(HealthDay News) — Cyberbullying involves harassing, threatening or embarrassing young people through the use of technology, such as computers (especially Facebook) or cell phones. Check out our Cyberbullying page, and see why cyberbullying has gained national attention this year. Learn more about this important topic and learn useful ways to combat cyberbullying.

This makes it all the more important for parents to be aware of what is going on with their child’s social life both online and offline. Communication with your child is always important! Parental monitoring software like WebWatcher, and WebWatcher Mobile can help ensure that cyberbullying on your child’s PC is a non-issue.
 

The Nemours Foundation says possible warning signs of cyberbullying include:
•Acting distressed after being on the Internet.
•Withdrawing from social activities or friendships.
•Avoiding social gatherings or not wanting to go to school.
•Seeing grades fall.
•Having behavior problems at home or school.
•Showing changes in mood, appetite or sleep patterns.

A recent article form PC Magazine: posed the question “Is Facebook turning your teenager into a narcissist? A new study from the American Psychological Association finds “that daily overuse of Facebook can contribute to psychological and health problems in young users.”

According to Dr. Larry D. Rosen a professor of psychology at California State University, “Obsessively using anything is probably not good for your health, whether it’s video games, exercise, or Facebook. But in a recent study, Dr. Larry D. Rosen, found that ‘teens who use Facebook more often show more narcissistic tendencies while young adults who have a strong Facebook presence show more signs of other psychological disorders, including antisocial behaviors, mania, and aggressive tendencies.’ Facebook overuse can also negatively impact learning and grades, Rosen said.

Facebook has had a powerful influence on social behaviors. However, it has also been a common platform used in cyberbullying abuse and has also had a significant negative impact on some young teens lives. The PC Magazine article stated that “It’s a lot easier for a kid to hurl an insult from behind a computer monitor or smartphone screen, but unlike a note passed in class or a comment made in the locker room, the Internet posting lives forever and has a much wider audience.”

Awareness Technologies, Chief Strategy Officer, Ron Penna, comments “I’ve had many discussions with customers who came to find out after installing our software that the account that their child had been bullied online in some capacity and that without WebWatcher they would have never known.”

Most teens haven’t quite developed the necessary acumen or ability to fully grasp the dangers of some of their online activity. What’s more, they don’t quite understand that what they post or tweet is indelible and that the content they place here is permanent; and available to anyone and everyone. More and more reports are circulated in the news due to carelessness and naivety. Parents it’s important to inform your child of proper Internet behavior here are some tips from a parenting site we recommend. Read More.

Internet Safety Tips

• Bantering online with friends about sex, dating, and crushes is fine; communicating with strangers about these topics is not.
• Do not respond to any sexual communication made over the Internet by someone whose identity you aren’t sure of.
• Don’t use the Internet to flaunt your sexuality.
• Don’t give out your phone number or address to anyone you don’t know, and don’t post this information on a public Web page.
•  If you receive repeated unwanted sexual communications from the same person, tell an adult about it.

According to the Boston Herald, Lawmakers are working to push a bill through that would “force the state’s most dangerous predators to register their e-mail addresses, Twitter handles and other online aliases with the Sex Offender Registry Board. Under the bill, Level 3 sex offenders would have to report all their electronic monikers — including Facebook names, blogs and message-board screen names — just as they do their home addresses. The legislation has 12 co-sponsors and could get a hearing after lawmakers return from their August break. Read More

The article quoted Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey, saying that “Failing to register the screen names would be a criminal offense, which could result in both jail time and fines.”

Other states have gone even further in trying to rein in Web-surfing sex offenders. Laws in North Carolina, Illinois and Louisiana make it illegal for convicted sex offenders to have social-networking accounts, including Facebook and MySpace [website]. California is considering a similar bill.

Facebook itself banished more than 5,000 sex offenders from its site two years ago.

Monitoring software like WebWatcher on your child’s PC or WebWatcher Mobile on their BlackBerry or Android devices will help to ensure that they’re safely communicating on these electronic devices.

With the merger of Facebook and Skype some very nice features will be added to this social network site. The partnership includes SMS aka text messaging, voice chat and Facebook Connect, a popular online video chat service, that allows Facebook users to chat face-to-face, using their webcam and microphone, with their Facebook friends.

However, this may also propose a risk of unintended exposure if improperly used by children. The connections being made could prove problematic if the activity is not carefully monitored for safety.

Check out this very helpful Parental Controls Guide to help better secure your child’s Facebook profile. Monitoring software like WebWatcher on your child’s PC or WebWatcher Mobile on their BlackBerry or Android devices will help to ensure that they’re fully abiding by the Internet safety measures you’ve put in place.

According to a poll from Norton, Nearly a quarter of parents say their child has been involved in cyberbullying, with nearly 3 out of 4 saying their child was the victim in such incidents.

The security software company polled 1,068 parents, and found that (40 percent) of parents whose child “witnessed” cyberbullying “talked to their child about how best to stop it.” And girls are more often involved in cyberbullying cases than boys: “88 percent of parents revealed their daughters were victims, compared to 54 percent of sons.”

The survey also found that 52 percent of such activity takes place on social networks, like Facebook; 39 percent via cellphone and texting; and 23 percent by email.
Today, “Parents and online experts are pushing for an ‘urgent’ proposal to teach social networking etiquette in schools to tackle cyber bullying. Using Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites would be taught in schools under this proposal. As summer comes to a close a solid proposal like this would be an important step in the right direction to helping stop these kinds of abuse in their tracks.

The Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations and social networking experts say there is a desperate need that the use of social media be taught in the classrooms.

A controversial bill that makes student sexting an expellable offense was approved last week by the California Assembly Education Committee. SB919, a proposed amendment to the California Education Code, defines sexting as “the sending or receiving of sexually explicit pictures or video by means of an electronic act.” According to the AVN, the bill would only allow schools to expel students caught sexting:
•On school grounds

•Going to or from school

•During lunch period regardless of whether on or off campus

•During or in transit to or from a school sponsored activity.

Data from a 2008 National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy survey reveals:
21% of teenagers admitted to sending or posting nude or semi-nude photos to someone else
39% of all teens reporting sending them
48% of teens reported receiving them.
For teenagers, 15% admitted to sending sexually explicit images to people they only knew online
44% of teens admitted to sharing explicit materials they had been sent with others.

A recent study says there is no evidence that the recent laws put in place have banned texting while driving; and none that indicates a reduction in crashes.

“Recent studies reported Thursday by the Governors Highway Safety Association say that at least one driver was reported to have been distracted in 15 percent to 30 percent of crashes, and cell phone use and texting increase the odds of car crashes.”

The GHSA study (PDF) suggests there is no evidence cell phone or texting bans have reduced crashes.

An estimated 6,000 people are killed and 500,000 people are injured annually because someone was texting, e-mailing or talking on a mobile phone while driving. As a precaution, and to prevent these kinds of situations from ever happening, parents can monitor their teens SMS messages and emails with WebWatcher Mobile on BlackBerry devices and SMS messages on Android devices to make sure they’re behaving appropriately on and off the road.

It’s baffling just how many young teens get sucked into using, and even selling drugs. This is especially daunting with all of the warnings and school drug free programs out there. According to a 2009 survey about teens and drug use from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about seven percent of 8th-grade students, 16 percent of 10th-grade students and 21 percent of high school seniors had used marijuana the month before the survey.

Tips on looking for abuse:

• Take a closer look at changes in behavior and habits
• Know your children’s friends
• Look for missing items around the house i.e. money or valuables, etc.
• Look for the wearing of new clothes or an expensive piece of jewelry
• Spending less time at the house and with family
• Keep an eye on their phone bill i.e. sudden increase in minutes or use a monitoring software like WebWatcher Mobile to see in coming SMS text messages or emails or PC monitoring software like WebWatcher to set up alerts with key words and phrases like drugs or “how to pass a drug test.”
• Make these observations before confronting the child about your suspicions
• Always keep the lines of communication open
• Catching the problem earlier makes dealing with the issue easier

From a recent parenting article: “A few years ago an officer from the computer crimes unit did a presentation at Ellington High School. In a few minutes he was able to bring up an Ellington girl’s MySpace page, figure out her full name and where she lived by comments and info on the page and then went to an appraisal site where he could see what her house looked like and even where the bedroom was in the house.”
It’s not new news that children are very tech savvy these and children as young as eight years old are lying about their ages and making Facebook accounts! “Experts who study child behavior say parents can use Facebook to help teach their children about making good decisions. Research indicates that about 90 percent of all ninth grade students are on Facebook.”

Tips for parents on safeguarding their children’s online Facebook experience:

• Do not allow children under age 13 on Facebook.
• Get your own Facebook account.
• Learn how to use the tools and the privacy settings
• Ask your child to “friend” you. If they don’t want to, a red flag should go up.
• Have your child limit their “friends” to real friends. It is not uncommon for teens to have hundreds even thousands of “friends.”
• Kids should never “friend” teachers.
• Give kids breathing room. If you are “friends” try to avoid replying to your child’s status updates and never post photos to your child’s page. Staying quietly in the background is the best.
• Teach kids to protect their privacy and use those privacy settings as much as possible.
• Communicate about the dangers and remind your child about reputations. Photos of playing beer pong do not help them get a job or get into a college. Using profanity can also damage the reputation.