Cyber Bullying and Anti-Bullying Measures

You may have heard or read something about Carla Franklin, a previous model with an MBA from an ivy league business school who sued Google and YouTube over an ongoing harassment charge. Her claim is that she is a victim of cyber bullying. Someone used YouTube to post defaming comments about Franklin as well as information about her that would allow someone to track her to her home and/or work. The lawsuit was to try and get Google to release information that could lead to the identity of the individual(s) that posted the information. On Tuesday a judge ordered Google to reveal the names , addresses and phone numbers of the harassers.

This is only one of many similar cases. Most of the cyber bullying cases are not so well known and only make national headlines if it ends in a teen suicide or or some type of legal action being taken against someone that was involved. You may be wondering what exactly is "cyber bullying"? According to Wikipedia, "Cyber bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others". Most often we hear of cases involving Facebook, MySpace, or some other social networking site. But more and more we are hearing about text bullying abuse as well. Let's take a quick look at some of the common types of cyber bullying you may find:

• Someone sending mean messages or threats to a person's email account or cell phone
• Someone spreading rumors about a group or individual through text or online messaging
• Using social networking sites or websites to post hurtful or threatening messages
• Phishing scams to gain access to personal accounts and then using them to send damaging messages
• Using a false identity online to try and hurt someone else
• Spreading unflattering pictures of someone online or through text messaging
• Sexting; circulating sexually suggestive pictures or messages about a person

One of the major problems with cyber bullying is that it spreads like wildfire. A message that may have been meant for only one or two people can quickly spread to dozens, hundreds, or potentially millions of people. Not only does the information spread quickly, but permanently disposing of the pictures and/or massages is almost impossible. This can cause even more teen anxiety knowing that the pictures or messages could resurface at any time. Another issue is finding out who is behind the bullying.  Privacy acts make it difficult to obtain any information about who publishes anything online.

Some anti-bullying measures you can take to help your teens include:

• Talking to your teen about cyber bullying and the very damaging consequences associated with it
• Encourage teens to tell an adult at the first sign of any cyber bullying
• Have them keep cyber bullying messages as proof
• If the situation can't be resolved quickly try blocking the sender from messaging you
• Make sure your teen knows to never give their password to anyone besides their parents
• Talk to them about never sharing personal information through any type of text messaging, chat programs, email, social networking sites, etc. with someone they only know online
• Keep computers in a public room, don't allow Internet access in a bedroom or other private place

Be vigilant and involved in your teens life, even if they are bugged by all your rules and questions. Their safety and well-being should be your number one priority.