'Cyberbullying And Its Prevalence In The News'

I’m writing to address the growing problem of cyberbullying and its prevalence in the news -- and in numerous teens’ lives -- these days.

An estimated 160,000 kids miss school every day because of the fear of being intimidated or bullied by other students.

And (recently), the story of bullied teen Jamey Rodemeyer and his tragic suicide has been making headlines all over the country. His story in particular serves as a reminder that cyberbullying is a growing problem with often serious consequences.

There are a few reasons why cyberbullying is becoming more common than traditional face-to-face altercations and old-fashioned schoolyard bullying. Kids are constantly online and interacting with their friends and peers on social networks, like Facebook, Twitter and Formspring. As social networking amongst kids and teens continues to grow, the online aspect of these interactions presents a challenge. Because social networking isn’t face-to-face or in-person, kids may not feel as though they are making as direct an attack as they would if they were saying the same thing to someone at school. By making cruel or rude comments online, kids don’t always realize that their words can still be hurtful, or have just as severe or damaging consequences.

Furthermore, kids who aren’t bullies themselves, but who are witnessing these interactions amongst other peers, may not want to draw attention to potentially harmful situations for fear of being “snitches” or getting involved in other people’s business.

Fortunately, there are ways for parents to get a better sense of potentially risky situations that result from cyberbullying and other online dangers, like predators and reputation damage. I work for a company called SocialShield that provides a technology to help parents monitor what their kids are doing online, and have a better understanding of who they are interacting with. We don’t provide software that parents install on their computers, like anti-virus or parental control programs. Rather, our web-based service is able to scan a child’s social networking activities whether they log on to a social network at home, via a smartphone, or through any other computer.

The other advantage of our service is that kids don’t have to be “friends” with their parents online, and can therefore avoid the embarrassment of Mom or Dad posting something on their wall or publicly commenting on one of their photos.

I also want to point out that the point of our technology is not to make kids feel as if they are being spied on, whether a parent is worried that their child is being bullied or that they are they themselves are causing problems. Kids should have a right to privacy online, but there are online dangers outside of their -- and their parents’ -- control.

Having a way to know what’s going on without constantly looking over a child’s shoulder gives kids respectable space to learn how to be safe and responsible online citizens, while parents can have peace of mind when it comes to certain risks including cyberbullying.