Saturday, October 17, 2009

Cyber Bullies


Today I read this article from LDS Living Magazine Stopping Cyber Bullies by Jamie Cline.

After reading the article, I went to the website stopcyberbullying.org.

I am deeply saddened that children can be so cruel to each other. Where do they learn this behavior? In their homes? From their peers?

Have you or your child or a friend been the victim of cyberbullying? If the answer is "Yes," would you care to share your story? You can most definitely remain anonymous.

There were a few occasions where I felt I was being "cyberbullied," but it was nothing compared to what I read today.

I close this post with these words from the song "What The World Needs Now" ...

What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
It's the only thing
That there's just too little of

What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
No not just for some
But for everyone


Peace.

4 comments:

Papa D said...

Honestly, Kalola, I think that anyone who expresses an unpopular opinion (even if only to a minority of commenters) on most group blogs or comment boards that are not tightly moderated (and I am NOT praising tight moderation on all group blogs by saying this) experiences cyber bullying to some degree. The anonymity afforded in a forum like this, where one can hide behind an identity and have a degree of confidence that s/he never will have to defend statements in person, leads naturally to attacks, unfortunately.

Some of the most vicious, hateful things I have read in my life have been written in threads that deal with emotional, controversial topics - and, unfortunately, those comments have come from BOTH sides of the topics.

Kalola said...

Thank you for your comments, Papa D.

Have any of your children been the victims of cyberbullying? If not, do they have any friends who have been cyberbullied? How do they handle the problem?

I would like to know if children discuss this problem with their parents.

As adults, we can, for the most part, shrug off offensive comments, but what about children?

Karine said...

Honestly, I think this is where Parenting should step in. I mean, I don't allow my children on the computer without supervision!
My oldest who is 17 is limited as well. I want them to be out in the world, talking to people face to face... so many kids today will sit right next to each other and text instead of having a real conversation!
I think cyber bullying is something kids think is ok, because they are getting away with it. I Have not had it... nor my children but they have friends who talk about people trashing them on facebook or other popular places that teens go on the internet. I think its sad...but it is probably one step worse than in school or to a person face, because they feel the power to express themselves so plainly and openly. The internet tends to give off a "SAFE" vibe for some reason. Like you can say what you really think freely... Its sad! SO SAD!

Stephanie said...

Bullying in general is something I just don't tolerate. We talk with our children about it a lot - both in preventing them from being bullies and from being bullied. And on how to step in to protect others who are being bullied.

They haven't yet used the internet in a way that would open them up to bullying on the internet. I monitor their usage carefully (for lots of reasons) and plan to continue to (and phone usage). As they grow, I'll give them more leeway, but my objective is to keep them safe.