Catfishing as a Form of Cyberbullying post thumbnail

Catfishing as a Form of Cyberbullying

“Catfishing,” at least in the online world, refers to the practice of setting up a fictitious online profile, most often for the purpose of luring another into a fraudulent romantic relationship.  The Urban Dictionary defines a “catfish” as: “someone who pretends to be someone they’re not using Facebook or other social media to create false […]

Help With Fake Facebook Profile Pages post thumbnail

Help With Fake Facebook Profile Pages

Imagine you receive an email from a friend that includes a link to a Facebook profile.  You click on the link and see your name and picture on the profile.  But you didn’t create it.  And some of the information included isn’t exactly flattering. In fact, it’s embarrassing, and malicious, and ruining your reputation.  Now […]

How young is too young for Facebook? post thumbnail

How young is too young for Facebook?

This is a common question I receive from many parents: “At what age should I give my child a cell phone or allow them to be on Facebook?” Of course this is not an easy question to answer since every child is different and parents themselves are probably in the best position to determine the […]

Felony harassment charges stemming from Craiglist posting post thumbnail

Felony harassment charges stemming from Craiglist posting

Recently, a case came up before the Missouri court involving a 40-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl, with the former having been charged with felony harassment as she posted the girl’s personal contact information and photo on Craigslist in their subsection for individuals seeking “Casual Encounters” (you can imagine what that means).  To note, this […]

Age- and identity-misrepresentation on the Internet post thumbnail

Age- and identity-misrepresentation on the Internet

The New York Times last week asked me my thoughts on the Megan Meier case and online misrepresentation, and I thought I’d expand on my perspective here.  First off, we have to understand why this case drew so much attention.  It was because we have a vulnerable and depressed young girl basically driven to suicide […]