Cyberbullying Awareness and Parental Monitoring blog #7

The thing that stands out to me about bullying and cyberbullying is that adults are just as bad as children, if not worse. In the Seven Deadly Sins video, “We Can Destroy You and That’s OK”, Jon Ronson described how easy it was for him to get caught up in negative banter and public shaming on social media. As he no longer shames people publicly, he’s written a book about it. What struck me the most about the Seven Deadly Sins was that folks who are babyboomers, and not millennials have fallen victim to cyberbullying and other internet sins.

Not to throw any political shade, but I can’t stand the constant negative name calling and derogatory Tweets that bombard news feeds and the nightly television news. Then, you have the negative comments, arguments, and opinions that ensue that can get really ugly. My internet diet keeps me away from that mess! Most of it is not worth the read or a response. As an educator, it’s a hard pill to swallow when the adults, especially our political leaders, do not set a good example for our children. And, some of them are the ones who have written or voted for cyberbullying awareness or punishment of cyberbullying crimes. Faucher, Cassidy, and Jackson (2015) researched the difference between bullying, harassment, and cyberbullying in K-12, colleges, and the workplace, and found that it is more than a school-age bullying issue. The authors noted that incivility was on the low end of bullying but had the potential to fester into a much larger problem.

As a parent, I felt it was my job to learn how to monitor and protect my children’s on-line behavior to the best of my ability, and that included using on-line parental controls way back during the time of having a dial up internet service! I also took upon myself to learn about and set up digital monitoring software on our home computer, which was placed in an open spot in the house. I communicated and questioned my sons about some of the inappropriate screen names that some of their “so-called digital friends” had which I sometimes felt inappropriate. Before colleges and potential employers started scouring the internet, I discussed with them what they should and shouldn’t share, and occasionally I still put my two cents in about a post that I think is unflattering!

As an educator, it’s not only my obligation to teach the students about being a good digital citizen, but also the parents. Parents, grandparents, and guardians are providing technology to children without realizing that they need to be taught the rules of this super highway. Just like learning how to drive a real car, there are ruts in the road and one needs to learn how to avoid them, if at all possible.  As educators, we must teach civics and digital citizenship before we start expecting students to use technology at school, starting in elementary school. Teaching civility and empathy is not a one and done type deal. It must be revisited and employed often within our regular classroom instruction. This year, the STEM Instructional Coach put together some digital citizenship lessons and a presentation, which she had me narrate. The lessons require the students to regularly reflect and respond in their STEM Advisory journals after each lesson. The culminating activity will be to produce a poster to hang in their Advisory Classroom.

As the school communications liaison and media specialist, I will share two parental digital awareness sources with parents via the school’s social media sites and my library web page, which will include Digital Awareness for Parents from Stopbullying.gov and PC Magazine’s informative article and reviews of The Best Parent Control Software for 2019 (Rubinking & Moore). I will also share Top Ten Tips for Teens with the students and parents and encourage they discuss the tips and strategies presented in an easy to understand format. Parents and guardians need to be provided with the necessary tools to help curb cyberbullying, which typically takes place away from school.

Sources:

Faucher, Cassidy & Jackson. (2015). From the sandbox to the inbox: Comparing the acts, impacts, and solutions of bullying in K-12, higher education, and the workplace. Journal of Education and Training Studies. doi: https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v3i6.1033

Hinduja & Patchin. (2018). Standing up to cyberbullying: Top ten tips for teens. Retrieved from https://cyberbullying.org/standing-up-to-cyberbullying-tips-for-teens.pdf

Digital awareness for parents. (2017). Stopbullying.gov. Retrieved from https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/digital-awareness-for-parents/index.html

Rubinking & Moore (2019). The best parent control software for 2019. PC Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/240282/the-best-parental-control-software