Awareness Technologies Suggests Ways to Protect Children from Cyberbullies By Anuradha Shukla TMCnet September 13, 2010 Bullying, a kind of harmful aggressive behavior, is not a concept exclusive to the school environment. Due to advent online technology, Internet has become new platform through which youth, teens and children are bullied. The victimization of cyberbullying may results to serious psychosocial, affective, and academic problems. Awareness Technologies notes the National Crime Prevention Council, according to which more than 40 percent of all teenagers with Internet access have reported being bullied online. The company says that cyberbullies seek to terrorize or humiliate perceived enemies and rivals under the cloak of anonymity, and with the proliferation of social media tools and multiple points of connection to the Web, they have an ever-expanding array of opportunities to achieve their goals. In today's technology-driven communications environment, this activity presents a daunting challenge to parents who want to ensure their children's safety. Simple tips that worked in the past are fast-becoming ineffective: it's no longer sufficient to block access to specific websites, messaging programs, social networks, or computer use altogether. Parents can gain important insights into their children's digital lives by communicating with them about this important topic, and better monitoring their web, email and mobile phone activity. Here 10 tips are provided for the parents to protect their child from the dangers of cyberbullying 1. Monitor your children’s online and smartphone activity. Discusses the dangers of cyberbullying. 2. Friend your children on Facebook (News - Alert) and monitor their privacy settings so you are able to view their profile and activity 3. Set up Google (News - Alert) Alerts to monitor mentions of your children's names on the web 4. In addition to Facebook, cyberbullies use other social networking sites like Twitter to post hateful messages 5. Parental monitoring software on your home computers and children's smartphones can also be installed. 6. Prohibit your children from using geolocation tools and apps on Facebook and smartphones 7. Many school districts also now use computer monitoring software on all classroom computers. Check with your school principal, PTA or school board to ensure these tools are in use at your child's school 8. Prohibit your children from having multiple e-mail addresses, screennames and social networking accounts 9. Talk to your teachers if you suspect your child is being cyberbullied. Teachers are among the first to notice important changes in children's behavior, and it's possible the bully may be a classmate. 10. Always be observant as your children use electronic communications tools. Changes in habits, such as frequency and timing of use, mood swings and other indicators, could be a sign that your child is being bullied or a target of other online mischief. These tips can be very helpful in their own right; the most comprehensive, proven way to protect your children from online bullies and other dangers is the use of Internet monitoring tools for PCs and smartphones that can be monitored remotely. For more information visit: www.webwatchernow.com. Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anuradha’s article, please visit her columnist page http://finance.yahoo.com/news/WebWatcher-Parental-Advisory-prnews-3742770693.html?x=0&.v=1 Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page. Edited by Erin Harrison _________________ Awareness Technologies Suggests Ways to Protect Children from Cyberbullies Submitted by puppydoglvr SupportGroups.com 2010-09-13 This is a very insightful and helpful article on how parents can protect their children from cyber bullying, most especially since this has become so prevalent with teens and children; "Bullying, a kind of harmful aggressive behavior, is not a concept exclusive to the school environment. Due to advent online technology, Internet has become new platform through which youth, teens and children are bullied. The victimization of cyberbullying may results to serious psychosocial, affective, and academic problems. Awareness Technologies notes the National Crime Prevention Council, according to which more than 40 percent of all teenagers with Internet access have reported being bullied online. The company says that cyberbullies seek to terrorize or humiliate perceived enemies and rivals under the cloak of anonymity, and with the proliferation of social media tools and multiple points of connection to the Web, they have an ever-expanding array of opportunities to achieve their goals. In today's technology-driven communications environment, this activity presents a daunting challenge to parents who want to ensure their children's safety. Simple tips that worked in the past are fast-becoming ineffective: it's no longer sufficient to block access to specific websites, messaging programs, social networks, or computer use altogether. Parents can gain important insights into their children's digital lives by communicating with them about this important topic, and better monitoring their web, email and mobile phone activity. Here 10 tips are provided for the parents to protect their child from the dangers of cyberbullying: 1. Monitor your children’s online and smartphone activity. Discusses the dangers of cyberbullying. 2. Friend your children on Facebook (News - Alert) and monitor their privacy settings so you are able to view their profile and activity 3. Set up Google (News - Alert) Alerts to monitor mentions of your children's names on the web 4. In addition to Facebook, cyberbullies use other social networking sites like Twitter to post hateful messages 5. Parental monitoring software on your home computers and children's smartphones can also be installed. 6. Prohibit your children from using geolocation tools and apps on Facebook and smartphones 7. Many school districts also now use computer monitoring software on all classroom computers. Check with your school principal, PTA or school board to ensure these tools are in use at your child's school 8. Prohibit your children from having multiple e-mail addresses, screennames and social networking accounts 9. Talk to your teachers if you suspect your child is being cyberbullied. Teachers are among the first to notice important changes in children's behavior, and it's possible the bully may be a classmate. 10. Always be observant as your children use electronic communications tools. Changes in habits, such as frequency and timing of use, mood swings and other indicators, could be a sign that your child is being bullied or a target of other online mischief. These tips can be very helpful in their own right; the most comprehensive, proven way to protect your children from online bullies and other dangers is the use of Internet monitoring tools for PCs and smartphones that can be monitored remotely." - TMCnet, by Anuradha Shukla, 9/13/10 _________________ WebWatcher Parent Advisory: Ten Ways to Protect Your Child from Cyberbullies Alyson 3P’s in a Pod 11 September 2010 I was not going to post this article because I have no frame of reference for it yet but then I realized I could, very easily. I thought of our favorite babysitter and I cannot imagine something horrible like cyberbullying happening to her. She lives to text and email and IM are just one step further and it all kind of goes hand in goes. We all need to be aware. Cyberbullying has quickly turned into a pandemic on the web, causing severe emotional and psychological pain to children. According to the National Crime Prevention Council, over 40% of all teenagers with Internet access have reported being bullied online. Cyberbullies seek to terrorize or humiliate perceived enemies and rivals under the cloak of anonymity, and with the proliferation of social media tools and multiple points of connection to the Web, they have an ever-expanding array of opportunities to achieve their goals. This activity presents a daunting challenge to parents who want to ensure their children’s safety in today’s technology-driven communications environment. Simple tips that worked in the past are fast-becoming ineffective: it’s no longer sufficient to block access to specific websites, messaging programs, social networks, or computer use altogether. Parents can gain important insights into their children’s digital lives by communicating with them about this important topic, and better monitoring their web, email and mobile phone activity. Here are 10 tips for parents to help protect their children from cyberbullies and other online dangers: 1. Start by talking with your children about their online activities and the dangers of cyberbullying – set their expectations by discussing your views on monitoring their Internet and smartphone use 2. Set up Google Alerts to monitor mentions of your children’s names on the web 3. Friend your children on Facebook and monitor their privacy settings so you are able to view their profile and activity 4. In addition to Facebook, cyberbullies use other social networking sites like Twitter to post hateful messages. Familiarize yourself with these sites and set up an account to enable you to routinely search what others are saying about your kids 5. Inform teachers if you suspect your child is being cyberbullied. Teachers are among the first to notice important changes in children’s behavior, and it’s possible the bully may be a classmate 6. Consider implementing parental monitoring software on your home computers and children’s smartphones 7. Many school districts also now use computer monitoring software on all classroom computers. Check with your school principal, PTA or school board to ensure these tools are in use at your child’s school 8. Prohibit your children from having multiple e-mail addresses, screen names and social networking accounts 9. Prohibit your children from using geolocation tools and apps on Facebook and smartphones 10. Always be observant as your children use electronic communications tools. Changes in habits, such as frequency and timing of use, mood swings and other indicators, could be a sign that your child is being bullied or a target of other online mischief While each of these tips can be very helpful in their own right, the most comprehensive, proven way to protect your children from online bullies and other dangers is the use of Internet monitoring tools for PCs and smartphones that can be monitored remotely. For more information visit: www.webwatchernow.com.