Cyberbullying

The effects of digital screen time on children's well being and development is a source of huge debate at the moment. While concerns over the effects of these new devices on childhood development are not unwarranted, scientists have not been able to reach a clear consensus on the topic. Now a new study by the University of Oxford, examining data from over 350,000 subjects in the UK and US, finds digital technology use accounts for less than half a percent of a young person's negative mental health. The research suggests everything from wearing glasses to not getting enough sleep have bigger negative effects on adolescent well being than digital screen use. Binge-drinking and marijuana use also were noted as having significantly larger negative effects, and bullying was found to have four times larger the negative effect on well being than digital screen use. On the positive end of the spectrum, things like eating a good breakfast and getting enough sleep were much more statistically relevant in affecting well being than the effects of technology use.

Teen girls and boys who used social media more than five hours daily had higher depressive symptoms compared with peers who had one to three hours of daily social media use. The finding indicates a stronger link between social media use and depression in girls over boys (50% and 35% respectively), United Kingdom researchers reported in the journal EClinicalMedicine.

So what can parents do? Experts say one tip is to set up a charging station somewhere in the house instead of charging phones in the bedroom which can lead to distractions and sleep interruptions. Don’t fall for the line that teens need to use their phone as an alarm - get them an actual standalone alarm clock instead. This will help to limit nighttime usage. As one expert put it, "It's a balance, because there are benefits to engagement with media. There are so many ways in which social media is important and has positive features, but there's also ways in which social media can replace social support and connection from people you are living with in person. So it's finding that sweet spot."

National Public Radio reports about 600 school districts are expected to start using the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise's mobile app that allows for anonymous reporting of school threats and bullying. The app, currently in use in 150 districts, is available to schools for free. Students say they're more likely to report their concerns on an app, than to go in person to tell a teacher or administrator.

A New Jersey middle school has adopted an alternative to suspensions called Schoolhouse Adjustment, principal Michael Gaskell writes in a commentary in eSchool News.  Basically, instead of suspending a student for bullying, the incident instead is referred to the School Security Officer for a constructive intervention consisting of lessons, chats, and monitoring for recurring incidents.

In 2014, Apple unveiled AirDrop for iPhone and iPad, a feature that lets you quickly share files wirelessly with other iPhone users near you. It wasn’t long after its release that reports began popping up of people using the feature to send strangers crude photos. Lately it has become a frequent issue on the NY Subway system and other places where people are stuck in close quarters. If you are concerned, you can turn AirDrop off or make your phone available only to those on your contacts list. Here’s How to Turn off AirDrop. If your children have their own iPhone or iPad, it is something to consider doing for their device.

What is the difference between cyberbullying and cyberexclusion? Take a look at a video in which adolescent psychiatrist Jodi Gold, M.D. explains the difference and why seemingly innocent social media posts – “fun” posts from parties, playdates, and other events where other kids are “excluded”- can hurt kids’ feelings. Find out what you can do as a parent to combat cyberexclusion and help your child learn to be kind online.

World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee is initiating a campaign called #ForTheWeb, aimed at advocating principles that protect users from threats such as false news, discrimination and hate speech, among others. The campaign, based on a "Contract for the Web", has received support from Facebook and more than 60 other organizations.

For most teens, Instagram is the “go to” app for communicating (72 percent  of teens use it according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center), so it is no surprise that many are finding a whole lot of drama, bullying and gossip on the platform. Unfortunately, due to its widespread nature and size of the app’s distribution mechanism, rude comments or harassing images can go viral within hours. Like Twitter, Instagram also makes it easy to set up new anonymous profiles, which can be used specifically for trolling. Most importantly, interactions on the app are often hidden from the watchful eyes of parents and teachers, many of who don’t understand the platform’s intricacies.  

The company has recently announced a set of new features aimed at combatting bullying, including comment filters on live videos, machine-learning technology to detect bullying in photos, and a “kindness camera effect to spread positivity”, but their effectiveness is yet to be seen. Instagram is many teens’ entire social infrastructure and some may argue that it is inevitable for bullying to happen in any social environment.

A Monmouth county New Jersey school district has asked parents to sign a pledge barring students' access to social media until they are 13 years old because they are not "emotionally mature enough to handle it," says Superintendent John Marciante. The district's request comes after an incident occurred between students in a chat room using the app House Party that led to a threat of a school shooting. Some feel that such a ban could never be enforceable, but it still brings up the question about the age appropriateness of social media platforms.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, but do you know the current status of laws concerning cyberbullying stand on both the state and federal level? After initial attempts to get more laws on the books and policies in place, little more has appeared in the news lately.  Tina Hegner, manager of research and development at PublicSchoolWORKS, offers insights on bullying and cyberbulling laws in an article on the eSchool News site, describing how schools and districts can address bullying and enforce anti-bullying laws.