This third, loosely-related post will concentrate primarily on the New York Times and its excellent education-focused series on cyberbullying. Some of the impetus for the Times coverage appears to have been the tragic suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince which, while occurring largely in a school environment, also involved elements of cyberbullying (texting and websites are referenced in the linked article).

For all you educators reading this, here’s a hybrid lesson plan/resource list that is quite comprehensive and (hopefully) provocative. Obviously, its focus is the United States, but I can’t emphasise enough how useful a resource hub it promises to be for teachers, students and parents alike.

Finally the motherlode. Lengthy yet well worth anyone’s time if this topic is even marginally of interest, the article delves into the very real ways in which online cruelty blossoming amid the confusing tangle of adolescent (and even pre-adolescent) peer relationships can have a devastating effect on young people and their sense of self, equilibrium, belonging. It’s also admirably frank, acknowledging that traditional in-school bullying is far more prevalent than its cyber cousin, but a picture nonetheless emerges of how wounding it can be for the kids, and how stressful it can be for school staff.

The concept of “cyberbullying” is itself questioned, in that it tends to refer to a disparate collection of behaviours, some far more traumatic than others (consider the gulf between a teasing text or two on the one hand, and a website dedicated to how ugly/fat/stupid one is on the other). It’s tempting to break it down paragraph by paragraph, but I’ll refrain. Seriously, if you read nothing else about cyberbullying this year, read this one article, and maybe even hop on over to its offshoot in which readers ask the questions you are probably also wondering about, not least this one. I’ll just end with a quote from the parent article:

Affronted by cyberspace’s escalation of adolescent viciousness, many parents are looking to schools for justice, protection, even revenge. …

Can a student be suspended for posting a video on YouTube that cruelly demeans another student? Can a principal search a cellphone, much like a locker or a backpack? It’s unclear. These issues have begun their slow climb through state and federal courts, but so far, rulings have been contradictory, and much is still to be determined.