Cyber Bullying
Watching A Current Affair last night, I was shocked to see an item on Cyber Bullying.
Cyber-bullying is the title given to the new form of bullying that is becoming increasingly common in schools today. Children are being bullied via chat rooms, messenger programs, blogs, and e-mails. It is becoming more common as it is easily accessible and does not necessarily need to involve any physical contact. However, I can see how this form of bullying could be worse than physical bullying as students can feel very threatened. Physical bullying may occur only in certain places, such as school and after school activities, however with cyber bullying there are no real limitations. The bullies can torment others in their own homes, a place where they would usually feel secure.
A year 7 student in Queensland was bullyed in the playground at school. This is bad enough and traumatic for the child. However to add insult to injury, students filmed the attack on their mobile phones and then proceeded to upload these videos onto you-tube.
I was shocked by this, as the poor student involved had to have the ordeal broadcasted online for all to see. It was suprising to see how technologically advanced students are these days, and what they can do using the technology made available to them. It made me wonder whether or not all this technology we use is actually helping our society or not. Some of the things people do with technology are definately not beneficial and can be harmful.
I think that with such things in consideration, that it is important to address appropriate and inappropriate ways to use technology with students. As using it in the way i saw yesterday is definately not something I think anyone would condone.
However, if we are teaching students how to use technology and encouraging them to share media online through blogs and sites such as teacher tube, we are providing them the skills to do the things seen in cyber bullying.
