Blog Post #3 (Scholarly Article)

     The scholarly article that I chose to write about is one from the Australian Journal of Guidance & Counseling. It was written by a woman named Christine Suniti Bhat who attended Ohio University. The article is titled Cyber Bullying: Overview and Strategies for School Counselors, Guidance Officers, and All School Personnel and was written in 2008. This is a scholarly article because it is written by an expert in the field who is affiliated with a college. Along with this, the article itself contains several other sources of information. I found this article by searching on the library’s database for an article that pertained to cyber bullying. 
     I found this particular article interesting because it went into depth about several stories of cyber bullying as well as why this is a concern for schools around the world. It defines cyber bullying as “the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others” (Belsey, n.d., p. 8). It goes on to report several statistics about computer users in many countries as well as why counselors find this topic important. The article focuses on how technology takes bullying to the next level and how it actually differs from face to face bullying. It states the signs of people who are being bullied and how and when to step in. After that, it is divided up into outlets for cyber bullies such as instant messaging, cell phones, and social networking sites. Each contains its own unique strengths and weaknesses that bullies take advantage of. 
     The last seven pages are dedicated solely to how counselors can assist children who they think are being bullied or who are bullying. Often counselors and teacher are unsure of how to deal with these situations and so this article contains advice for working with these issues. Overall, I believe this article is very informative and provides a wonderful insight to the world of cyber-bullying.

Belsey, B. (n.d.).

June 11, 2007, from http://www.cyberbullying.ca/pdf/Cyberbullying_Article_by_Bill_

Belsey.pdf

ArticleCyber bullying: An emerging threat to the ‘always on’ generation. Retrieved

Effects of Cyber Bullying

While searching for a certain topic to write about, I came across a video from the Early Show on CBS. In the video are two different women who have been hurt by cyber bulling; one being bullied herself while the other had a daughter who was bullied over the internet. Throughout the interview each of the women talks about how this issue is nothing minor. It affects all people, especially children, and it is difficult to detect. Tina Meier, whose daughter committed suicide as a result of being bullied, encourages parents to have an open communication with their kids and not to let things go unnoticed.
After watching the broadcast I began to wonder what other preventative measure parents could be taking in order to stop such disasters from occurring in the future. Although I do not believe it is the sole responsibility of the parent to monitor their child's every move, the parent should still be aware of what their child is doing on the internet. Knowing what social media sites they are on and educating them on the dangers of cyber-bulling is a good first step. However, knowing the signs and symptoms of cyber-bulling in a child are key entities that every parent should know. Being an active parent means stepping in when something does not look right. By having knowledge about cyber-bullying, parents are more likely to prevent disasters before it is too late.
Overall, what Tina Meier suggested about having an open relationship with your child is extremely important. Parents should know when to step in and when to trust their kids, just as kids should be able to trust their parents and be able to reach out to them when they feel like they have no one. The other girl in the interview attempted to kill herself and was actually hospitalized for some time in order to cope with cyber-bullying. She states how she never reached out to anyone. She felt as if she couldn’t and that no one was there to help her. This situation is dangerous and proves that parents need to communicate with their children and listen to what they have to say, because at some point it may be dire.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6146188n

Entry #1: Introductions

Howdy! I have decided to have identity, privacy and safety as my topic of inquiry. With the rapid expansion and use of technology, especially the internet, by youth and young children I believe that privacy and safety are huge issues in today's society. Children and even teens are sometimes too naive to realize the dangers lurking on the internet. Recent laws and regulations have begun to bring attention to the problem but are they really helping? How can we truly protect children from the dangers that are out there in cyber space? Since this is still an evolving issue it's hard to find a solution. Cyber bullying and cyber stalking are serious, however they are seriously hard to prove and even harder to convict someone of their wrongdoing. The consequences of cyber bulling are terrible and extra precautions need to be taken in order to protect our society’s youngest members from being harmed over the internet.

Other topics that I would like to cover over the course of this semester are cyber crime, identity theft, as well as the consequences and effects of cyber bullying and cyber stalking. I am interested in how the development of MySpace and facebook aided in the ease of finding and exploiting youth and teens and also the safety features of those social networking sites. Internet and social networking sites can only do so much to protect their users. What are parents doing to protect their kids and what laws are out there for the protection or minors on the internet? And even though there are certain laws pertaining to these issues, how are they being enforced? Are they being enforced at all? I am excited to uncover some of these important and persistent issues throughout the semester and to see what is being done for the protection of everyone on the internet.