Cyberbullying in Ireland

Cyberbullying in Ireland

Since it was anti-bullying month this month I decided to do an article on Cyberbullying. Although I had never experienced it myself I had friends who did and unfortunately the number of cases are increasing especially in our own country Ireland.

Cyberbullying is the phenomenon of using cyber technologies and networked spaces to bully weaker individuals. From chat rooms, to social media and email it’s a new and more advanced form of just plain bullying and harassment except it makes it easier for the bully to hide. By using fake profiles or email addresses the bully can disguise him/herself and make it easier for them to attack without being found out. The most frightening thing is that because it takes place online most parents are unaware that their own child is being bullied or that their child is in fact a bully. Although this takes place mostly with children and teenagers it can be found between adults too particularly in the form of blackmail.In the link above is an article from last months The Irish Times with the headline Report shows sharp increase in cyberbullying over past year. Some of the statistics and numbers are quite shocking particularly the ones concerning the parents.

 ”The report found that while 16 per cent of students admitted to being cyberbullied, only 12 per cent of parents reported being aware their children had experienced online bullying.”

This information is quite worrying in the fact that parents are so unaware. This can also lead us to believe that most parents wouldn’t even realize their children have access to the internet. With all these new gadgets and games coming out every year how are parents suppose to keep track if a child can access the internet with the new PS4 or NintendoDS? Parents need to be more informed by schools and need to even do some more research themselves to keep on top of technology, because whether they like it or not this is the world their children are growing up in.

They need to be informed of parental control online and how to set it up but also of the dangers a child can run into online. I hate to say it but a lot of Irish parents are still clueless of how vast and dangerous the internet can be and have no clue of how they can help to protect their children from these dangers. Children themselves also need to be educated on this subject. Classes on online safety and explaining how the internet works can be helpful on teaching the child things such as like personal safety and not to reveal any personal information online. Follow the link to read more shocking statistics and leave your opinion in the comments section below!

 

Teaching an old mind new tricks…

As I write each blog the one I write before always gets me thinking about the next one. Last week I wrote my blog on Paul Millers Youtube lecture and he touched on the subject of parents and the difference between our generation and theirs in regards to the internet. I decided to do a little experiment of my own and started to observe my parents and grandparents in relation to the internet and in particular, social media.

My own generation uses the internet for pretty much EVERYTHING. We communicate with one another through it, it’s how we find out about events, academic work, for entertainment purposes, the list goes on and on. For us google is our go to source if we have a medical question or need travel tips or just advice in general. With my parents and grandparents it was a little different.

When observing my parents I found my father much more adaptable to the world of the internet and social media much more than my mother. My father loved the idea of online banking, connecting with friends he hadn’t seen in years and sharing youtube videos with everyone on his email contact list. My mother found it more difficult in that she was very apprehensive about trusting something as boundless as the internet with her credit card and personal details and who could blame her with everything she hears on Joe Duffy?

Although my parents were amazed with Skype when I first showed them it was nothing compared to the look on my grandfathers face when I set up a video call with him and a grandson living in Canada he hadn’t seen in years. The disbelief in his face in witnessing my cousin on screen thousands of miles across the world was heart warming and you could tell he felt lucky to have seen technology such as this exist.

It’s what our generation is missing I think. We have become so caught up in this whirlwind of technology that we forget how special it is and take it for granted. We should all look at things from our grandparents point of view and realize how lucky we are to have come this far in the world of technology.

 

(Photo Credit to: http://unclesamsauntie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/old-woman-using-laptop.jpg)

Do we control the internet or does it control us?

In my last post I talked about privacy issues in regards to hacking, viruses and in particular webcam hacking. This got me thinking, the only way to truly stop someone from hacking into your laptop or sending you a virus is to not use the internet at all. I started to picture my life without the internet and quite frankly it was impossible to imagine. I’ve grown up with this valuable thing all my life and have never really been without it. My whole life has been a flurry of emails, facebook invites, tweets, tags, and youtube videos, and I’ve always found it hard to find a healthy balance.

I searched online to see if anyone had actually done it before and found a video from the inspiring Tedx Talks. It was a lecture given by 26 year old Paul Miller an American Technology Journalist from Springfield who decided to spend a year offline cutting out any online interacting.

It had to be one of the most interesting lectures I had ever watched. As a regular user of the internet he explains the differences even in his character when cutting it out. His sister felt he was more emotionally available and he even noticed himself that he felt more free in his mind, a sort of solitude not bombarded with emails. He had time to think. He also had different interactions with people and he found without the internet he could be with a person in a much more intense and a more personal way, even on the phone. He experienced this as a result of no phone and no online commitments to think about.

In contrast to this wonderful gain by giving up the internet he unfortunately lost touch with family and friends who lived in different parts of the country, he was ”disconnected” with his social circle. He missed event invites on facebook, emails and Skype dates. His experience made him feel like he didn’t want to take this wonderful source for granted anymore but yet to take time to improve and fix himself and to dedicate more time to people.

It’s not the internet’s fault. It can be an amazing and educational source that makes our lives a little easier if we don’t abuse it particularly the time we spend on it. We have to find a balance. In the words of Mr.Miller do things in real life and tell the internet about it!