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 […]

A Potential Response to Cyberbullying: Talking to the Parents of the Bully post thumbnail

A Potential Response to Cyberbullying: Talking to the Parents of the Bully

I received an email from an educator who attended a recent presentation.  She asked if it is advisable for the parents of cyberbullying victims to contact the parents of the cyberbullies to try to resolve the situation.  This can be a very tricky proposition.  In theory, this seems like a very good approach and for […]

CDC Resource Featuring Our Cyberbullying Survey Items post thumbnail

CDC Resource Featuring Our Cyberbullying Survey Items

We often have researchers and practitioners call or email us inquiring about our bullying and cyberbullying assessments, offline and online surveys, focus group questions, and interview measures. We are happy to share them with others because we must all continue to work together to collect methodologically-sound data and conduct meaningful and rigorous analysis of those […]

Sexting Research and Gender Differences post thumbnail

Sexting Research and Gender Differences

There has been a lot of interest in our sexting guide for educators and parents and so I thought it would be a good time to highlight a couple of other findings from that research. Data for this study were collected in the spring of 2010 among a random sample of middle and high school […]

White House Bullying Conference post thumbnail

White House Bullying Conference

On Thursday March 10, 2011, the White House convened a conference to address the issue of bullying. First Lady Michelle and President Obama welcomed parents, students, researchers, industry leaders and others to discuss the negative effects of bullying and highlight some of the best-practices and promising approaches in prevention and response. I was honored to […]

Additional Thoughts on Sexting Advice for Teens post thumbnail

Additional Thoughts on Sexting Advice for Teens

Thanks to all for their comments on my recent blog about how teens should respond when they receive a “sext.” Here are some of my follow-up thoughts, based on comments and emails received, as well as an email exchange among members of the Youth Risk Online Google Group which includes some of the brightest “teens […]

You Received a “Sext,” Now What? Advice for Teens post thumbnail

You Received a “Sext,” Now What? Advice for Teens

If you are a teen and receive a sexually-explicit image of a classmate via your cell phone (or email, or instant message, or via a Nintendo Dsi, or any other type of electronic communication), what should you do? This can be a challenging situation, to say the least. We know that anywhere from 10-30% (or […]

When Can Educators Search Student Cell Phones? post thumbnail

When Can Educators Search Student Cell Phones?

Do students have an expectation of privacy on their cell phones while at school? The short answer to this is a qualified yes. Whether educators have the authority to search the contents of student cell phones depends on a lot of factors. The key issue in this analysis (that we have raised before on this […]

Teachers, Administrators, and the Search of Student Cell Phones post thumbnail

Teachers, Administrators, and the Search of Student Cell Phones

As we know, students use their smart phones and cell phones to engage in cyberbullying or other forms of teen technology misuse at school, regardless of the presence of formal policies that prohibit their display or use during some or all hours of the school day. Ask any professional at a middle or high school, […]

Obtaining Cyberbullying Evidence from Third Parties at School post thumbnail

Obtaining Cyberbullying Evidence from Third Parties at School

Here is a recent question submitted that we thought could help others in a similar situation: “In my role as a school administrator, many of the accusations regarding cyberbullying come from third parties. I am unable to produce evidence on the accused offending party because I do not have access to their media device (i.e. […]