What is bullying & what can be done about it: Lit review
What a project and what a service to anybody trying to get a handle on a long-standing social problem! I’m referring to the recently released “Bullying in a Networked Era: A Literature Review” of more...
View ArticleActivist app developers: Reachout.com’s winners
The winning app developers of Reachout.com’s “Don’t Just Stand By” cyberbullying prevention contest not only received prize money but also serious professional mentoring: Timothy Mullican, 15, in...
View ArticleGood move: Game company takes down cruel ad campaign
This was good to see: What looked like a truly anti-social media company, game developer Square Enix, saw irresponsibility for what it was and quickly reversed a stupid marketing decision. I’d like to...
View ArticleCyberbullying ‘neither an epidemic nor a rarity’: Researchers
This has been stated before but not seen (or reported) enough: Cyberbullying is not an epidemic, even though news reports about it seem to have reached epidemic proportions. The last six surveys of...
View ArticleBullying: How an ‘authoritative’ parenting style can help
When my friend and colleague Jason Brand, a Berkeley, Calif.-based family therapist, points an article out to me, I pay attention. He and I were discussing resilience as a protective factor in...
View ArticleSocial 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 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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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 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 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,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘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...
View ArticleUK children’s ChildLine: Read the coverage carefully
An interesting finding from the UK ChildLine’s just-released report: ”For the first time in the charity’s 28-year history, more counselling took place online (59%) than by telephone (41%),” the BBC...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Whisper’s popularity no longer a secret
It’s being said that the preference pendulum in social media culture is swinging back from transparency (as in Facebook) to anonymity (as in Whisper). And the growing popularity of the Whisper app –...
View ArticleMajor study of teen online conflict in Canada, insights for all of us
Though “cyberbullying” is in the title, the just-released study from Canada’s premier digital and media literacy organization, MediaSmarts, is about far more than that. The study offers a wide range of...
View Article
