1. Kerrville ISD Micah Wrase, LSSP
Cyber Bullying
Kerrville ISD
Micah Wrase, LSSP

2. Similarities/Differences
BULLYING
DIRECT (face to face)
Occurs on school property
Poor relationships with teachers
Reaction:
Fear retribution
Physical: Hitting, Punching & Shoving
Verbal: Teasing, Name calling & Gossip
Nonverbal: Use of gestures & Exclusion
CYBERBULLYING
ANONYMOUS
Immediate
Not limited to physical locale
Good relationships with teachers
Reaction:
Fear loss of technology privileges
Further under the radar than bullying
Harder to prove
Emotional reactions cannot be determined

3. What technology is used?
81.4%
Computers
Cell Phones
Mobile Devices
, IM, Social Networking Sites (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter), Websites (hate sites, Bulletin Boards, Chatrooms), text messaging, voic
22%
84%
88.9% of households that have PCs
81.4% of households that have active internet (2005)
22% of 6-9 yr olds that own cell phones
84% of yrs old
Center on Media and Child Health, 2007

4. Statistics: i-Safe survey
58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online
53% of kids admit having said something mean or hurtful things to another online
42% of kids have been bullied while online
Founded in 1998, i-SAFE Inc. is the leader in Internet safety education.
educate and empower youth to make their Internet experiences safe and responsible.

5. Hate Sites
50% had seen or heard of a hate site bashing of another student
75% had visited a hate site
450 – 500: # of “hard core” hate sites on the internet right now.
Examples of website bashing embedded link.
allows them to avoid interacting with those who disagree with their views
A mob cyberbullying mentality/frenzy can occur – snowball effect – once the initial bullying begins
HateWatch is a web based not for profit that monitors the evolving problem of online bigotry.

6. Prevalence of Cyber Bullying
Cyber bullying typically starts at about 9 years of age and usually ends after 14 years of age; after 14, it becomes cyber or sexual harassment due to nature of acts and age of actors (Aftab)
Affects 65-85% of kids directly or indirectly through close friends and family (Aftab)
Parry Aftab – privacy lawyer that specializes in cybercrime, privacy, and cyber-abuse risks

7. True Examples Elementary School in Fairfax, Va. last year:
6th grade students conducted an online poll to determine the ugliest classmate, school officials say.
Canadian teenager David Knight’s life became hell when a group of his school mates established a “Hate David Knight” website and posted disparaging pictures and abuse and invited the global community to join in the hate campaign.

8. True Examples
When Joanne had a fight with a longtime friend last year, she had no idea it would spill into cyberspace. But what started as a spat at a teenage sleepover swiftly escalated into a three-month harangue of threatening s and defacement of her weblog. "It was a non-stop nightmare," says Joanne, 14, a freshman at a private high school in Southern California. "I dreaded going on my computer."

9. Effects of Cyber Bullying
Psychological, physical, and emotional
depression, anxiety, anger
increased isolation and self-destructive behavior
school failure, school avoidance, school violence, and suicide

10. Effects of Cyber Bullying
Legal consequences for school and families (slander, defamation, terroristic threats, sexual exploitation, hate crime. Family Complications (trust issues, privacy issues) Very difficult to take back once it begins.
A Boston-area teenager has been charged with using instant messaging (IM) to harass six girls and their families. "Under the terms of a pretrial probation agreement signed...by the unidentified teen and others involved in the case, the resident of North Reading, Massachusetts, risks criminal prosecution if he engages in 'unsupervised' use of IM and other computing applications."1 There will also be civil proceedings against the accused, Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly announced this week, saying the boy's instant messages threatened the girls with violent and sexually explicit language.
1Paul Festa. "Teen Accused of IM Harassment." Wired News. May 15, 2002,

11. CYBER BULLY PROFILES “Power-Hungry” “Revenge of the Nerds”
“Inadvertent”
Role-play
Responding
May not realize it’s cyber bullying
“Vengeful Angel”
Righting wrongs
Protecting themselves
“Mean Girls”
Bored; Entertainment
Ego based; promote own social status
Often do in a group
Intimidate on and off line
Need others to bully; if isolated, stop
“Power-Hungry”
Want reaction
Controlling with fear
“Revenge of the Nerds”
(“Subset of Power-Hungry”)
Often Victims of school-yard bullies
Throw ‘cyber-weight’ around
Not school-yard bullies like Power-Hungry & Mean Girls
{Parry Aftab. Esq., Executive Director, WiredSafety.org}

12. CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT
BULLY
CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT
VICTIM
Beginning of prevention: understanding the situation that must be present in order for cyberbullying to occur
There must be an overlap of three variables: A bully, a victim, and a conducive environment
The bad news: This is a very easy situation to come by.
The good news: We can educate the bully (or potential bully), the victim (or potential victim) and the parents

13. Prevention for Parents/Students Build your own “SafetyNET”
Keep mobile device in a place easy to monitor
Family plan (from Sprint, AT&T, etc)
Use monitoring software and/or blocking/filtering
(internetsafety.com)
Work with the school, authorities, and ISP
Have contact info of individuals they may contact for assistance w/ software, tech literacy, etc.
Internetsafety.com

14. Building a “SafetyNET”
Get tech literate (Community Ed, wiredsafety.org)
Communicate with children about the issue (isafe.org , stopcyberbullying.org)
Support the victims
Don’t blame the victim
Don’t freak out

15. Response for Parents
Ensure your child feels safe, secure THOROUGHLY investigate situation Refrain from immediate banning Contact parents of Cyberbully

16. Response for Parents
Talk to other parents (build own network) Apply firm but realistic consequences Talk to your child about the problem - educate

17. against cyberbullying.
What We Can ALL Do …
Take a stand
against cyberbullying.
From ‘Demystifying and De-escalating Cyber Bullying’ by Barbara Trolley, Ph.D. CRC, Connie Hanel,
i.ehow.com/.../ /bully-main_Full.jpg