Entries Tagged 'cyberbullying' ↓

The QLD Government has just released a toolkit Working Together, A toolkit for parents to address bullying aimed at parents and teachers so they are better equipped to deal with bullying.

Education and Training Minister Geoff Wilson said “This toolkit for parents complements the toolkit for schools released earlier this year. Most importantly the toolkit has been informed by the questions asked by parents during the Action Against Bullying Education Series conducted across Queensland by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg.”

The National Centre Against Bullying defines 5 different types of bullying:

1. Physical bullying, including hitting, poking, tripping, pushing or damaging someone’s belongings.
2. Verbal bullying, involving name calling, insults, homophobic or racist remarks and verbal abuse.
3. Social bullying, where lies or rumours are spread, or someone plays a nasty joke, mimics, or deliberately excludes someone else.
4. Psychological bullying, where someone is threatened, manipulated or stalked.
5. cyber bullying, where someone uses technology (for example, email, mobile phone, chat rooms or social networking sites) to bully verbally, socially, or psychologically.

The toolkit gives parents information on how to identify various types of bullying, including cyber bullying, methods of dealing with bullying and how to work with schools to keep their child safe.

Mr Wilson said the toolkits were just one initiative of the Queensland Schools Alliance Against Violence (QSAAV), formed in February 2010 to provide advice on best practice measures to address bullying and violence in schools.

“In addition to the toolkit for parents Dr Carr-Gregg has recorded a series of informative webisodes on bullying and their role in supporting their children and working with schools,” Mr Wilson said.

The 6 webisodes are readily available through the Department of Education and Training (DET) website and the topics covered are:

• What is bullying?
• What are the signs your child may be bullied?
• How do you support your child?
• How can you work with the school?
• What if your child is the bully?
• What is cyber-bullying?

 Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, adolescent psychologist and Generation Next speaker said “many bullies don’t know at a conscious level, that their behaviours are abusive, but unconsciously they know they are taking away the target’s power. Australian research says that 1 in 6 students are bullied weekly and are bothered by it. 54% of Year 7 students say they feel unsafe at school.”

Mr Wilson concluded by saying “It is a positive and practical outcome for schools and parents that will help them to keep children safe in our schools.” he said.

Working Together, A toolkit for parents to address bullying and the 6 webisodes can be found here: http://education.qld.gov.au/studentservices/behaviour/qsaav/index.html

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha
Source: Queensland State Government; Department of Education and Training

Cyber Safety expert Susan McLean describes cyber-bulllying in the following terms:

“cyber-bullying can be described as any harassment, insults and humiliation that occurs through the electronic mediums such as email, mobile phones, social networking sites, instant messaging programs, chat rooms, web sites and through the playing of online games.”

What you can do to help a child who is being cyber bullied.

• Do not get angry with your child – remember they are the victim and it is someone else doing the wrong thing.
• Praise them for coming to you – this is a big step as most children are frightened to tell a parent about cyber-bullying.
• Save and store the emails, chat logs or SMS’s in case of police investigation.
• Help your child to block and delete the bully from all contact lists.
• Do not respond to nasty emails, chats, SMS’s or comments – this is what the bully wants so ignore them. (They will need your help to do this)
• Use the ‘report abuse’ button which all websites/applications have. Tell them the problems you are having and they are obligated to investigate.
• Have some ‘down time’ without computer or mobile (do not do this as punishment, rather as some peaceful time where they are not being bothered)
• If unwanted contact continues, consider deleting emails, msn, hotmail etc and start a new account. Only give your details to a small list of trusted friends.
• Get a new phone number if being harassed on your phone. Report the problem to your phone company and insist on a new number for free.
• Inform your child’s school. It is important that they know what is going on so that they can monitor any issues at school, and
• If ongoing report to the police. Each state has laws that prohibit online bullying and stalking. You don’t have to put up with it.

For more information go to Cybersafetysolutions.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Susan McLean – Cybersafetysolutions

headspace is supporting this series of national seminars relating to the health and wellbeing of young people.

The next Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young People 2010 Seminar will be held in Sydney on Friday September 10, 2010

WHAT: Topics this year include major and current issues

• Cyber-bullying
• Drugs and Alcohol
• Body Image & Eating Disorders
• Teen Depression
• Resilience
• Sexualisation, Consumerism, the Media and Mental health

Feedback from our previous event:
• ”It was very insightful. I got such a lot out of hearing from the wonderful line up of speakers you organised for us. I congratulate you on putting such a powerful line-up and message together.”
• “Thank you again for organising such a great event- it was a wonderful success and hopefully the start of many more in the future!”
• “Congratulations and thank you on a well informed and planned conference. My colleague and I loved it. I know next year I would like to send my middle years staff.”
• “The day was a very valuable one and I know that there will be more teachers from our school attending the next one.”
• “The conference speakers were engaging and stimulating and to be honest I have thought of little else since…! It was extremely uplifting to listen to people who love what they do, who are passionate about young people, passionate about their area of expertise and who are generous enough to share their knowledge, insights and understanding to improve the lives of others. Congratulations to everyone involved, I for one have been moved into action and inspired to act!”
• “Thanks once again for such a wonderful conference. I got so much out of it. I plan to use much of the info I gained on the day on a whole school basis. It’s great to have practical info that can be adapted to a school setting.”
• “It was a terrific seminar and every speaker was dynamic and to the point, well worth having a second one. I will share the details with colleagues.”
• “It was wonderful to learn in such a funny and stimulating way. The power of humour…! I will tell all colleagues about what a great professional event it was and how they can possibly get to the next one.”
• “Thank you for your vision, passion and dedication for the wellbeing of young people.”
•  “It was a terrific seminar and every speaker was dynamic and to the point, well worth having a second one. I will share the details with colleagues.”
• “Again thank you for a wondrous seminar.”
• “I will promote the next conference for you, as last week was fantastic!”
• “Thanks for putting on a great conference.”
•  “Thank you so much for your part in organising the wonderful event…..It was inspiring to hear such a collection of speakers on the one program, all most informative and entertaining. I …. shall be passing on the information to others.”
•  “The event WAS wonderful and I am happy to see that you are hosting another so soon.”

 
95% of the delegates felt that the seminar was definitely worth attending

Australia’s leading experts in one event:
• Michael Carr-Gregg, Adolescent Psychologist and Beyondblue Ambassador
• Dr Sloane Madden, Expert in Body Image and Eating Disorders, The Children’s Hospital, Westmead
• Paul Dillon, Drug and Alcohol Research and Training
• Susan McLean, Cyber safety Expert
• Lyn Worsely, Psychologist, Developer of The Resilience Doughnut
• Evelyn Field, Psychologist, Author of Bully blocking, National Centre Against Bullying
• Dr Ramesh Manocha, GP, Mental Health Researcher, University of Sydney

For Education, Health and Welfare Professionals:

“The Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young People 2010″.
Date: Friday, September 10, 2010
Venue: Mathews Lecture Theatre, University of New South Wales, Randwick, Sydney
Time: 9am-5pm

To look at the full programme, download the brochure or register go to Generation Next

Or phone 1300 797 794

Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha

We read the story – about an 11 year old girl in the US, Jessi Slaughter, who received a tirade of threats after posting a video of herself on YouTube.

We saw the pictures – the freeze frame of what looked like a traumatised child in her bedroom in floods of tears.
 
On the surface it looked like she was the victim of yet another case of cyber-bullying led by a group of ‘trollers’ – people who use the internet to deliberately provoke reactions by baiting their victims.

“How can we let this happen to an innocent young child?” we all said!

Jessi’s post is at Watch Haters… Piercing… StickyDrama =D here see all 4 minutes and 36 seconds of her rant – but be warned despite the fact Jessi is only 11 years old, the language is extremely graphic.

She has an attitude which is way beyond her years and completely defies logic or a sense of reality. She tells her ‘haters’ to “suck her nonexistent p…s. Suck it and get AIDS and die,” and ends her video post with “it’s a big f*** to all those haters, OK”.

It seems that her actions invited negative attention and provoked a backlash. Perhaps she was not aware that posting a video, filled with expletives, onto the internet would create such commotion. It reinforces the importance of parental supervision regarding teenage activities on the net, it also highlights the need for education about the harmful effects of new media in school as well.

Leading adolescent psychologist, Generation Next speaker and author of “Real Wired Child” Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, points out that “parents need to understand that there are potential dangers in life not just in the technology but also in young people’s inability to always predict the consequences of their actions.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Public Education and Media Education states that “the American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes that exposure to mass media (i.e., television, movies, video and computer games, the Internet, music lyrics and videos, newspapers, magazines, books, advertising, etc) presents both health risks and benefits for children and adolescents.”

They feel that educating both young people and parents is very important and that “media education has the potential to reduce the harmful effects of media. By understanding and supporting media education, pediatricians can play an important role in reducing the risk of exposure to mass media for children and adolescents.” (American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Public Education. Media Education. Pediatrics. 1999;104:341–3).       

Her behaviour seemed aggressive and quite bizarre; being under the impression that she was some kind of celebrity with fans.

“You hater bitches, you’re just jealous of me because I’m more pretty than you. More people like me, I have more fans, yeh and all that shit” I’m perfect and you’re not. No one can be this pretty with no make-up on… Just stop hating on me. I’m just a normal girl who’s perfect in every way.” 

So where were her parents in all this and why were they not aware of their daughter’s behaviour? Her mother said she doesn’t use the computer and hasn’t seen the clip, while her father added to the furore by posting a rant of his own.

Dr Helen McGrath – a contributor to the Commonwealth Government’s Cyber-safety Joint Committee commented that it was unrealistic to expect parents to keep an eye on their children 24/7 and that the burden lay with schools to give young people the tools to look after themselves.

“It really comes back down to making sure they understand what they’re getting into,” she said.

However Professor Matt Warren, the head of Deakin University’s School of Information Systems said a “child isn’t ethically aware of what they’re doing,” they are too young to understand the implications of what they are “getting into”.

He added “parents will be concerned about their child going out all hours, but they don’t care about them staying on the internet all hours.”

If ever parents needed a reason to censor their children’s internet activities, Jessi Slaughter is it. 

Cyber bullying is a real concern and for more information you can access either:

Cybersmart   or  Cybersafetysolutions

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: news.com

25% of students are bullied at school
95% of students are bulled more than once

A new study just released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found that there is compelling evidence that young people who indulge in bullying at school go on to participate in further anti-social behaviour as they get older. This includes taking drugs, criminal acts and violent tendencies.

“Those who bullied in adolescence were three to four times more likely to be involved in anti-social behaviour and physical violence by their early 20s,” Dr. Lodge said.

“It seems that once they’re on this trajectory or pathway, it’s something that stays with them into adulthood.”

On the other hand, young people who have been victims of bullying are more likely to suffer from depression, higher absenteeism, lower academic achievement, physical and somatic symptoms, anxiety and depression, social dysfunction, and alcohol abuse in later life.

“What we found with the victims is that once they were established in this role, abuse was likely to continue,” Dr. Jodie Lodge said.

“They also experienced a number of social adjustment problems during adolescence and by their early 20s, were more likely to have higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress.”

Adolescent psychologist and Generation Next speaker, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said “we know bullying has been linked with self-harm and attempts at suicide so it’s a very, very serious issue and we need to address it.”

In Australia, there is currently no agreed definition for bullying; however, the most commonly cited definition is the ‘repeated oppression, psychological or physical harm, of a less powerful person by a more powerful person or group of persons’ (DEST 2006).

Bullying often occurs because of differences between the bullies and the victims, such as culture, ethnicity, age, ability or disability, religion, body size and physical appearance, personality, sexual orientation, and economic status (Rigby 2009).

The researchers found that bullying differs between males and females; both engaged in verbal abuse and insults with boys taking it to a physical level by becoming physically violent while girls tended to operate on a more indirect/covert psychological and emotional level, through social isolation and smear campaigns (texting, SMS and cyber bullying).
 
Dr. Lodge, who presented the findings at a conference recently, said the study followed 1,000 young people at 3 points in their lives; when they were 12 years old, again at 13 years of age and finally once more when they had entered adult life at the age of 23 years old.

She concluded that bullies tended to perform poorly academically and were more likely to drop-out of school, while both bullies and victims suffered academic and social problems and generally had fewer friends.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Australian Institute of Family Studies

Both the medical and teaching professions are learning more about the damaging effects of ‘sexting’ and cyber bullying. They are also learning how to deal with the impact that new technologies are having on teenagers. 

Leading experts including Cyber safety expert Susan McLean, adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg and medical professional Dr Ramesh Manocha have come together for a series of seminars being held all around Australia.

These Seminars, organised by HealthEd, bring teachers and doctors up to speed on the rapidly changing ‘online’ world that teenagers are living in. The seminars highlight the dangers of emerging new technologies and how they are harming our teenagers on a physical mental, emotional and spiritual level. In fact all aspects of young people’s well being are under attack.

Doctors and health professionals are attending The Mental Health & Wellbeing of Young People seminars which focus on the internet’s potential effect on mental health among young people, and the harmful effect cyber bullying is having on teenagers including, depression, addiction and suicide.

Dr Ramesh Manocha said “cyber bullying is emerging as the main issue in schools at the moment, and the evidence clearly indicates that it is not only an unpleasant experience but in fact poses a risk the mental health and wellbeing of the victim”.

“It’s a clear example of how technology in the hands of those without the necessary maturity and understanding can become an unchecked, destructive force. We urgently need to educate our young people about how to use the internet positively while avoiding its many pitfalls” he added.

Dr Manocha said there was an ignorance in medical circles about these new teen troubles “most GPs don’t know enough to even ask the questions of young people, whether they are being exposed to the negative impacts of the internet”.

Increasingly teenagers are seeking the help of GPs and psychologists after becoming victims of cyber bullying. Ms McLean pointed out that doctors needed to understand online issues in order best treat their patients.

“You don’t want doctors to talk about Mybook and FaceSpace (instead of MySpace and Facebook),” she said.

Teachers and social workers are attending Generation Next Public Seminars which offer anyone involved in working with young people the opportunity to hear leading experts discuss the dangers of the internet and its ‘antisocial’ uses by our young people.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, an adolescent psychologist and author of Real Wired Child: What parents need to know about kids online said “schools need to help young people develop their moral compass as they stroll through the back alleys of ‘Cyberia’. While most adults can relate to schoolyard bullying, they have no context for understanding how the behaviour manifests itself in the virtual world”.

Former Senior Constable with the Victorian police and Cyber Safety expert Susan McLean said “previously schools did not become involved in things that occurred ‘out of hours.’ It was not their business or concern, however with cyber bullying, harassment and sexting, where the parties involved are often from within the same school or neighbouring schools, the problem is firmly thrust into the hands of the school accompanied by the often unrealistic expectations from parents, that they ‘solve’ the problem”.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.

Source: HealthEd

The emergence of a new website based in America, but very popular with Australian teenagers, is causing great concern among Cyber safety experts. The site FormSpring.Me allows people to leave anonymous messages about other people. Since its inception last November it has gained a following of 12 million members worldwide.

Users create accounts which can be liked to both Twitter and Facebook. Users can also now access the website through their mobile phones, allowing them to access contacts and send anonymous, and if they wish, abusive messages from wherever they might be.

The site also allows users to post questions and write responses anonymously. It is that anonymity that is encouraging cyber bullies, experts said.

Former cyber-safety project officer with the Victoria Police and Generation Next speaker Susan McLean said “it’s becoming problematic – more people are joining it and more people are abusing it”.  She added kids don’t go there to be positive, the only thing that they use it for is to wreak havoc on someone else’s life.”

The website describes itself as a way to use “fun, conversational Q&A” to “help you express yourself and learn more about the people you care about”. The site also has Cyber-bullying guidelines but they are obviously being ignored by many of the users.

It says:
“Be respectful. Using Formspring to bully, attack, harass or threaten others will not be tolerated in our community. Cyber-bullying is a criminal offense in many places, and we will work with local authorities to track down abusive accounts through IP addresses or other means if harassment is found.”

Ms McLean said she has dealt with many calls by concerned parents and teachers and also by teenagers who have received distressing messages through the website.

“A year 8 girl had set up this horrendous … chat, where everyone was saying ‘Katie’s a fat pig, Sarah’s a slut,’ all that sort of stuff,” said Ms McLean.

In America FormSpring.Me has been linked to at least one suicide, with 17-year-old Alexis Pilkington killing herself as a result of several hurtful messages about her were posted.

In Australia Sydney teenager Teagan Christodoulou, said she was invited to set up a FormSpring.Me account through social networking site Facebook.

“Five weeks later a girl started saying really nasty things about me,” she said.

“Teagan is a backstabbing slut,” read one of the anonymous posts.

“It was upsetting. I always thought I was pretty much friends with everyone,” Teagan said.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Herald Sun. FormSpring.Me website

• Victorian Government to introduce new anti-bullying laws
• 600 intervention court orders this year against children
• New laws to focus on mediation
• 10% of Australian teenagers are victims of cyber-bullying

The changes come at a time when more children are taking out intervention orders against other children in an attempt to deal with the growing number of cases of school bullying, especially cyber-bullying.

Former cyber-safety project officer with the Victoria Police and Generation Next speaker, Susan McLean said the increase in cyber-bullying at schools meant that the student’s concerns needed to be resolved immediately in order to avoid long term trauma for the victims.

If these new laws are to be effective they must be supported by extensive training in cyber-bullying for all mediators, school councillors and teachers.

“They can’t wait six weeks for mediation – that would defeat the purpose,” Ms McLean said. “As an adult, if someone sends you something nasty you delete it. Children read and re-read.”

There are also concerns that teachers are not equipped to deal with both the increased cases of bullying and the nature it is now taking, which includes cyber-bullying, stalking and acts of violence including the use of weapons.

Research carried out by online bullying expert Dr Spears, a senior lecturer at the University of South Australia surveyed 700 student teachers “we know pretty well all universities are giving pre-service teachers behaviour management courses, but we need to focus on the specifics of how you help somebody. If a child comes to me then what do we do?” Dr Spears said.

“If we’re looking for a whole school community response (to cyber-bullying) then we can’t ignore the people training to be teachers.”

“There’s an understanding that these young people are digital natives, online and offline their worlds are one and the same,” she said.

“The fact is nothing is private online,” Dr Spears said. “If the information is there it can be accessed. Young people need to realise once it is there it is there forever.”

For this reason, it was important for Internet users to adopt the rule of thumb: What goes online stays online, she said.

The National Centre Against Bullying is also calling for all student teachers to receive compulsory and comprehensive training in both bullying prevention and bullying management during their training.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: National Centre Against Bullying.

For some time now experts have been warning about the dangers of social network sites and how some teenagers are being manipulated into situations they cannot handle by the people they are chatting to. Studies show that teenagers are often happy to provide their personal information to complete strangers.

Many adolescents feel in control of the situation when they are on the net; they can log on and off when they want, answer a question in their own time and say things they wouldn’t say in a face to face situation. The internet seems safe because it is anonymous, removed from reality and there is no emotional investment.

Unfortunately, Sydney teenager Nona Belomesoff, found out that making new friends on the social networking site Facebook is anything but safe. She was allegedly lured to her death by a man who fabricated his Facebook profile. Claiming to work for WIRES, Christopher James Dannevig then invited her to an overnight camp to study wildlife.

Mr Belmosesoff (Nona’s brother) said ”he said he worked there and he could get her a job, she loved animals and saw this as an opportunity to follow her dream.” Her in experience of real life and a misplaced trust in the internet led her to believe the alleged words of Dannevig.

Author and Generation Next speaker Maggie Hamilton says “girls may not realise they are being carefully groomed to do things they had no intention of doing when their cyber relationship began”.

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally agreed “No matter what our age … we should be careful of the people who we meet online and not assume that they are who they represent themselves to be.”

Unfortunately many young people still seem unaware of the predators that trawl the internet looking for vulnerable teenagers who have not yet had enough experience in the world to realise the dangers of befriending people over the internet.

Also many people, teenagers and parents alike, are not aware of the changed privacy settings on Facebook which automatically publishes previously private information and has now made formerly default private settings public. Users now have to change 50 different settings to stop the site from sharing private information with third parties. They have to consciously choose not to accept the new “Instant personalisation” feature.

Social media strategist Laurel Papworth said” Sometimes people see the message [about the new settings] on their screen, and they click OK without fully understanding that the message Facebook told them about changing their settings … to these new default settings.”

It is important for parents and guardians to be aware of their teenagers activities on the internet and keep the lines of communication open, Papworth says “the first thing parents should say is, ‘I’m not going to take your Facebook access away. I want you to know that if you see anything on Facebook that you don’t like or you are worried about or anybody contacts you or anything, I want you to come and talk to me about it.’

In an unparalleled move, Police in Australia have urged users to remove photos of themselves from their profiles. Det Supt Peter Crawford of Taskforce Argos, the unit which hunts online predators, said “I don’t think kids need to have a profile photograph on the internet”.

Facebook, via their head offices in the USA, issued a statement saying “This case serves as a painful reminder that all Internet users must use extreme caution when contacted over the Internet by people they do not know.”

“We echo the advice of the Police, who urge people not to meet anyone they have been contacted by online unless they know for certain who they are, as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas,” the statement concluded.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha

The National Centre Against Bullying (NCAB) conference held in Melbourne recently made the following recommendations:

1. Early Intervention

There is a need to identify early (at pre-school and early primary school), those who may have peer relationship issues and implement appropriate programs. Additional focus is needed on pre-school education to prevent bullying and promote well being. There is a need to raise awareness among schools and parents of the emerging evidence that children are using social networking sites at young ages.

2.  Training Teachers

There is a need for pre-service teacher education programmes to include a mandatory component which addresses awareness and skills for preventing and managing bullying situations. Teachers need to know how to respond effectively to bullying situations. This education should include information as to the possible effects of the criminal and civil law on the use of communications technology for bullying purposes.

3.  An appropriate legal framework

Need to legally define the rights and responsibilities of schools in responding to bullying and cyberbullying situations and cyber defamation. Legal remedies are not a solution to bullying but are a necessary part of the solution. Need to clarify the role of the criminal and civil law in both bullying and cyberbullying.

4.  Increased focus on school transition

Bullying peaks at times of transition between preschool and primary school, and primary and secondary, therefore institutions need to increase their focus on bullying including cyberbullying at these times.

5.  A whole school approach

Schools need to use evidence-informed strategies and include teachers, parents and students and the wider community to enhance cybersafety and wellbeing and reduce bullying.

6.  A whole community approach

Solutions need to go beyond the school gate, given that bullying in schools is often a reflection of the whole community.

7.  Young people need to be part of the solution

Young people are essential to the solution and must be involved in policy development, parent education and development of multimedia material.

8.  Technology needs to be part of the solution

Adults, including parents and teachers need to break down the digital divide by becoming savvy about technology. We must all recognise that the creative use of technology as a powerful teaching and socialising tool. The focus needs to be on behaviours and relationships, and it is counterproductive to ban technology.

9.  Support for ongoing research

There needs to be ongoing research into cybersafety and wellbeing, including effective strategies for engaging parents, keeping up to date with changes in technology, appropriate interventions in schools.

Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.