Social cruelty on Ask.fm & the whack-a-mole tendency
Remember Formspring.me? Three years ago some terrible trolling that reportedly involved teens in New Jersey made the site, which announced it was shutting down* last month, a national news story in the...
View Article‘Noodz,’‘selfies,’‘sexts,’ etc., Part 1: A spectrum of motivations
Despite what we see in news headlines, there is no single term that people who share nude photos use, according to Australian researcher and author Nina Funnell, who has interviewed some 4 dozen...
View Article‘Noodz,’‘selfies,’‘sexts,’ etc., Part 2: For better youth education
Social norms – the expectations and cues that govern behavior in a group or a society – are protective. There hasn’t been much reference to them in the Internet safety field, but they’re a pillar of...
View Article‘Noodz,’‘selfies,’‘sexts,’ etc., Part 3: Bias in the news coverage
Sexting is the latest subject of “intersecting panics about technology, youth, sexuality, raunch culture and celebrity,” Australian author and research Nina Funnell wrote me after I heard her speak in...
View ArticleFacebook to work with women’s rights activists on content
Last week activists Soraya Chemaly, Laura Bates of the Everyday Sexism Project, and Jaclyn Friedman of Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) published in the Huffington Post “An Open Letter to Facebook”...
View ArticleFacebook adding accountability to controversial content
As Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg put it at the “All Things Digital” conference this week, “Put your name on your sexism” – if you’re going to engage in behavior or sharing that’s offensive to others on...
View ArticleLess bullying & fear at school: Fresh federal data
Do people ever consider the possibility that, if they’re exposed to increased reports about a social problem, it’s the reporting that has increased rather than the problem? It’s increasingly clear that...
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Stop using the word ‘bullying’ in school, researchers say
“Bullying” is a loaded term to say the very least, and not using it could not only defuse a lot of fear and harmful overreaction when it happens, it could save lives. I’ll get to the life-saving part...
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Social literacy up, social problems down in Chicago Schools
More than 50 Chicago schools were recommended for closure this year, but one of the four schools that won’t close isn’t closing because of its strong, successful social-emotional learning program,...
View ArticleHurting others hurts us: Study
Although the victim is usually the focus in discussions about the impacts of social cruelty, everybody involved in it feels some pain or distress, research shows. Two recent studies offer fresh...
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Kids these days: ‘Better than we were,’ the President says
President Obama gave a preliminary statement last Sunday right after the jury gave its verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, but then after watching the controversy unfold in the days that followed, he...
View ArticleCyberbullying in grades 3-5: Important study
Rare is the opportunity to get insights into cyberbullying in elementary school because most US research has focused on youth aged 12 and up. The Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) really...
View ArticleUK’s teen suicide tragedy: Problems, solutions
The UK has seen too much social cruelty this past week, and now tragedy as well, with the suicide of 14-year-old Hannah Smith. Though there has been plenty of news coverage and analysis already –...
View ArticleAG’s office apologizes for a school Net safety preso
There was good news and bad news in a story coming out of Pennsylvania last week, and the good news is a clear sign of progress. The bad news happened first: As part of Pennsylvania’s attorney...
View ArticleStudents in social media: There’s monitoring & then there’s monitoring
There’s an upside and a serious downside to monitoring students in social media, and the upside doesn’t involve outsourcing (that was an understatement). You’ll see what I’m talking about when you get...
View ArticleWill Maryland AG’s project with Facebook teach him about social media?
Schools and parents may be interested to hear about a pilot program Facebook has put in place with Maryland’s Attorney General Douglas Gansler, because – if successful – it may roll out nationwide. The...
View ArticleAggregated extortion, digital footprints’ dark side & second chances
This is the chilling side of the digital footprint (something that everybody has) – chilling because the takeaway seems to be that nobody can make a mistake anymore. Web sites with names like...
View ArticleAll kids deserve the safety & other benefits of social-emotional learning
Think how digital spaces, homes, schools, workplaces and everywhere else we human beings congregate would change were every child to be kindly, respectfully taught the following skills: Self-awareness:...
View ArticleA courageous target turned upstander
Read Caitlin Seida’s story for a great example of resilience and how to be an upstander online. Caitlin had publicly posted an unflattering Halloween photo of herself, forgetting to make it private,...
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‘Bullying Experiment’ video: What’s wrong with this picture?
You may have seen “The Bullying Experiment” video that has gone viral (as of this writing, 3.1 million views on YouTube). Two actors stage a bullying incident (the bigger one threatening and pushing...
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