Phoebe Prince was an Irish teenager who moved from a small town in Ireland to a town in Massachusetts. In the fall of 2009, she enrolled a the local South Hadley High School. Within months, following a brief relationship with a Senior boy, Phoebe was bullied physically at school by abusive students and threatened daily with text messages.
On January 14 2011, Phoebe prince committed suicide at home.
Was there anything that could have been done to prevent her tragic death?
The father of a girl who experienced three years of bullying at the same school claimed that their complaints to the administration brought no satisfaction. It wasn't until Phoebe's death that the school started to put together an anti-bullying task force to deal with the climate of harassment and abuse at the school -- something that, in retrospect, should have been done sooner.
What is Text Message Bullying?
It is the use of mobile phones as an instrument of harassment. Bullies often use "pay as you go" mobile phones purchased over the counter of supermarkets or convenience stores to do their "dirty work." Because no proof of identity is required for the purchase of these phones, perpetrators of bullying by mobile phones are hard to trace.
According to Amy Norton of Reuters, text-message bullying is on the rise. 24 percent of over a thousand middle school and high school students surveyed in 2008 claimed that they had experienced harassment through texting.
Compared with a similar survey conducted with the same students the year before,incidents of text message bullying have risen by 14 percent.
Read more at Text Message Bullying.
Showing posts with label cyberbullying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cyberbullying. Show all posts
Monday, January 9, 2012
Monday, May 11, 2009
Cyberbullying: The New Online Threat
Cyberbullying is fast becoming a serious threat to young people because it can kill. Cases of adolescents committing suicide because of nameless, faceless online threats are becoming a growing concern. A case in point is that involving a male teenager who was bullied because of his sexual orientation. Another case involved a thirteen year old girl whose suicide was the result of a malicious hoax perpetrated by the mother of the victim's friend. According to the National Crime Prevention Center, cases of cyberbullying are on the rise.
What Do Statistics Tell Us about Cyberbullying?
Over 40% of all teenagers with internet access have reported being bullied online. However, only 10% of children bullied reported the incident to their parents. Only 18% of the cases were reported to a local or national law enforcement agency.
While only 9% of children ages 10-17 experienced online threats in 2000, the percentage has risen to 50% by 2008. One possible reason is the increase in use of the internet as a vehicle for socializing and the increased technical dexterity of teenagers who do use the internet.
The most common virtual sites for cyberbullying are chat rooms, social networking sites and instant messaging systems.These are all online communication sites popular with the younger set today. Cell phones and digital cameras are also becoming a growing concern. An increasing number of teenagers are worried that photos may be taken of them without their consent with the use of cell-phone cameras.
What Can Be Done About Cyberbullying?
The best solution is education. The internet is fast becoming a powerful tool for socializing and dissemination of information. Children must be taught the basics of personal privacy, respect for others and consequences of actions. Very often, children are deceived by the sense of anonymity communication over the internet seems to suggest. After all, they can sign in with a different name or use avatars without revealing their own identities. They think that just because their identities are not obvious to the victim, the crime has been "erased."
Parents need to be more vigilant about their children's use of the internet. How often do we really monitor what our teenager is doing at the computer? Adult supervision, as well as intervention, not only helps to educate our young people about a medium that is becoming more and more explosive, it encourages them discern the difference between using a tool for social benefit and using a tool for social aggression.
Like the car and alcohol, the internet is something we, as parents, must own responsibility for in terms of safe use and access by our children.
What Do Statistics Tell Us about Cyberbullying?
Over 40% of all teenagers with internet access have reported being bullied online. However, only 10% of children bullied reported the incident to their parents. Only 18% of the cases were reported to a local or national law enforcement agency.
While only 9% of children ages 10-17 experienced online threats in 2000, the percentage has risen to 50% by 2008. One possible reason is the increase in use of the internet as a vehicle for socializing and the increased technical dexterity of teenagers who do use the internet.
The most common virtual sites for cyberbullying are chat rooms, social networking sites and instant messaging systems.These are all online communication sites popular with the younger set today. Cell phones and digital cameras are also becoming a growing concern. An increasing number of teenagers are worried that photos may be taken of them without their consent with the use of cell-phone cameras.
What Can Be Done About Cyberbullying?
The best solution is education. The internet is fast becoming a powerful tool for socializing and dissemination of information. Children must be taught the basics of personal privacy, respect for others and consequences of actions. Very often, children are deceived by the sense of anonymity communication over the internet seems to suggest. After all, they can sign in with a different name or use avatars without revealing their own identities. They think that just because their identities are not obvious to the victim, the crime has been "erased."
Parents need to be more vigilant about their children's use of the internet. How often do we really monitor what our teenager is doing at the computer? Adult supervision, as well as intervention, not only helps to educate our young people about a medium that is becoming more and more explosive, it encourages them discern the difference between using a tool for social benefit and using a tool for social aggression.
Like the car and alcohol, the internet is something we, as parents, must own responsibility for in terms of safe use and access by our children.
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