As my eyes tend to be super sensitive to statistics and data related to cyberbullying, I was taken aback by the findings from a study mentioned in this recent FoxNews article. It states:
According to Parry Aftab, an Internet security and privacy lawyer and founder of WiredSafety.org, 85 percent of 5,000 middle-school students surveyed said they had been cyberbullied. Only 5 percent of them said they’d tell someone about it.
Parry does good work, and she may be citing someone else’s project, and the writer of the article may be misinterpreting or misquoting someone, but 85% is ridiculously high. In addition, 5% is incredibly low – we consistently find that youth are willing to tell a friend…and a growing number are definitely turning to adults for help.
Finally, the article states that cyberbullying peaks in 4th and 7th grade. I agree that the phenomenon is extremely prevalent among middle schoolers, but I’ve talked to a number of 4th graders across the country and while some kids have experienced very mild forms of it (at that age), it definitely doesn’t peak at 4th grade. What does that even mean, and how does that even make sense?
Anyway, wild outliers tend to color our perceptions of any phenomenon. Statistics like these are only going to lead to knee-jerk reactive responses and moral panic. I don’t think we (or the media) need to convince society of the reality of cyberbullying. As Justin pointed out previously, it is extremely important to understand exactly how cyberbullying is specifically defined, and how data are collected. Otherwise, we will continually have wide variation in stated frequencies of cyberbullying, which will only confuse everyone as to the actual extent and scope of the problem. We know what it is, and we know (generally) how often it occurs among youth. We now need to zero in on exactly what can be done about it.
Trying to nail down exactly the number of students who are being cyberbullied will forever be a difficult task and not one we should labor on too much. I have found traveling from one school district to another working with young people here in Southern California that the amount students who report being cyberbullied varies from one community to the next. Literally, in a recent forum discussion with 50 middle school students, when asked about being cyberbullied (clearly defined), 33 students acknowledge they were victims. The next day in a school district 20 miles south 50 middle school students were asked the same question and only 5 students acknowledged they were victims. So, whether it is 10% or 66% we have kids who are victims. What we can not do because of numbers that are either high or low is downplay the extent of cyberbullying and the impact on the child. I have witnessed “cyberbully experts” (not you guys) come into a room of 400 law enforcement officers and state that the problem of cyberbullying is really not that bad. This “expert” stated that only about 10% of kids experience it. What does that tell Law Enforcement? Here is a critical player we need at the table to tackle this issue, and the so called “expert” says it really is not that bad. A Typical middle school campus in California is about 1000 students, what we are saying is that we do not care about the 100 students who are victims. We need to stop worrying about what percentage is high and what percentage is low and put systems in place to address this behavior.
So I agree with Sameer 100%. So here is my take.
1. Develop a Culture of Communication that breaks the Code of Silence – This starts in schools and utilizes a Peer Leader Program to foster relations and build identity. It is proactive and not reactive. The Identity is invested in a purpose to take care of those around you and if you see something wrong, say something.
2. Training and Awareness – We need to get parents and teachers aware of this behavior. I recently attended a statewide PTA conference with over 4500 parents attending with over 200 learning sessions and only one focused on Bullying. How to sell Cookie Dough was the biggest attraction at this event. Parents are still not aware of this behavior and the responsibilities they have.
3. School and Law Enforcement Partnership – Use our relations with law enforcement to facilitate discussions, share intelligence, and be proactive in addressing the cyberbullying behavior. Schools and Law Enforcement should sit down on a regular basis to stay on top of emerging trends. Create local policy and be seen in community as strong partners.
These three simple steps can start today at our schools. What is important is that we do not work linear to each other. We need to create a constant cycle in which we are in motion together.
Trying to nail down exactly the number of students who are being cyberbullied will forever be a difficult task and not one we should labor on too much. I have found traveling from one school district to another working with young people here in Southern California that the amount students who report being cyberbullied varies from one community to the next. Literally, in a recent forum discussion with 50 middle school students, when asked about being cyberbullied (clearly defined), 33 students acknowledge they were victims. The next day in a school district 20 miles south 50 middle school students were asked the same question and only 5 students acknowledged they were victims. So, whether it is 10% or 66% we have kids who are victims. What we can not do because of numbers that are either high or low is downplay the extent of cyberbullying and the impact on the child. I have witnessed “cyberbully experts” (not you guys) come into a room of 400 law enforcement officers and state that the problem of cyberbullying is really not that bad. This “expert” stated that only about 10% of kids experience it. What does that tell Law Enforcement? Here is a critical player we need at the table to tackle this issue, and the so called “expert” says it really is not that bad. A Typical middle school campus in California is about 1000 students, what we are saying is that we do not care about the 100 students who are victims. We need to stop worrying about what percentage is high and what percentage is low and put systems in place to address this behavior.
So I agree with Sameer 100%. So here is my take.
1. Develop a Culture of Communication that breaks the Code of Silence – This starts in schools and utilizes a Peer Leader Program to foster relations and build identity. It is proactive and not reactive. The Identity is invested in a purpose to take care of those around you and if you see something wrong, say something.
2. Training and Awareness – We need to get parents and teachers aware of this behavior. I recently attended a statewide PTA conference with over 4500 parents attending with over 200 learning sessions and only one focused on Bullying. How to sell Cookie Dough was the biggest attraction at this event. Parents are still not aware of this behavior and the responsibilities they have.
3. School and Law Enforcement Partnership – Use our relations with law enforcement to facilitate discussions, share intelligence, and be proactive in addressing the cyberbullying behavior. Schools and Law Enforcement should sit down on a regular basis to stay on top of emerging trends. Create local policy and be seen in community as strong partners.
These three simple steps can start today at our schools. What is important is that we do not work linear to each other. We need to create a constant cycle in which we are in motion together.
Great comment, John. Your thoughts are well-stated and perfectly underscore mine. I'm glad you brought up Peer Leadership/Mentorship as a solution – we really believe this can bear much fruit, and cover its utility in our cyberbullying book. You also allude to cultivating respect and promoting the Golden Rule – much of our peer harassment and interpersonal conflict problems among youth would be reduced through this basic strategy. That PTA meeting was massive, and yes – it is a shame that topics which greatly matter were not covered in depth. Furthermore, cookie dough sells itself 🙂 Finally, I think law enforcement (e.g., officers in uniform) still have influence when talking to children and adolescents about acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and we should marshal that influence to inculcate valuable pointers and lessons about Internet safety. You are definitely on point.
Great comment, John. Your thoughts are well-stated and perfectly underscore mine. I'm glad you brought up Peer Leadership/Mentorship as a solution – we really believe this can bear much fruit, and cover its utility in our cyberbullying book. You also allude to cultivating respect and promoting the Golden Rule – much of our peer harassment and interpersonal conflict problems among youth would be reduced through this basic strategy. That PTA meeting was massive, and yes – it is a shame that topics which greatly matter were not covered in depth. Furthermore, cookie dough sells itself 🙂 Finally, I think law enforcement (e.g., officers in uniform) still have influence when talking to children and adolescents about acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and we should marshal that influence to inculcate valuable pointers and lessons about Internet safety. You are definitely on point.
There is a wide variation of stats I have seen recently. There's also a solution to cyberbullying. It’s called parental involvement. And by that I mean involvement from the bully’s parents. Everyone seems to worry their child will be a victim, but for every victim there is a bully and when parents find out they have a bully they tend to turn a blind eye. Maybe stricter laws and punishment would make parents take notice and deal with the situation appropriately. Parents need to teach their kids there is a correlation between being online and living in the real world and that you have to treat others with respect. Parents need to be aware of what is going on in their child’s online life – they need to know where they are going, who they are talking to and – what has become a more important value – how they are representing themselves, e.g. what are they saying and how are they interacting with others. Monitoring software (we make PC Pandora – http://www.pcpandora.com) can play a HUGE role in obtaining that the knowledge that parents need to have. It’s not a privacy issue; it’s a safety and ‘raising your kids to not be little jerks’ issue. With knowledge comes power… you can’t be powerful and effective parent if you don’t know. Check us out…
There is a wide variation of stats I have seen recently. There's also a solution to cyberbullying. It’s called parental involvement. And by that I mean involvement from the bully’s parents. Everyone seems to worry their child will be a victim, but for every victim there is a bully and when parents find out they have a bully they tend to turn a blind eye. Maybe stricter laws and punishment would make parents take notice and deal with the situation appropriately. Parents need to teach their kids there is a correlation between being online and living in the real world and that you have to treat others with respect. Parents need to be aware of what is going on in their child’s online life – they need to know where they are going, who they are talking to and – what has become a more important value – how they are representing themselves, e.g. what are they saying and how are they interacting with others. Monitoring software (we make PC Pandora – http://www.pcpandora.com) can play a HUGE role in obtaining that the knowledge that parents need to have. It’s not a privacy issue; it’s a safety and ‘raising your kids to not be little jerks’ issue. With knowledge comes power… you can’t be powerful and effective parent if you don’t know. Check us out…