Week 13 PLE

1. I read "Fighting Internet Filth" by Mario Hipol.

2. Video Resources:
"Cyber-bullying: You Can't Take it Back" about rating girls as hot-or-not
"Amy's Choice" about a 15-year-old girl who left home to meet with a man she met online
"Angela's Experience" about how to handle internet harassment appropriately; kid-friendly
"Faux Paw the TechnoCat" about how to be safe online; kid-friendly
"A Revolution in Classrooms and Social Life" about how teachers need to keep up with technology and be aware of resources students can use to cheat; social networking
"The Child Predator Fear" about online predators
"Cyberbullying" about a child who was incessantly bullied online and committed suicide
"Online Chat Begins At Home" about parent-child communication
"Grooming Gracie" about online predators

3. I guess I just never realized how big of a problem cyber-bullying could be. In one of the videos rude MySpace comments turned into an all-out brawl at school where chairs were thrown and seven girls ended up suspended. In another video, a girl IM-ed a boy from school and led him to believe she liked him, then one day she told him it had all been a joke and that she didn't like him after all. This same boy was taunted incessantly online. He eventually hung himself. It was really sad. I just didn't realize how real that was. Everyone knows about internet predators and about the prevalence of pornography, but who would have thought such degrading exchanges could be going on?

4. For my "doing" experience, I called my 13-year-old brother to find out what he knows about internet safety. He had never heard of cyber-bullying, but he had heard of online predators. He said that you should never give out your real name or address or phone number and that if someone asked for information you should ignore them. When asked what he would do if something online made him feel uncomfortable, he said he would turn it off, and if it was bad enough he would tell an adult.

When I explained to him what cyber-bullying was and I told him about the videos I watched he didn't really react. But then again, he's kind of quiet and doesn't usually react visibly to things like that. I think it was good to make him more aware though.

I shared Elder Bednar's talk, "Things As They Really Are." I sent it to him and to my mom. I think there's probably a 50/50 chance that he'll read it--I'm hoping my mom will make him read it with her. But at the very least, I'm sure she'll read it, and that can only be good. It was a very good talk.