Parents can be key to halting bullying online
Fewer than two dozen parents showed up for a cyberbullying forum at Kalispell Middle School on Monday night, but those who attended were given a wealth of information.
Cyberbullying is the use of the Internet, cellphones or other technologies to harm other people in a deliberate, repeated and hostile manner. It disproportionately affects pre-adolescent and teenage girls.
Kalispell Police Officer Jason Parce, the school resource officer at Glacier High School, said cyberbullying is all too common among teenagers.
“If not every day, at least three times a week,” Parce said of the frequency he sees it at Glacier. “Kids are consistently putting down others using intimidating, hurtful language. But there are a lot of ways we can intervene.”
Parce said he has seen the worst parts of cyberbullying — trafficking of child pornography, assaults and even suicides — and said it was vital to teach proper online behavior.
Business owner Anthony Robinson discussed ways to protect children with parental firewalls, limiting screen time and just talking with their children.
Robinson, owner of Cerberus Computing Service, has eight children, so he has rightly earned the title “professional hacker” to protect his children using technology.
Much of the forum dealt with new ways to protect very tech-savvy youngsters from their cellphone applications.
Robinson spent time discussing Snapchat, a photo-messaging service where the photo supposedly disappears in a given time after it has been opened by the receiving party.
Snapchat was developed as a way for adults to flirt with photos while texting. Youths have adopted it as a means to send lewd photos as well as to cyberbully, thinking it won’t leave any evidence.
Robinson dispelled that idea by accessing photos his daughter had sent him using the app several weeks earlier.
“Once something is online, it is there forever,” he said.
Connie Cermak, another panel member and founder of Social Nectar, a social media marketing consultant service, wanted to instill in children the permanence of actions on social media.
She said explicit photos teens sent to their significant others, or even to crushes, could easily be passed around online and used to humiliate.
Besides the bullying and pain this causes, if the person who originally sent the photo is under 18, it is trafficking of child pornography, and if it crosses state lines, it becomes a federal matter.
The takeaway for parents at the forum was it was better to be safe than sorry when posting something online or sending via text or app.
Parents should watch if their child becomes skittish or nervous around the subject of computer or cellphone use or just seems to have changes in personality. These are both signs of potential cyberbullying.
Parents can be deciding factors in whether a child can make good decisions and possibly avoid being the subject of bullying. A reaction is exactly what a bully wants.
Parents can report bullying on anonymous tiplines, by calling the school and possibly by calling law enforcement.
Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.