Cyberbullying

Researchers tracked 500 teens over 10 years and found that an increase in the amount of time spent on social media sites such as TikTok and Instagram was linked to an increase in long-term suicide risk among teenage girls, but not boys. The findings were published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Most of the risk pertained to girls who as young adolescents were already spending a lot of time using social media, TV and/or video games. As their screen time increased over the years, so did their risk for suicide by the time they hit their early- to mid-20s, the findings showed.

"Parents and teens should be open about their amount and type of media they're using, so that they can look out for warning signs, talk about worsening mood or suicidality, and reach out for help," researchers suggest. In the article researchers also stressed common-sense limits around electronic media use. For example, limiting use to less than two hours per day, and not using electronic media after a certain time at night since it can worsen sleep. They also urged parents to have open discussions about online bullying and online safety.

Many school districts across the country don't have formal on-or-off camera policies for remote students due to issues such as bullying concerns, mental health issues and background distractions (like one Mom who flashed her child’s class by accident). Some teachers ask students to display a photo of themselves, and others say they only ask students to show their work, so the focus remains on academics. It can be hard on teachers, though, looking at a sea of black boxes.

LinkedIn is following Twitter's foray into conversation controls by enabling members to restrict who's able to see and comment on their posts and updates. Members also can prevent replies to specific posts and "mute" select users or company pages from their feed.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider a case that may determine whether schools can discipline students for comments they make on social media. A student in a Pennsylvania district was suspended from a cheerleading team after a Snapchat post surfaced in which she used foul language and was disrespectful to the school and cheer team, but she and her parents say the discipline violated her First Amendment right to free speech.

It may have taken the invasion of the US Capital Building for regulators to recognize the danger of misinformation, and even cyberbullying, though critics have been piling up evidence for years. Democrats, who will now control both houses of Congress, are promising to use their powerful new perches to proffer the sort of tough new laws and other punishments that tech giants have successfully fended off for years. This political shift could result in major repercussions for the industry, opening the door for a wide array of policy changes that could hold Facebook, Google and Twitter newly liable for their missteps.

Gaggle has published a Cyberbullying eBook to help administrators, educators, parents, and students understand and react to digital harassment. The new eBook offers a fresh and up-to-date analysis of cyberbullying, with additions on remote learning and updated resources. Available for free, the comprehensive eBook details the importance of full awareness and involvement from administrators, teachers, and parents in order to protect students online. The eBook includes guidance for dealing with all aspects of cyberbullying, from prevention to identification to discipline. The guide also offers an updated list of cyberbullying resources and websites, so students, parents, teachers, and administrators can do further research and learn new ways to handle incidents of cyberbullying in the future.

The New York Times recently ran an article about a 15 year old girl in Nashville, TN who three years ago sent a three second video using a racist term to a friend as a celebration of getting her driver’s license. The girl is white. The person who received the message forwarded it on to another student, who sent it to another, and eventually it made its way to a male student at the same school. This student, who is multiracial, took the message to school administrators who said they could take no action because the message was sent from off school grounds. Angry at the inaction of administrators and the climate at the high school where this racial epithet was thrown around regularly, the young man saved the video and after the Black Lives Matter demonstrations last spring, put it up on social media- right after the female student had been admitted to the University of Tennessee and their prestigious cheerleading program. The young woman was shamed online and the university, under pressure, rescinded her admissions offer. She is now taking college courses online and the young man is off to college in California. They never spoke to each other directly about the incident.

While the right or wrong of this incident can be argued, what remains is that what one puts up on social media lasts forever and always has the possibility to resurface. Many teens are also finding out that when these incidents occur (no matter how isolated), they can be captured, even from apps such as Snapchat where messages are supposed to be fleeting. Second chances also seem to be in short supply for some. It is a bit of an extreme tale, but a cautionary one you may want to tell your children about.

Years ago there was some talk about creating a font to be used for making sarcastic remarks so that the person on the other end would know the tone was meant to be sarcastic. It never came to pass but now tone indicators are making the rounds in social media posts. Put simply, tone indicators are written shorthand for the poster’s intent and emotion. For example, one might use “/j,” short for “joking” to indicate the disparaging comment you just made about your best friend was just a friendly nudge and not the ‘nastygram’ that it might be taken as.

It will be interesting to see if this trend catches on. The tone indicators are showing up on Twitter and in the comments sections of The New York Times. And if your children start using them, you will certainly need to know what they are. Here is a sample list:

/j = joking
/s = sarcasm
/srs = serious
/nsrs = not serious
/r = romantic
/lh = lighthearted
/f = fake
/th = threat
/li = literally
/nm = not mad or upset
/t = teasing
 

Schools are focusing on masks, social distancing and cleaning as they reopen, but administrators should create a plan to address bullying and cyberbullying of children who contract COVID-19, writes Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious diseases physician. "We need to ensure that they are not only protected from the virus, but also from any stigma associated with it," Barocas writes.

Americans are divided on both whether offensive content online is taken seriously enough, and on which is more important online: free speech or feeling safe. Republicans and Democrats have grown further apart when it comes to these issues since 2017. Overall, 55% of Americans say many people take offensive content they see online too seriously, while a smaller share (42%) say offensive content online is too often excused as not a big deal, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted in early September 2020. In addition, about half of Americans (53%) say it’s more important for people to be able to feel welcome and safe online, compared with 45% who believe it’s more important for people to be able to speak their minds freely online, according to an earlier Center survey fielded in July 2020.