"Not my child," many parents would say. Of course "no parent wants to admit their kid is a bully," educator and child development expert Annie Fox writes. But if you have even an inkling your child might be cyberbullying others, you have an opportunity not only to lessen other children's emotional pain and improve social conditions at school but also to help your child offload anti-social behavior … [Read more...] about Signs that your child’s cyberbullying
Risk & Safety
Phoebe Prince story: Much more than meets the eye
If parents want insights into both the Phoebe Prince tragedy and how bullying can develop in a high school today, read this in-depth piece in Slate.com. The writer, Emily Bazelon, was reporting this story for months, publishing interim pieces of it as the news broke from South Hadley, Mass. "My investigation into the events that gave rise to Phoebe's death, based on extensive interviews and review … [Read more...] about Phoebe Prince story: Much more than meets the eye
Videochatting kids spied on via their Webcams
If the Jessi Slaughter story wasn't enough to convince parents that kids' bedrooms are not great places for Webcams, maybe this news out of Germany will help. A man in the Rhineland area "has been arrested for spying on more than 150 girls in their bedrooms by hacking into their computers and using their webcams to watch them," TheLocal.de reports. A computer security expert who gives talks about … [Read more...] about Videochatting kids spied on via their Webcams
How an 11-year-old became a meme
Did Jessi Slaughter's father think this was parenting, when he went on YouTube with her and threatened the harassers and trolls she had violently threatened too? He certainly made things worse, not better, for her – if his rant was for real (it was laughable to many viewers, based on their comments). The video of the Florida father and daughter, shown at the top of this page at Gawker.com, had … [Read more...] about How an 11-year-old became a meme
‘I-dosing’: Digital audio as virtual ‘drug’?
The headline in the Huffington Post is certainly misleading, suggesting that the Internet is a "digital drug," but so is the article about binaural (two-toned) digital music that can be heard on CDs and MP3 players as well as the Internet. These audio files are "designed to induce drug-like effects," according to News 9 in Oklahoma City, which cites the state's Bureau of Narcotics as saying that … [Read more...] about ‘I-dosing’: Digital audio as virtual ‘drug’?