Cyberbullying


As a parent of a young teenager, cyberbullying is a topic that is always in the back of my mind. My daughter has SnapChat and Instagram to keep up with friends, classmates, and teammates, but I am always left wondering if there is ever anything I need to know about. I try to keep open conversation about online discussions and what her friends are ‘up to’, but parents never truly know everything that is going on in their children's lives. As Kristen Hicks stated in Teacher’s Guide to Digital Citizenship, “Neither educators nor parents have the means to completely control how students use technology”.  We must teach our children and students about internet safety and trust that they have the tools to handle situations properly.

As a 4th grade teacher, I always discussed internet safety with my students. As I read all of the material this week, I now feel that I failed them in a way. I never focused on cyberbullying; I honestly felt they were too young to be on social media. According to a report by CNN, in the United States alone, approximately 50% of children have social media accounts at age 12.

This shows that we must teach children about cyberbullying even at the elementary school level.



Cyberbullying is the verbal abuse or threatening of another person through any means of technology, but primarily through the use of social media. I was shocked to find that as many as 1 in 3 young people have been the victim of cyberbullying, with only 1 in 10 telling a parent about the incident (Bullying Statistics). As librarians, we must teach young people the proper way to use technology, whether it is for research or social media. How It’s Done: Incorporating Digital Citizenship Into Your Everyday Curriculum explains The Digital Citizenship Project and gives great ideas of teaching digital literacy in classroom. Allowing older students to mentor younger students not only puts students in charge of their own learning, it also allows students to receive information from someone other than a teacher or parent. Not only does this model work for middle and high school students, I feel that elementary age students could benefit from this plan as well. In elementary school, students are at such a impressionable age that they can quickly get sucked into a world of the unknown without even realizing what has happened. In other words, bullying can be taking place without them knowing it. Teachers and librarians must focus on providing lessons on internet safety and the prevention of cyberbullying. We owe it to our students to protect them from potential online dangers.





Comments

  1. Completely BookedMarch 17, 2019 at 5:14 AM

    Jayme,
    I loved your post. Cyberbullying is a very scary thing for parents and teachers because it is easily hidden and less tangible than a physical bully. Both are equally damaging and hurtful, but I think many parents are unaware of their children's hidden social media accounts. I imagine parents check the accounts they know of, bit many children set up multiple accounts on sites that parents are familiar with or accounts on social media sites parents are unaware exist.

    Tiffany Anderson

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  2. Ashley_Anderson_SLIS761March 17, 2019 at 3:56 PM

    Great post, Jayme! I'm surprised to see that the average age of students with social media accounts is 12. I agree that we must begin to focus on cyberbullying in the elementary school to prepare students for the future. I hope that creating a community where students feel comfortable and safe to ask questions and seek help is a way to combat cyberbullying. With my son, I am voyaging into the world of social media and working to see that he is as safe as I can keep him. I am learning many new things about social media and it is definitely concerning as a parent and educator! Thanks for sharing Jayme!

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