When I was growing up, bullying used to be something like this (without the kung-fu teacher)…

There was a group of boys that ganged on an individual or smaller/weaker group.  They pushed their way around and got their way.  This physical type of bullying still occurs, but it has now morphed into something different with the power of the Internet.

With cyber bullying, you are not always sure who or how many people are bullying you.  With the internet and cellular phones, it also now also very easy to “get to” a victim while they are in the physical safety of their own homes or where ever they bring their cellular phones with them.  Now bullying can take place in the physical world and also in the cyber world.  With such negative comments being able to affect a victim at any time during the day and in any place that they are “connected” the results could easily spiral out of control if not dealt with appropriately.

This graphic taken from Clay Shirky’s Ted Talk-”How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history” illustrates how messages can be sent out to connect to people in many different ways.  From a positive take, these messages can make history.  From a negative perspective, these messages can target individuals and inundate a victim with negative messages.  With the networks set up by such companies as Twitter and Facebook, bullies are now able to spread rumors, pictures, etc. with a click of a button.

This next video gives a good overview of our role as educators in regards to cyber bullying.

Stand up rather than stand by.

When it comes to bullying, it is often the bystanders that give the bully power.  Because no one does anything about the bullying behavior, the bully continues and usually the bullying escalates.   When working with kids, I have found that the grey area does make it difficult for kids to make a positive decision.  Students do not totally empathize with the victim.  The following video (just recently released) gives kids an insight into the perspective of both the “bully” and the victim.  I think videos like these can help build empathy for students so they can better relate to what a victim is enduring and therefore make better choices in the future.

I think it is important for educators to make it clear that students, in the real world and virtual world, need to either be a part of the solution or part of the problem.  Informing students of their options when faced with a bullying situation is one way to empower kids to make a bullying situation better.  Two options for bystanders are the following:

1. Reach out to the victim
2. Inform an adult about the problem

Letting kids know that they have options as a bystander to become a part of the solution can be just enough of a push to encourage students to take action.   Also, it is important to be very clear with kids that inaction makes you part of the problem.  When a negative message is circulated and the reader does nothing about it, this indirectly sends a message to the victim that the reader does not cares or that the reader is in agreement with the negative message.  This is sometimes a hard concept for kids to grasp, but teaching and reteaching students to be part of the solution and not part of the problem is the task before us.  Helping kids to make positive choices online and helping clarify what actions to take when encountering cyber bullying are some steps that we can take as educators to help grow digital citizens.

A final resource, Common Sense Media has created a video offering parents five tips on how to deal with cyber bullying.