Morning folks. A nice little article about sexting was published in the Toronto Star today about youth and sexting. The story features some quotes from me and you might enjoy reading it.

I spoke at the Provincial Youth Justice Conference and I think it went pretty well. For those of you who weren’t there, here is a collection of links that were my background research for Tuesday’s keynote speech.http://bitly.com/ubHacA. Use them if they are useful.

by guest blogger David Antrobus

Just as there is plenty of evidence that generic bullying is learned behaviour on the part of young people emulating adults, it may be equally true that the variations on bullying often referred to by the teens themselves as “drama” may be similarly informed by the interactions they perceive in the adult world—often via television reality shows—and given a distinctly adolescent spin. And with the advent of social media, these spectacles may be enacted in front of an “audience” for added “entertainment”.

This is one conclusion among a number of interesting ideas reached by researchers danah boyd and Alice Marwick in a September 13, 2011 paper entitled “The Drama! Teen Conflict, Gossip, and Bullying in Networked Publics.”.

In it, Marwick and boyd argue that teenage conflict is distinct enough to distinguish it from the rather broader albeit overlapping definitions of bullying that most commentators are currently insisting on using. Even here at SOLOS, we have gone on record arguing for the term “harassment” instead, but recognise the difficulty—from a clarity standpoint—of maintaining that approach when so many others are falling back on buzzwords like “cyberbullying”. From that perspective, it may be important for all of us to nurture a healthy skepticism toward standard tropes whenever this topic is raised and discussed.

Data for the paper was collected in the United States between 2006 and 2011 and involved adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19, paying particular attention to diversity such as “gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, socio-economic background, political background, and school engagement level” [Marwick and boyd].

The real thrust, or the most useful aspects of Marwick and boyd’s assertions, revolves around the idea that many adult constructions derived from a largely academic perspective, such as “cyberbullying”, “relational aggression” and “informational privacy”, are almost completely absent from the adolescent narrative, and therefore effectively meaningless. And that most commentators have ignored and even dismissed the teenage term “drama” as being something of a “girl thing”, effectively allowing a heterosexist position to gloss over a potentially crucial concept.

The problem is that “drama” appears to be a very broad brush with which to paint some very distinct and disparate behaviours. These range from backstabbing, blackmailing, gossiping, and/or betraying friends. They can cover the relatively innocuous, such as kidding around and teasing, to minor skirmishes, to makeups and breakups as well as the more serious harassment usually referred to as bullying. And the bigger point is that teenagers need to escape from the delimiting nature of adults’ concepts of cyberbullying, which is why they have invented drama in the first place; that whether victim or perpetrator, the individual is seeking to escape a constricted role that carries with it too many sociological and psychological connotations and costs.

Ann Collier adds some valuable insights to this already fascinating data. She uses the metaphor of a Hawk Cam, describing those online cameras placed in or near the nest of hatching or fledgling birds, and how they often turn out a little less romantic or inspirational than we originally hoped:

“Maybe incubation was going on too long, maybe the chicks were dead; then maybe the swelling from that metal wildlife-identification band too high on the mother hawk’s leg would kill her, which would in turn kill the chicks; maybe she should be treated, but maybe treatment […] would increase the risk to mother and chicks; etc. In other words, put nature under a microscope (or Webcam), then we can fix it. Or not.” (Collier, Ann)

She goes on to compare this to how the up-close, blow-by-blow dramas of our teenagers are enacted in an equally public and excruciatingly detailed manner, which in turn is causing many adults sufficient anxiety to feel intervention is necessary. And, wisely, she questions this urge to intervene and to micromanage our teenagers’ lives via their digital manifestations. She reaches three broad conclusions that are well worth repeating:

“So what are some takeaways from the hawk family?

1. That, through many “streams” (Facebook, monitoring software, parent-child texting, conversations, everyday family life, the grapevine, the news), we now have a very powerful Kid Cam providing nearly 24-hour exposure to the minutia of our children’s lives and thoughts.

2. That the temptation to intervene or “fix” situations probably grows in proportion to the granularity and constancy of that exposure
3. That the observer’s intervention very possibly may not be needed and can sometimes be destructive, so we need to think carefully before yielding to intervention temptation.” (Collier, Ann)

Another practical problem in all this is that traditional antibullying attempts fall short in those situations whereby a youth is ready for some kind of support only to find that it isn’t immediately forthcoming, or is inadequate. To impose adult standards of interpretation on a situation and then leave the newly formed “victim” less than supported is and has been very dangerous in the past, and amounts to adding a genuine injury to an insult.

With their marvellous Op-Ed in the New York Times, boyd and Marwick deserve to have the last word, tying all this research and insight in with some genuinely pragmatic and prescriptive solutions:

“…If the goal is to intervene at the moment of victimization, the focus should be to work within teenagers’ cultural frame, encourage empathy and help young people understand when and where drama has serious consequences. Interventions must focus on positive concepts like healthy relationships and digital citizenship rather than starting with the negative framing of bullying. The key is to help young people feel independently strong, confident and capable without first requiring them to see themselves as either an oppressed person or an oppressor.” (boyd and Marwick, NY Times)

SOLOS would like to add our hearty endorsement of these conclusions.

With the fairly regular media focus on young people who choose to end their lives due to online harassment and/or bullying, a fair amount of attention has been paid to recent research conducted by the Cyberbullying Research Center [http://www.cyberbullying.us], a website dedicated to the myriad ways in which electronic technology can be used to cause harm to others, especially children and youth. They also have a Facebook page: [http://www.facebook.com/cyberbullyingresearch]

Dr. Justin W. Patchin, and Dr. Sameer Hinduja and other researchers at the centre have been researching cyberbullying since 2002. So far, they have run seven studies which included over 12,000 adolescents from over 80 schools.

That near-decade of research has unearthed a mountain of valuable information.

Examples:

• Approximately 20% of teenagers have been victimized by cyberbullying, although other studies have indicated that number is far higher (up to 70%).
•
• The number of young people who admit to bullying online ranges somewhere between 10 and 20%.
•
• The self-reported reasons for harassing others online include: revenge, jealousy, meanness, and even entertainment.
•
• Cyberbullying cuts across gender lines, although there is some evidence that slightly more girls than boys experience it, both as victim and offender.
•
• Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between cyberbullying and a list of negative issues and feeling states, including low self-esteem, suicide ideation, depression, poor school grades, self-destructive behaviours, mood swings and, of course, suicide itself [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13811118.2010.494133].
•
• Almost 60% of youth who are bullied online don’t tell an adult.
•
• Teenagers who are bullied in school tend to be bullied online, and a similar correlation between online and off exists for the offenders, too. The behaviour is very transferable, in other words.
•
• There is some evidence that the bullies themselves have been emboldened by the anonymity of the internet, and that more individuals are engaging in it who might not have done so in pre-internet times.
•
• Similarly, there is some evidence that the effects of online bullying can be more insidious and harmful to the victim than those of their offline counterparts.
•
• Educational as opposed to disciplinary approaches have proven to be far more effective in the prevention of cyberbullying.

So much for past research. How, if anything, does the new research support or contradict these findings?

Recently, Larry Magid of CNET and ConnectSafely.org [http://www.connectsafely.org] attempted to clarify some of the contradictory nature of information in this area, via a podcast [http://radiolarry.com/cnetaudio/justin_patchin_2011.mp3] and a transcript of his interview with Dr. Patchin himself [http://www.safekids.com/2011/09/12/interview-with-justin-patchin-of-cyberbullying-research-center/], all of which was tied into a CBS news special on bullying that aired on September 16, 2011 [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/08/48hours/main20100086.shtml?tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea].

First and foremost, it is vital to remove the whole moral panic aspect of the issue. As Patchin says, it is important to give the issue the seriousness it deserves without turning it into a big scary epidemic, which it is not. Also essential are definitions. Patchin very succinctly defines cyberbullying as “bullying behaviors carried out using or facilitated by technology,” which includes “a lot of the same kind of things we see at school and in neighborhoods, such as harassment or disrespecting or rumors or gossip that are now being carried out online.” [http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-20105000-238/cyberbullying-101-fact-vs-fiction-podcast/]

Another aspect that has engendered much disagreement and controversy is the comparison between on and offline bullying and/or harassment. How different are they? In fact, are they even significantly different at all? Patchin again highlights some key areas, arguing that cyberbullying does indeed possess some unique characteristics, such as “perceived anonymity, limitless vulnerability, the fact that the target can be anywhere at any time and be susceptible to attacks from the bully”. It may also be more difficult for parents/guardians/caregivers to deal with, given the technological challenges. Magid himself has also written an interesting post on this, although in it, he does minimize some of the differences Patchin is trying to emphasize [http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-20030511-238.html].

Salient points from the interview and study include:

• The figure of 20% as pertaining to the number of teens experiencing cyberbullying at some point seems to hold.
•
• We see far more traditional schoolyard bullying than cyberbullying.
•
• There is no evidence that incidences of cyberbullying are increasing.
•
• There has been a slight but significant increase (from approximately 15% to as high as 30%) in the numbers of youth who will tell an adult after encountering cyberbullying.
•
• Non-heterosexual youth are targeted more frequently.
•
• The link with low self-esteem, depression and suicide ideation is still problematic in that correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation: i.e., is cyberbullying directly responsible for those states, or does the presence of those elements in an individual attract harassment from others?
•
• Negative media perceptions of adolescents may colour the reporting, making it appear that more teens are engaged in destructive or “bad” behaviours than actually are. Patchin actually encourages teens themselves to counter this negative perception through proactive responses.

At approximately fifteen minutes long, the podcast is very much worth listing to in its entirety. Finally, here is a link to some tips for avoiding cyber harassment: [http://www.connectsafely.org/Safety-Tips/tips-to-help-stop-cyberbullying.html] As with all online safety issues, cyber harassment is a complex and even contradictory one, but for parents, teens and other interested parties, there are always steps that can be taken to minimize its impact, so it’s important to keep updated with the latest research and cyberproofing tips.

By now, one would imagine most parents are well aware of how to help their children safely negotiate the internet and its occasional hazards, but it’s actually not that simple. Advice and tips must be age-appropriate, for one thing, since the habits, expectations and online behaviours of a ten year old are going to be very different from those of a sixteen year old. Also, we sometimes forget that the very concept “the internet” may refer to a number of widely disparate platforms. Many people only refer to the World Wide Web as the internet, forgetting that the internet encompasses everything from smart phones to email clients to electronic tablets to chat programs to video gaming systems and more. The internet is in fact a network of networks, consisting of “millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies.” [link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet] All of this must be kept in mind by parents attempting to help their children stay safe online.

And then there are the hazards and issues themselves. No longer simple, these range from cyberbullying/harassment, sexting on cell or smart phones, inappropriate content, webcams, chat rooms, gaming, blogging, as well as all the aspects and consequences of the social networking explosion. The original moral panic of luring via the internet has turned out to be a minor issue in terms of its frequency, and yet devastating to those caught up in it. It is still worth reminding everyone off the bat that giving out personal information to strangers on the internet is not a good idea and meeting a stranger even less so.

With all this in mind, it can seem overwhelming, but there are some first basic principles from which parents can initially work.

Here is a breakdown by category, although some of the advice will be interchangeable. And for “parent”, please read the appropriate “guardian” designation throughout.

Cyberbullying

Help your child understand that responding to rude or unkind comments online generally only fans the flames of harassment and can quickly escalate.

The parent or the child can help by noting times and dates of harassing comments, as well as recording the comments themselves.

Internet Service Providers can be asked to remove any webpage from their servers that was created specifically to hurt an individual child.

Use the “block” function in email, chat rooms, Instant Messaging and on social networks such as Facebook.

Bullying on cellphones (text or audio) can be combated by a simple change of phone number and some basic security steps once it has been changed (don’t give out the new number to everyone, for example, and check out the phone’s blocking capabilities).

Involve schools if harassment is occurring between students. Ask them about their cyberbullying policies.

Don’t forget to report anything you hear that feels like it might be illegal.

Webcams

Locate the computer and especially the webcam in a busy, central area of your home. Your child must know you can supervise their activities.

Ask to see any videos your child has made. Give your questions a sense of discovery not surveillance. And ask your child what they would do if anyone asked them to do something on webcam that made them uncomfortable.

Talk to your child about what types of information you would like them not to share online. Make it a discussion and not a series of commands.

Do the same for webcams, emphasizing what is appropriate and what is not.

Be prepared. If you do discover an inappropriate comment or even solicitation toward your child, have a plan already outlined.

Do not upset or scare your child. If they are afraid, they may be less likely to tell you if something uncomfortable happens to them while online. Be calm and explain that occasionally some things happen online and if they do, they should not feel they are in any way responsible, and to report these incidents to you and, importantly, they have to know you won’t freak out.

Cellphones

Read the invoice or bill carefully, noting late night calls or texts and/or suspicious numbers.

Have occasional conversations to remind your child of the viral nature of texts, how easily forwarded and shared they are. Make sure this aspect is firmly in your child’s mind. They will roll their eyes at you anyway, so best to err on the side of overdoing the reminders.

It’s basic, but again, your child may need reminders not to reveal cell phone numbers and passwords online.

Have at least one conversation about the consequences of sending sexually explicit images or texts. Don’t lecture, let your child lead the discussion once you have prompted him/her.

Be aware of all the security features on your child’s phone, preferably before you purchase it.

Again, conversation is key. Don’t impose rules from on high, and allow your child input and even be prepared to compromise on some things. Ask them things like:could you show me what features you use on your phone? Do you personally know all the people in your Contacts list? Have you taken any embarrassing photos of anyone? If so, did you pass them on? What would you do if…? Those types of open ended questions.

Gaming

Gaming is often given little credit by non-gaming adults, and yet studies have shown that important problem solving skills, as well as hand-eye coordination and even social skills are learned by young gamers.

As with other technology, there’s no escaping the need for parents to be savvy and as up-to-date as possible. That way, you will know whether your child’s gaming equipment has certain safety features, such as a voice-masking headset, for example.

As with computers, keep gaming consoles in busy household areas that are easy to check on.

Again, as with computers, make sure your child understands not to give out personal information when online (all major consoles have online or “live” capability) or to arrange to meet anyone they chat with in there.

Your child should also know not to enter into “trash talking” situations in which insults are traded, as they can escalate.

Have clear limits of how much time you want them to play. Again, you can discuss this, but your child’s idea and your idea of an appropriate length of time may be very different. Compromise may be required.

Always supervise any financial transactions. For instance, online time is usually bought via credit card, and if the child is too young, the likelihood is it will be your card they have to use!

Moderators are available for some online games, and it is worth knowing this.

Find out how to report any inappropriate behaviours ahead of time.

And always engage in discussions about the game your child is playing, how they feel about its content, how much they disclose of themselves while playing, how safe they are feeling, etc. Get creative with your questions, and don’t forget the fun part of gaming.

Social Networking

It’s always important to emphasize the positives of the internet as well as the pitfalls, and social networking is no exception. Such networks help people find likeminded individuals with matching interests and also help develop social and group skills via the sharing of what motivates and interests us. There is also a degree of privacy involved that can be a challenge for parents who recognize a certain amount of privacy is essential in their children’s lives.

Parents must handle this sensitively or they risk alienating their child if they are too heavy-handed.

Discuss with your child privacy settings. Go on the site together and problem solve, tweaking the customizable settings in a dynamic, ongoing way, using negotiation and compromise. Even then, take full privacy with a grain of salt; it’s an illusion at best.

Make sure your younger children know all their social networking friends in person.

Sporadically check your child’s friends list and see if any of their friends are posting information or photos of your child.

Ensure your child him/herself is not revealing overly personal information: street addresses or even schools, for example, as they can be traced and a quick Google Map search can reveal the route they take to school.

If your child insists on posting their birthday, leave out the year of birth.

And keep talking. Do you use your real age when you talk online? What makes you decide to add someone as a friend or contact? What kind of stuff do you post on your profile? Again, not in grilling mode, but because you are interested.

***

This is largely an overview, and more detail can always be teased out. When it comes to sexting, for example, it’s very important your child is aware of the potential real world consequences of the activity: public humiliation, loss of future educational opportunities and even criminal repercussions. Another issue is the bystander effect, whereby no one reports a potentially scary or dangerous situation either because they assume someone else will have done so, or because they don’t want to “break ranks” and be the first out of the crowd to react. These are complex issues without easy fixes, but can also be very serious ones.

This is meant as a very brief guide, and not as a comprehensive or definitive list. There are hundreds of resources out there, however, so please keep yourself informed since the technologies are constantly changing. I hope this blog post helps.

Cyberbullying and a harassing culture in general among young people is often the topic of media attention. I’d like to suggest we consider this piece of research that survey youth for their perception of cyberbullying and some interesting implications for how to educate youth to be better and safer online.

Greetings SOLOS fans and contacts.

I know I don’t announce much new stuff on our Facebook page or through this blog but there’s lots going on right now. Sherle, our web designer, over at R8Design has done a spectacular job of updating the Main Library page on our SOLOS website. There you can access our Youtube channel (videos we use in our presentations and other fun stuff), our two blogs, our Facebook page and two rss feeds with news for parents and educators and about social media policy.

Take an look and let me know what you think!

Merlyn

There is a story breaking today about an international child exploitation ring which may involve two British Columbians, one in Vancouver and one in Kelowna.

Eleven people (six in the U.K., three in Australia and and two in Canada) have been arrested for exchanging child sexual abuse images and videos on Facebook. The investigation started in March. One individual was sentenced in the U.K. yesterday, which seems to have prompted these subsequent arrests.

The success of the arrest of these eleven individuals is being attributed to international law enforcement cooperation.

RCMP Supt. John Bilinski, who heads the Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, said the investigation “is a clear demonstration of how international co-operation can help ensure that child sexual offenders are brought to justice.” Source

Indeed, Interpol has been building an intricate network of interlaced law enforcement protocols since 1996, when they hosted a meeting in Lyon France and began InHope (a coordinated network of national tiplines and its Standing Working Group on Offenses against Minors).  The results of that investment in law enforcement is evident with today’s arrests.

What we aren’t as good at is organizing and funding societal responses – education, prevention and victim-support systems – needed to address the issues of sexual abuse and technology within the framework of community values and norms. Yes, we need law enforcement (self-reportedly overwhelmed with horrendous investigations) to apprehend these sexual offenders. The abuse occurring online is tragic but to think that law enforcement alone can solve this problem is naive and irresponsible. So is being dismissive or absolutist  about social networking and it’s effect on our society. We are negligent if we continue to ignore the educational, social service and community responses needed to deal with the consequences of the rapidly changing landscapes of technological communication for everyone.

This media storm and Facebook scandal are going to be over in a few days – for those of us not directly affected by these crimes (or in the Security Division of Zuckerberg’s empire, lol) – but the integration of social media into the majority of  people under-30s lives is a permanent fact of life.

Facebook, YouTube, blogs and news aggregators are moving unimaginable experiences, opportunities, information and yes, risk through the lives of millions at this point.  Facebook alone has 500 million users. It’s not going away anytime soon and is going to be a platform for social (and commercial) interactions for the foreseeable future.

Sadly, I don’t think many people have started to discuss the basics of internet safety with those around them. What is and isn’t personally acceptable in a post-internet world.

Many esteemed teachers, politicians and people outside the geek worlds that I have met in the last few years remain proudly uninvolved and unaware of the changing dynamics for younger people in their lives.

We all need to talk about what we’re doing online (or not) and what we think and feel about it.  We need to talk about it in our schools, at our dinner tables and family gatherings, and in our places of work. We need to stay aware of the ever-widening gap between the pre- and post- internet generations and do what we can to help each other. We need to stay interested in each other and each other’s perspectives about how, what, where, when and why we communicate.

With SOLOS, I’ve been talking about the same internet safety steps for eight years, and I’ll talk about them for eight more but mostly they’re common sense:

• Be aware of where your info goes and who sees it and how long it will last.
• Don’t let little kids play in adult settings.
• Know where to report abuse.
• Don’t share your usernames and passwords with friends
• Have multiple email accounts for friends, for family and for online accounts
• Don’t use your birth-day in your profiles. Use the real year you were born but pick a different day/month for your birthday.
• Don’t take, or let anyone else take, sexual images of you.
• If you are cyberbullied, (threatened, blackmailed, manipulated, pressured or stalked) tell someone and keep any evidence.
• Meeting Up: If you arrange to meet an online friend,  DON’T GO ALONE! Take a friend, tell someone where you are going, and have confirmed contact information about who you are going to meet.

We all need to learn about online communication, not just for ourselves but for those we love. Yes, it takes time and yes it’s a little overwhelming – but our kids are worth it.

If you are interested in more information, please contact SOLOS or feel free to browse our Library of resources and links.

I’m excited to let you all know that my first road trip of the season is coming up quickly. I will be in Salmon Arm for the 20th and 21st of September and if I’ll be travelling through your community on my way there and back, and your school, PAC or band office is interested a presentation on internet safety between September 16th and September 24th, just let us know.

We’ve reworked all our youth presentations this summer with topics and content most requested by you and your students. Updated descriptions will be on the website by Monday (Aug. 23) morning, but here is an early peek at what we’ll be offering.

We expect to have three presentations available for youth in various age groups this year:
(draft outline)

1) Your Online Life – managing your digital reputation: identity, images and relationships online — (grades 4-5, 6-7 & 8-10)
permanence of digital images, identity construction (who are you online and where?) social media, privacy settings, and self-representation, trends in social networking, sexting and the permanence and consequences of online content plus our Positive Examples and Tips and Tricks Handouts.

2) Being Kind Online – the basics of online behaviour; codes, ethics, laws and cyberbullying — (grades 4-5, 6-7 & 8-10) — definitions of cyberbullying and descriptions of how and where it happens, number of youth affected (CA statistics), recommended responses for youth, online norms and cultures, relevant laws plus our Positive Examples and Tips and Tricks Handouts.

3) Playing Online Responsibly – online citizenry; gaming for good and file sharing and copyright — grades 8-10 & 11-12 — critically thinking about online content, gaming for good, consumer skills online, viruses scams and ruses, downloading music legalities, net neutrality and current Canadian legislation plus our Positive Examples and Tips and Tricks Handouts.

We’ll also be updating our parent and professional workshops and presentations with the latest trends, statistics and safety information. Stay tuned.

I’m really excited about the upcoming year and the chance to get out to see you in your B.C. school districts again. If you’d like more information about our upcoming Roadtrips, just drop us an email or leave a comment here.

Later, Merlyn

An excellent overview of how the internet is changing reality.

In a podcast I heard on the CBC, (Spark, September 2009) he also talkedc about how google used to store every ‘search queery” forever. Each ‘seach’ that you do is associated with your IP address. (This practice has been changed and they now they store it for only 9 months.)

“Perfect digital info is a panoptocon. It’s also temporal.”

Mayer discusses perfect digial memory and how it means what we say today might be held against us in the future, denying humans the ability to  grow and change over time. We loose our ability to ‘act in time’.Forgetting is important to being human; forgetting allows perspective to develop and individuals to evolve.

REMEBERING VS.STORING VS. RECORDING

Mayer suggests that solutions to these unfortunate side effects of information technology might look like ‘expiry dates’ data, (ie. data may degrade overtime, have a built in expiry date or self destruct.

See also - Perfect Digital Memory | Viktor Mayer-Schönberger | Big Think.