technology in my life

Posts tagged bully

Too Much of the Wrong Thing

Dec07
2010 Leave a Comment Avatar of Steve Collins Written by Steve Collins

Cyber bullying usually has one end result, to intimidate another person.  This story is a little different.

Day #53/365

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Federal authorities have charged an adult for cyber bullying.  Most of the time when I think of cyber bullying, I think of middle or high school students sending threatening messages to other students.  That was not the case recently when an online retailer threatened his own customers.  However, his motive was not as obvious as one would think.

What is most interesting about this case is the reason for the bullying.  Apparently the owner of the online shop wanted to boost his web search ranking by creating ‘buzz’ about his business.  Even if the buzz meant negative comments flying around various online forums, he knows the power of people linking and talking about his site.  His buzz went way too far.

I know that web search results are important and that there are many ways people try to artificially boost their ranking, but this is just bizarre.  The irony of this is that his online shop is probably getting more hits than ever now.

Posted in Course 2 - Tagged , ,

The Binary Bully

Oct18
2010 Leave a Comment Avatar of Steve Collins Written by Steve Collins

Gone are the days when bullies were only dealt with in face-to-face situations.  Perhaps a bully could choose to write a threatening letter, but now a bully has way too many resources at their disposal to pick on their prey.  Today, the bully has numerous ways and all of them are FAR more reaching than a shove on the playground.  The Binary Bully now has the world as their stage.

Image Credit: Chris Kasurak

Image Credit: Chris Kasurak

According to Safetyweb.com cyber bullying is defined as any act of the following carried out online:

  • Threats of violence
  • Hate speech
  • Harassment
  • Peer pressure
  • Bribery
  • Psychological abuse
  • Extortion

Email, social networking sites, video outlets, text messages, websites, message boards, they are just a few of the ways a cyber bully can take their message to the world stage.  And with relative anonymity the risks of being caught are low.  That’s not to say that a bully can’t be caught, but it certainly takes more work and technical savvy to track down the suspect party.

Brainpop has an excellent, kid-friendly cyber bullying animation at: http://www.brainpop.com/technology/computersandinternet/cyberbullying/

Luckily, I have not seen any evidence of the Binary Bully living in my second grade classroom.  As a second grade teacher I am still dealing with the ‘old fashion’ playground bully.  However, the education starts now.  The second graders in my class need to become aware of the effects and how damaging bullying can be.    They already understand the power of the Internet with the blogs they type.  They understand what a large audience they have at their fingertips.  With increasing exposure to online activity students have to understand they are obligated to becoming a productive and kind digital citizen.  It is critical that they are taught to be virtuous people and preempt any urge to become a Binary Bully.

There are many sites that address cyber bullying, here are a few:

National Crime Prevention Counsil

Stopcyberbullying.org

Wikipedia

Here’s an interactive cyber bullying quiz with potential scenerios: http://www.mcgruff.org/Games/cyberbully.php

Posted in Course 1 - Tagged , ,