Cyber-Gossip and Cyberbullying: Peer Cruelty Is Wrong

October is Bullying Prevention Month.

Gossip can be mean. Bullies can build on gossip and create stories and ugliness about a student that can go viral in seconds.

In today’s internet age, gossip can be spread at lightning speed to hundreds, thousands or millions of people. The new “party line” is cyberspace where millions of people can all access the same information instantaneously. Just get on your computer, iPhone, iPad or Smartphone  and let the rumors fly.

Here are 10 ways people (including kids) can us new technology to rapidly spread gossip (in no particular order).

1. Email – One way to spread a rumor quickly is to send an email to all the contacts in your account, except the one the rumor is about, of course. Then they can forward it to all their contacts and on it goes from there. You better hope they delete your name when they forward it, or you might get blamed for starting it.
2. Facebook – Post your gossip on facebook and all your friends will know about it instantly. If they “like” it, comment on it or repost it, all their friends will see it too. Pretty soon you’ve got the rumor spreading quickly.
3. Instagram – Another social networking sight great for gossiping is Instagram. Post that picture and watch the rumors spread like wildfire.
4. Twitter – You can tweet a rumor and all your Twitter followers will know your juicy gossip in 140 characters or less. They can re-tweet it to all their followers and in no time the gossip is flying through cyberspace.
5. Blogs – Some people love to spread gossip through their blogs. Even unintentional rumors are sometimes started by bloggers.
6. Website – You won’t believe some of the stuff you find posted on websites, and you shouldn’t either. There are whole websites put on the web just for the purpose of spreading misinformation. Always remember to check their sources.
7. YouTube – If you have a registered YouTube account you can upload an unlimited number of videos. If you have a video of someone doing something dubious, this is the best way to spread that rumor to millions of viewers.
8. Comments – A great way to anonymously spread gossip is to post a comment on a website, blog or YouTube video. You can log in under an assumed username and say all kinds of outrageous things without revealing your identity.
9. Chat rooms – Another anonymous way to spread rumors are internet chat rooms. You can start with an offhand comment and embellish it as you go.
10. Texting – If you see or hear something juicy to gossip about, you can send a text message to all your friends. That will get the thumbs flying as the rumor gets spread.

The new social media available has taken gossiping to a whole new level. Unfortunately this can lead to cyber bullying and be very traumatizing to vulnerable people. Celebrities and politicians are easy targets for internet gossip and careers are ruined by unintended tweets. 

Everyone should use the new technology responsibly, but many abuse their new found privileges. Be careful what you put out into cyberspace or it may come back to haunt you and always check the sources of what you see or read. Chances are it’s just more cyber-gossip.

The Consequences of Teens and Sexting

To sext or not to sext?
 
For the reported one out of every six kids who have received a “friend’s” naked picture online and been asked to return the favor, there is pressure to participate. No longer categorized as a trend, sexting is an epidemic – an epidemic that now has a smart answer. The newly launched Send This Instead app gives a novel and witty way to say “No!” to the request for an intimate image.

The Send This Instead app meets kids where they’re at without taking a demeaning or authoritative approach. We’ve tried the scare tactics, embarrassment, and even punishment and now it’s time to step back and give them tools. When kids feel pressured to send intimate photos or share inappropriate content they can open their Send This Instead app and, well, send something else instead!

Humor can diffuse difficult situations, especially online. Staring at that blank conversation box can seem daunting when you don’t know how to respond or feel obligated to do something that you’re not comfortable with.

Sexting is dangerous, socially, emotionally and legally. The Send This Instead app gives young persons an alternative, accessible, and effective method to say no.


Created by members of the Ontario Provincial Police, Child Sexual Exploitation Unit in Ontario, Canada, the free app gives an edgy and funny alternative to sexting. Understanding the social pressures to sext, Inspector Scott Naylor, manager of unit, says, “Until now, anti-sexting campaigns have focused on warning kids about the dangers of sending explicit pictures of themselves, but it isn’t working, we need a new strategy.”

Taking the idea to comedians, graphic artists and musicians who could bring the novelty of the app to a broader audience, the members dug in. As a result, the Send This Instead app contains digital posters of humorous and sarcastic retorts that users can send instead of nude photos. Combined with entertaining graphics, funny and pointed messages include, “Sorry, just in the middle of something…Can I reject you later?” and “Save the bandwidth….Download a life,” among many others.

The free Send This Instead app also offers teen education called “Life Bytes” on how to deal with issues surrounding sexting. The app provides links to organizations like NeedHelpNow.ca, a website and program maintained by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection which helps kids get nude sexting photos off of the Internet. It also links to abuse pages for social media and IM platforms as well as to country-specific agencies to report people asking for nude images.
The Send This Instead website  www.sendthisinstead.com offers free media and presentation pieces for anyone reaching out to teens in a live setting, such as classrooms and community groups. The app can be used in tandem with the presentations.

Information:
The Send This Instead app is available in the Apple App Store as well as Google Play Store. To download click on the following links:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sendthis_android.sendthis_android
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/send-this-instead/id895484246?ls=1&mt=8