Published: May 10, 2007 02:44 pm            

Land Minds: Keep kids’ cyber playground safe

Originally published in the May 4, 2007, print edition.

I clearly remember the day my Dad brought home a Motorola bag phone.

I thought, “Hey a phone that is portable and all you have to do is carry around a ‘light little bag,’ this is pretty cool.”

Over a decade later, those who may still have bag phones are not likely to be sporting them around anymore, at least in public.

Now phones are the size of a credit card and allow you to watch TV, check e-mail and do countless other things that I am not even aware of. As technology grows, we as adults try to grow with it, but those who seem to be on the forefront of this technology are today’s teenagers.

I remember in the mid-’90s when I was in high school and had not yet hit that ever-important driving age, I would have to call my parents after a school event to have them come pick me up. I would walk over to the public phones near the entry of the school and wait in line with other students to use the phone.

Today’s teenagers would think I am ancient for ever having to do that, but relatively speaking that wasn’t too long ago.

All this technology definitely has its benefits but there are some serious negative effects as well. I was watching a recent special on KARE 11 on internet bullying in schools. As a parent of a 1 1/2-year-old, I got nervous.

The special talked about how students were getting bullied anonymously by text messages, instant messages and by finding out others’ MySpace.com account password and changing the website to put hurtful things on that page.

Being a bully in today’s schools has turned into something that’s easy to do, and pretty hard to get caught at. Bullying in schools has been going on since the beginning of schools, but it was mostly during the confines of the school day. Nowadays, since we are connected by technology 24/7, students can be bullied via electronic devices any time of day.

What is this going to do to those being bullied and what can be done to stop those doing the bullying?

According to the television segment, experts say a child being cyber bullied should:

• Tell an adult.
• Not read or open messages from bullies.
• Save or print the messages, so they have a record.
• Remember that online bullies can often be blocked.
• Contact authorities if it is a threatening message.

I worry that if this kind of harassment is going on in schools now, what will it be like in 13 years when my daughter enters high school? Is technology helping our youth, or hurting them?

We can’t turn back the clock and go back to bag phones or even public phones, but we can work to make sure bullying doesn’t take over a child’s life.

        

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