A quick peek at young students’ Facebook profiles and a common trend appears: mean statuses written about fellow classmates, with endless comments from other students who are in agreement.
Cyber bullying has been on the rise since the emergence of online networking sites. It can lead to depression, and often suicide.
The question that always comes up is where were the parents? Parents are now faced with the task of teaching their kids how to behave online.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization that has created a website that allows parents to do just that. It is a tool that helps teach parents, teachers, and students the dangers of online bullying. It teaches students how to avoid it, and how to make a stand when they see others doing it. The website tries to address students based on their age level, so there is a separate toolkit for elementary school, middle school, and high school.
It’s not always possible for teachers to monitor students, so it is important that teachers and parents are both involved in the learning process. Unless they are Facebook friends with their kids and students, they often have no way of knowing that online bullying is going on. At least now they can prevent the problem before it happens.
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