EDLD 5316 Week 4 Journal Reflection
Welcome to week 4! This week we focused on bullying and cyberbullying. The Oxford Dictionary defines cyberbullying as “the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.” Stopbullying.gov goes on to explain that cyberbullying “includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else…sharing personal or private information…causing embarrassment or humiliation.” Computers, tablets, and smartphones can be used to cyberbully someone via text messages or social media. Cyberbullying is an extension of typical bullying.
The results of bullying and cyberbullying can be devastating to the target and the target's family. The target will present symptoms of anxiety or depression. School performance (grades) begin to drop. Absences will increase as symptoms begin to manifest as physical ailments, such as stomach aches or headaches. According to the article "Impact of Cyberbullying on the Victim" by Americanspcc.org, victims of cyberbullying, especially girls, may present with eating disorders.
Parents and guardians should watch for those signs and symptoms listed above. If your child is a victim of cyberbullying, intervention is important. Stopbullying.org lists five key points that the parents or guardians should be aware of to assist in preventing cyberbullying. Those are: notice, talk, document, report, and support. After noticing symptoms, the adult should talk with the child. The adult should document the cyberbullying and report the cyberbullying to the school administration and possibly to the local police department. Additionally, the adult may consider moving the child to another school for their safety. Counseling or therapy may be needed for the victim to help support and heal the victim of cyberbullying.
These are facts that important for all adults to know and understand. That applies to parents or guardians, teachers, and administrators. These adults can be proactive in preventing bullying and cyberbullying behavior with education. Many schools have drug abuse education and good character education in upper elementary grades of fourth and fifth grade. Bullying and cyberbullying education would be an easy addition to the good character education. Additionally, in junior high (in Louisiana) students take a computer class. They learn how to type properly, and learn how to operate computer programs, such as PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheets. Continuing education on cyberbullying during this class would be an easy and appropriate set of lessons as it pertains to computer usage. Many schools have policies in place regarding bullying and cyberbullying. That information should be specifically taught to the students both during the upper elementary grades and in the junior high grades. Education is important and critical for the prevention of bullying and cyberbullying. The education cannot just occur at school though. Parents or guardians need to play an active roll in the education of their children regarding the appropriate use of electronic devices. The adults should monitor their child's devices on a regular, yet spontaneous, basis. The adults should have the passwords or passcodes to all devices used by the children.
Hopefully, through the combined efforts of all adults, bullying and cyberbullying will one day be a thing of the past.
References:
Americanspcc.org. (n.d.). Impact of Cyberbullying on The Victim. Retrieved from: https://americanspcc.org/impact-of-cyberbullying/
Oxford Dictionary. (n.d.) cyberbullying. Retrieved from: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cyberbullying
Stopbullying.gov. (n.d.). What is Cyberbullying
