Bill Belsey president of www.bullying.org. the world’s most-visited and referenced website about bullying presented the keynote speech at the NCAB conference.

The Canadian educator said adults need to stop thinking about mobile phones as phones. To kids they are mobile, multi-media, Internet-ready computers.

Cyberbullying is about people and relationships – not technology.

Cyberbullying is different because:

• Affects youth far more than adults
• Internet encourages dis-inhibition because there’s no direct contact between bully and victim
• The speed
• Audience is as large as the Internet itself
• The bullies believe they can hide behind the anonymity (although we an find almost anyone, anywhere.)
• Kids generally don’t want to report it – want to be a dobber, lose access or have parents make it worse. Being a dobber is the worst thing a teen can be called.

Why do kids do it?

The “Lord of the flies” effect – The nicest kids will say the most awful things after a little while of anonymous publishing/ power. Its a perfect storm of factors because kids are “in the moment, using technologies that are of the moment”:

1. Teenage brain in flux – not matured until early 20s – no sobering second thoughts- kids operate “in the moment”,
2. Favourite technologies are synchronous, instant – they’re “of the moment”.

Cyber-socialising begins early – Club Penguin attracts pre-schoolers up.

Kids have a sense of entitlement – “they all want their 15 megabytes of fame”.

The thrill of anonymity and freedom- no adults to tell them what to do

Absence of adults to set boundaries and monitor behaviours.”

Kids are looking for “their space”. (If they don’t find it in physical space they’ll find it online.)

Focus has been on traditional bullying. Cyberbullying has gone under the radar.

What can parents and teachers do about it?

• Reinforce “think before you click” to kids.
• Understand that bullying behaviours are sophisticated-solutions need to be too – it’s not just about filters.
• Don’t chase technology – pull down a site, another pops up.
• Accept that control is a fallacy.
• Parents need to become more engaged.
• Prepare strategies (scripts) for kids to default to when bullying occurs.
• Set reasonable expectations for behaviours.
• Be open with kids, establish a relationship of trust – encourage kids to come to you with problems.
• Keep Internet access out of the bedroom
• Try to get kids to share their blogs and profile with you – connect with their world. Be aware they can have multiple accounts that you may not see.
• Get kids to think about their digital reputations – what you put on the Internet you can’t take back.
• Model appropriate use of the Internet and technologies (are you checking mobile messages all the time, etc?)
• Become engaged with their online activities
• Secure home wireless networks.

Cyberbullying and schools

• Teachers aren’t always trained at university about how to deal effectively with bullying.
• Why is it a teacher’s problem – because kids who are scared can never reach their full potential. It mightn’t happen at school but it affects school.
• It’s also a health, community and wellness issue – not just a school issue. Parent and community groups need to work with schools.
• Blocking and banning doesn’t work because they can access internet so many ways.

Tags: Belsey, bullying, NCAB

This entry was posted on Friday, April 9th, 2010 at 11:33 am and is filed under Research & Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.