Cyberbullying problem soars in area schools

LYNN – Millions of schoolchildren across the country admit feeling anxious when not in contact with friends by cell phone or computer. Members of a generation dubbed “digital natives,” their online interactions represent a significant portion of their existence, a place as real as any classroom or city street.”The emotional ties children have to online life today are profound, but adults behave as though it doesn’t exist,” said Dr. Elizabeth Englander, an expert in cyberbullying and director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State College. “It’s easy for us to underestimate its impact.”Englander was a guest speaker Thursday at a cyberbullying workshop at the Essex District Attorney’s Office. “We’re seeing a dramatic increase in bullying behavior,” she said. “And we’re seeing a decline in social coping skills, which contributes to the problem.”According to Englander, “Children today see being a little bit mean as being socially successful. Often the most popular kids in school are the ones doing the most bullying.”Studies have shown that cyberbullying is more prevalent among girls than boys. Boys tend to play online games that offer structure and rules, so that when another player “kills” them it’s usually brushed off as a joke perpetrated by a friend,” Englander said.Girls typically use the Internet for its social networking capabilities, as a means to gossip and spread rumors about former friends, with revenge as the motive, she said, adding, “Girls perpetuate cyberbullying at a higher rate.”The incidents of cyberbullying have doubled in Massachusetts since 2006, yet many parents remain unaware of whether their children are victims. “In order for this to happen, adults must be ignorant, indifferent or absent. Academic success has a lot to do with social and emotional health,” Englander said. “What their children are doing online has to count, just like any other place in the world.”Englander has encouraged parents to open free accounts on social networking sites like FaceBook to both glimpse at what their children are doing and be able to report immediately should anyone attempt to open an account using their name.Cyberbullying occurs on popular mainstream social networking sites like FaceBook, which has more than 350 million members, but more often on user-generated sites such as YouTube that have less content monitoring, she said.”Kids think they’re anonymous online, but nothing is truly private,” said Englander, deriding FaceBook for its assurances of privacy. “On FaceBook, your ‘wall’ is marketed as private and kids have fallen for it.”Anyone designated as a ‘friend’ on FaceBook can view the member’s profile and other information. If that “friend” takes a screen shot of the profile, it can be e-mailed to anyone as a photo file. Some children on FaceBook brag of having hundreds of friends and that only increases the chance that private information will spread.Englander also warned about the use of free, third-party applications, usually games, offered through FaceBook. In order to activate these games, users are required to input private information and click the electronic contract form. Many do so, not realizing the contract allows the third-party application owners to collect and use their private information.Englander asked rhetorically whether these third-party companies are gathering massive amounts of information with intentions of later mining the data and selling it?She also called attention to a third-party application called Friend Facts, which generates poll questions from FaceBook friends about other online friends. Users must answer the questions to earn virtual silver points that can be spent to learn who is saying what about them on the application.”Teens can’t opt out of this kind of application because they need to know what is being said about them,” Englander said.Englander also took issue with FaceBook because once created; an account cannot be deleted, merely deactivated.