all the benefits that smartphones, computers and the Web have to offer —
especially for young people who have embraced digital technology and use
it every day — there will always be those who misuse the technology to
harass others, including their peers.
Known as “cyberbullying,” this problem can occur at any time of the day
or night, due to the always-on nature of the devices and technologies
used to create these hurtful interactions. So, for some young people,
home offers no respite from being victimized. In fact, cyberbullying has
beome common enough that the term was recently added to the Concise
Oxford English Dictionary.
While technology can help people monitor the problem, more needs to be
done. A number of organizations worldwide are arming young people and
educators with the tips and tools they need to help create a safer
Cyberbullying and Its Consequences
In their book “Cyberbullying Prevention and Response: Expert
Perspectives,” Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin, co-directors of the
Cyberbullying Research Center, reported that one in five U.S. teens
surveyed was a victim of cyberbullying in 2010. In addition, one in five
teens admitted to being a cyberbully themselves.
While the media typically reports only on the most serious, tragic
cases, Hinduja said such incidents are rare and only scratch the surface
on cyberbullying and its potential long-term consequences.
Hinduja said the research he and Patchin have conducted shows a
connection between cyberbullying and truancy, absenteeism, poor academic
performance, eating disorders, school violence and delinquency.
“This isn’t just a flash-in-the-pan phenomenon, or something you can
relegate to cyberspace. It’s something that has meaningful consequences
for our youth,” Hinduja said. “So, we're trying to understand it better,
and then figure out how we can shape policy and programs.”
Peer Mentoring Online
One program that tackles cyberbullying is CyberMentors , a U.K.-based
project that trains young people to mentor peers who are victims of
The project is offered through Beatbullying, a nonprofit organization
that, since 1999, has placed anti-bullying programs directly into
schools and communities. Founded as an offline resource for young
people, Beatbullying adapted its peer-mentoring program for online use
to give young people a relevant, easy way to receive help.
“What we've been able to do is help any young person who is being
bullied or cyberbullied. They can go online, talk to someone their own
age, and get help immediately, in real time,” said Richard Piggin,
deputy CEO of Beatbullying. “For a lot of young people, we’ve found they
find it to be an invaluable source of support.”
Piggin said to date, the organization has trained 4,500 “cybermentors.”
In the U.K. alone, some 11,000 others have expressed interest in
volunteering their time and mentoring their peers.
“So many young people want to give back and support other children who
are going through this,” Piggin said. “It’s now a question of how we are
able to reach them and who we need to work with to reach all children,
for whom cyberbullying is just as much of a problem as it is for British
Engaging Educators With Generation Safe
Another part of creating a healthy digital environment is providing
educators and parents with the tools they need to navigate the digital
world. Both groups often are unprepared to handle or discuss cybersafety
One such effort is Generation Safe, a project that is part of The
Internet Keep Safe Coalition (iKeepSafe), a nonprofit alliance
comprising more than 100 policy leaders, advocates, educators, law
enforcement officials, and experts in technology and public health.
Generation Safe provides school officials with the training, resources
and expert advice they need to quickly resolve any number of digital
safety issues, including cyberbullying, school hacking, stalking and “sexting.”
The program offers professional development through online videos,
step-by-step actions for dealing with cybersafety incidents, and a
comprehensive self-assessment for schools that wish to evaluate and
quantify their digital safety climate. In addition, these tools are
designed to help reduce cyber-related incidents by addressing
prevention, detection, intervention and post-incident management.
“It's not enough to say ‘stand up and do something,’ ” said Marsali
Hancock, president and CEO of the Internet Keep Safe Coalition. “You
have to say, ‘Stand up, do something, and here are some options.’ ”
Microsoft’s Stand Against Cyberbullying
Microsoft provided startup funds for Generation Safe and announced its
partnership with the project in November 2010 at the International
Bullying Prevention Association’s seventh annual conference in Seattle.
Jacqueline Beauchere, a director in Trustworthy Computing Communications
at Microsoft, said she and others within the company were impressed with
the positive, pre-emptive approach Generation Safe takes toward
“It’s easy to look at an issue like cyberbullying from a negative
position,” Beauchere said. “We wanted to flip it to the positive and
help ensure that we’re giving people the tools and resources they need
to get the best, safest online experience possible.”
Beauchere said Generation Safe is especially important because educators
typically do not receive the training needed to efficiently manage
cyber-related incidents. She pointed to a Microsoft-sponsored study from
the National Cyber Security Alliance released in May 2011 that found 36
percent of teachers in the U.S. had no training in online safety issues
in the last 12 months. In addition, 86 percent said they received fewer
than six hours of training in the last year.
Parents Just Don’t Understand
Teaching adults about digital safety is as important as teaching kids.
Because today, many parents either don’t grasp digital safety issues or
they are embarrassed to discuss technology they don’t understand.
Laura Banks is a mother of three in Derwood, Md., who has taken an
active role in protecting her kids online ever since, in 2005, her
then-seventh-grade son brought a school-provided laptop home.
Banks said that around that time, she began doing research and thinking
more critically about digital misuse and how to help protect kids. She
said it didn’t take her long to see that engaging in the digital world
has real-life consequences and that while kids may have the upper hand
in terms of technical expertise, it’s still up to adults to be good
“Parents need to understand that when you’re giving kids a computer or
smartphone screen, you’re opening them up to an entire world,” Banks
said. “But, if you’re teaching them how to behave and engage and be kind
and respectful and be responsible for their actions in this world, then
that will carry over into their digital world if you make the link that
the two are the same.”
Bridging the Digital Generation Gap
Because many kids often do not receive the digital safety education they
need at home, this responsibility often falls to schools. However, like
some parents today, many of today’s high-level school officials were not
raised in the digital world. So, unlike the kids in their charge, these
administrators are not always as well-versed in digital devices, their
functionality and their potential for misuse.
overcome this digital, generational knowledge gap, some educators have
embraced programs such as Generation Safe to better understand the
digital environment and improve their ability to speak to children about
safety, security, ethics and robust digital health.
Steve Giles is principal at Riverton Elementary, a magnet school for
gifted children in Riverton, Utah.
Giles taught for nine years and has been an administrator for another
17. At 53 years old, however, Giles said he recognizes the gap between
him and his students in terms of digital expertise. To bridge this gap,
he is working to understand how technology is used and misused so that
he can help keep his students as safe as possible.
“As much as I study and as much as I try to be on top of things, these
kids are just so far beyond where I'll ever get,” Giles said.
“Generation Safe allows us to tap into resources, helps us think about
situations that can occur that we haven't even thought about and helps
us be prepared so that we're not always in a reactionary mode.”