Bullying Behind the Screen Cyber Bullying for Middle School Parents/Guardians Introduce myself and the topic, as well as what the parents will take away today. Ask the group: Do any of you have any experience or previous knowledge about cyber bullying? (Allow 2-3 parents to respond) Kristina Proto

Overview: Define what Cyber Bullying is, how it is different and examples of it Go over some outcomes of Cyber Bullying if it is untreated/undetected Learn some Internet Usage tips for your home

What Is Cyber Bullying? Any form of bullying or harassment that takes place using electronic technology. Cell phones, computers, tablets, social media, etc. Read definition and avenues for transmission. Expand on the emphasis of the messages creating an imbalance of power between the bully and victim. Also that these messages are of a negative nature and meant to make the victim uncomfortable or embarrassed.

Examples of Cyber Bullying? Ask group: “Can you brainstorm some examples of cyber bullying?” Allow 5-6 responses

Examples Mean text messages Explicit pictures through email or text Posting publicly on a social media site Impersonating on a social media site/email/text Creation of boards or groups dedicated to making fun of an individual Anonymous instant messaging Read Examples to expand on the previous slide where parents came up with their own examples. Emphasize that this is just a brief list, and as technology continues to grow, so do the sources and avenues of cyber bullying. Also, there can be a combination of these tactics used to bombard the victim. Discussion Question: What percent of children between the ages of 10 and 15 do you think have experienced cyber bullying? Answer: 43% of youths between the ages of 10 and 15 have experienced some form of cyber bullying.

Outcomes if Cyber Bullying Goes Undetected or Untreated… Self Confidence Issues Poor Performance in School/Sports Suicidal Thoughts Depression Violent Outbursts Suicide Read bullets.

Internet Usage Tips No Secret Passwords for accounts or phones Advise children not to share passwords with friends You want to have the ability to have access to your children’s accounts such as facebook, instant messaging, or their phone for many reasons. You don’t want to invade their privacy by reading all of their conversations, but you want to have the peace of mind that they know you can have access to everything. Also, for emergency purposes it is important to know how to access their last activity. It is also important to emphasize to your children that no matter how close you are with a friend, passwords should be private for a reason. If anything happens between your child and their friend, they can easily be impersonated, have important files deleted, or incriminating or embarrassing photos/conversations spread publicly.

Internet Usage Tips Cont. Make your children’s profiles and accounts set to private Have your children block any users with whom there have been issues with in the past Only allowing your child’s posts, pictures and information available to confirmed friends is one way to avoid anonymous comments and an infiltration of messages from people who your child doesn’t know or doesn’t identify as a friend. Having your child block other students or people they know that they have had issues with in the past locks the bully out. Cutting the communication lines between identified people you know could create a problem is very important. Any inappropriate posts by a user, even if it is not directed at your child should be terms for blocking the user as well.

Internet Usage Tips Cont. Set and abide by technology usage time limits Do not completely restrict children from cyber communication It is important to set realistic time limits for technology use for this age group. Although they spend a lot of their time at school or other activities, where they can access the internet and their phones, you can at least control their usage in the home. It is understood that if they need it for school work, they are more than welcome to be on the computer, just not on social media sites or instant messaging. Spending excessive amounts of time on these sites or chatting is just putting them at greater risk for an issue to arise. But, you must take into account how important these modes of communication are to them. So if a problem occurs or if you think there are just too many risks that you are not willing to take with them being online or texting, realize that more harm can come from trying to ban it since it is so hard to fully control. Having open communication about their activity is what you are striving for.

Internet Usage Tips Cont. Use monitoring or filtering software Spend personal time with your children to see what they spend their time doing online Establish social media account for yourself On the market there are a few monitoring or filtering software programs that keep a record of conversations and can be set to flag certain language, content and photos being exchanged. Some of these programs include eBLASTER, EyeGuardian, and McGruff SafeGuard. If you don’t want to take that drastic of a measure, there are a few other steps you can take. A couple easy ones would be sitting down with your kids and having them show you around their favorite sites to visit and what they like to do while they’re online. Also, you can join a social media site that your children are a part of such as facebook to see what they are posting as well as what their friends are posting on their page. Discussion Question: Wrapping up the internet usage tips, what are some that seem they would be easy to implement in your home?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENION! Questions?