Family Online Safety Institute Conference – December 11th, 2008
I’m going to be in Washington, DC on Wednesday, December 10th and Thursday, December 11th for the Family Online Safety Institute’s annual conference, where I’ll be participating in a formal roundtable to discuss cyberbullying prevention and response and Internet safety issues. I am really looking forward to this, as many top practitioners and authors in […]
Reducing Cyberbullying: Is Your School On Track?
A couple of school districts have recently contacted me in a panic about how cyberbullying has been a major actionable issue for them since the start of the school year, but that they don’t know where to even begin (apart from amending the school policy to cover “electronic” variants of harassment). They realize that additional […]
Focal areas within cyberbullying prevention and response
Mike Donlin, Senior Program Consultant (aka Program Manager), for Seattle Public Schools (and our good friend and esteemed colleague) recently asked us a few thought-provoking questions about cyberbullying prevention and response. They are as follows: 1. How can we consistently involve all the major stakeholders – educators, legal, the tech industry, families and youth – […]
Cell phones on School Campuses in California
In keeping with a trend we have been seeing across the country, another school board in California has decided to ban the inappropriate use of cell phones on school grounds (largely to prevent cyberbullying and the recording and online posting of fights). There is one exception – students are able to use cell phones to […]
8-12 year-olds and online social interaction
A new report was released last week that zeroed in on online social interaction among youth between the ages of 8 and 12. The “Tween Internet Safety Survey” found that at least half lie about their age online (in keeping with our own findings from discussions with kids around the nation). They also found that […]
Why Do Youth Engage in Cyberbullying?
This is another one of those questions that we get all of the time. Of course, there is not one easy answer to this question. Moreover, what causes one adolescent to cyberbully may not influence another to engage in similar behaviors. So, while we have a number of theories or hypotheses, what do you think? […]
What could Web sites do to make their site safer for kids?
This is one of many questions we have received via email over the last several weeks.The answer is a bit more complicated than many adults realize.If there were a quick fix, Web site administrators would have implemented the changes by now.I don’t think it is so much a problem with Web sites.Clearly, Web sites need […]
Jeff’s Law
Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist has just signed into law the “Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act.” This is due mostly to the efforts of our friend Debbie Johnston from Cape Coral, Florida, a first-grade schoolteacher whose son Jeffrey took his life after being bullied and cyberbullied. This law: – requires districts to adopt […]
June is Internet Safety Month
June is Internet Safety Month. Parents should take this opportunity to have a brief talk with their kids about what they are doing online. Ask them about any unpleasant experiences they may have had. Tell them that you have heard about “cyberbullying” and wondered if they have had any such experiences. The earlier you have […]
