as the 6th grade tea, are important ways to also combat (and communicate) about internet issues, including cyberbullying.
Some basic home guidelines include regulating computer time, ensuring that computer (& TV) time is only after homework is done, and making sure the machines stay in public places — not hidden in bedrooms. While this doesn’t address the SMS bullying as much, it can help some students be accountable, knowing that parents may be looking over their shoulder.
Fortunately, as I recall from my (US) school law class, private schools have much more leeway in terms of regulating student speech, as the students (and school) make a choice to attend the school and funding isn’t based on tax dollars.
But beyond all that, creating a school culture where bullying (of any kind) isn’t tolerated, and values of respect and courtesy are important, is essential in dealing with issues of harassment.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:25 am
I find myself in agreement with most of the blogger’s thoughts and arguments, but would like to make three main comments:
The suggestions put forward by the blogger and a commenter will face one massive problem - being taken seriously. The poster campaigns and videos during assemblies face the major risk of desensitizing the student body to the issue; rather than taking the issue as something worth thinking about, they are far more likely to joke about the “stupid kid who over reacted about a stupid text message.” For that reason, especially as students reach their “anti-authority” age where it is difficult to indoctrinate them, I do not think that this route should be pursued. At this level, awareness campaigns do indeed raise awareness, but mostly as a joke.
It was also stated that trials are being conducted which will track keywords that are associated with cyberbullying. Though this may prove to be an effective solution, student resentment is almost guaranteed. Even with resentment, this solution tackles the issue of kids not ratting out on their classmates, and therefore being bullied even more. It would also allow for a very firm and practical policy to be set by an administration. The key point would be defendability to students, parents, and all community members. If the administration is willing to back this, and develop a reasonable line of argument that can appeal to the majority of the community members, then this is probably a step worth taking. I think the biggest problem this will be the resentment, and developing a system that filters cyberbullying without invading anyone’s privacy. The resentment will not be targeted to the act itself, it will be far more focused on the lost sense of privacy.
On a deeper level, there is something very unsettling about having to intervene and externally force this kind of change. Firstly, this means that if any changes occur, it will be far less sincere than it should be. Secondly, it demonstrates a flaw within the community to create these perpetrators in the first place; perhaps they are inevitable. Either way, it seems that a solution which only offers accountability and punishment will not fix the problem into the future. For that, the cause for the cyberbullying will have to be addressed in the solution. This will require far more thought and time.
November 20th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
It is an issue that is not going away.
Two things:
1. It is important to be aware that as we make this very real issue a priority with parents, it does “over inflate” the frequency of it. In reality, it happens less than we think, hence the kids not taking it seriously, but the single anecdotes we tell when it does happen are so bad that they scare parents (with reason). This is not to say that we take it lightly or blow it off, but it is something to bring up with parents as you share these instances.
2. As addressed in the second comment, it is not just about helping kids protect themselves, but also about teaching children from a young age to use the communication tools responsibly. Responsible use is as important as personal safety and needs to be in any conversation with kids about cyber-safety. Ultimately, bullying in any form has little to do with technology and lots to do with personal difficulties, peer pressure and life issues. Get the counseling department involved. They can’t farm this off as a “tech” issue.
Educators don’t have a choice to teach responsible use. It’s our obligation.
November 20th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Akef,
I totally agree that students will ‘likely joke about the stupid kid who over reacted about a stupid text message’. I don’t believe this is necessarily a bad thing, more likely just an immediate reaction in front of their peers. I also believe that cyberbullying would typically occur not in front of peers, but rather when the student is alone at home. It’s at these moments of weakness that I’d like to think they’d pause and think about the video, its message and the consequences of their actions, if only for a split second before clicking the send button.
As a student, your perspective on this offers invaluable feedback, thanks for the comment.
Chad
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:48 am
I’ve found that the earlier you can talk about these things with kids the more likely they are to stick. We are currently having these conversations with grade 4 and 5 students who for the most part are not that wired to their friends and social networks. These messages resonate with them and their strong sense of fairness and it is our hope that they are recalled when they get to middle school and have to deal with these new realities of their social world.
Great first post Chad!