Knock and the Door Shall be Opened...

Adults often lament that teens do not listen. Empirical evidence suggests otherwise.
In a study conducted by Megan A. Moreno, MD, MSEd, low income teens with sex, drug, or alcohol references on their MySpace page were sent the following email:

"You seemed to be quite open about sexual issues or other behaviors such as drinking or smoking. Are you sure that's a good idea? ... You might consider revising your page to better protect your privacy."

Over 40% of those receiving the email increased their privacy settings and/or reduced their references to the aforementioned inappropriate behaviors.

To access the full article from the archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, click here.

In a connected world, it is now more important than ever to point out the dangers, as well as, the benefits of social networking. Talk and they will listen.

Bullycide

The inevitable has happened. Tragically, a 13 year-old girl hung herself after being bullied online. The crime was committed on the pages of the social networking site MySpace. Adults and educators nationwide have long feared the consequences of kids interacting in an unsupervised environment.

However, this heinous crime was perpetrated by adults.

I am hopeful the true criminals, the adults who bullied an innocent young teen to the point of taking her own life, are punished to the fullest extent of the law.

I am fearful, that once again, well meaning politicians will rush to regulate digital communications instead of educating parents and children about the very real danger of cyberbullying.

For the full article, click here.

Teen Beating

The March 30th attack on a 16 year old Florida girl by 6 other teens has sparked controversy over popular file sharing sites such as YouTube and MySpace.

I firmly believe those involved should be treated as adults and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I fear that good intentions to prevent this from happening again will lead to knee jerk legislation prohibiting the free exchange of information over the web.

We as teachers, should focus on education not regulation. Only when social norms dictate online bullying is intolerable will these type of shock videos cease to be produced.

Does your school have a policy for online bullying? Is a clear message being communicated to the entire faculty and then disseminated to the student population?

If not, let's do what we do best...teach.