Cyber bullying - fact or fiction? (1 Viewer)

AccessBlaster said:

Can you find a post where I use those words. The fact is you will find posts where I rail against the term Yank. I did use the word taffy but, I was mocking you so I am not sure that counts.

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Can you read my post again? I can rephrase it if it is difficult for you to understand, I appreciate English is not your first language.

Or are you going to do the American thing of not answering direct questions.

Col

Guys,

This particular thread is broaching a very important and relevant issue in today's society, can we please not goad each other about a post that occurred some time ago, whether that post was in good or bad taste.

The subject of Cyber Bullying is very close to my heart, having two young boys who are rapidly approaching the Social Media age range I am concerned for there online safety...

Currently where my children live, with my ex wife, they have their Laptops in the same room and play online together, my ex wants them to be in separate rooms, I do not, my reasoning is that if one of them is subjected to Cyber abuse, they can discuss it amongst themselves and support each other, other than sitting in a room alone, re-reading hurtful messages and feeling isolated.

Social Media is addictive, as is internet Porn, both can be equally destructive if used in an inappropriate way, and in my opinion, Porn should be filtered out by ISP's with an opt in option only, and Social Media sites should be regulated to ensure that the members have full tracability, I think only then can our children truly be safe, or at least safer..

Hey,

I call everybody buddy, even someone who wants to speech mark me

I agree this has all been going on long before even I arrived in 2006, but do we really need to drag it all up during every single thread, it simply detracts from the main focus subject...

scott-atkinson said:

Guys,

This particular thread is broaching a very important and relevant issue in today's society, can we please not goad each other about a post that occurred some time ago, whether that post was in good or bad taste.

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It is an important subject which is why I posted it. Thank you for getting us back on track, it's so annoying when a thread gets derailed.

Anyway, I don't have any children, so it's easy for people like me to become isolated from the realities of modern life of children. Although, as it is on TV and media so much, there must be something in it.

I wonder if being a child / teen in today's life is more difficult than say in the 60's or 70's.

Col

Amazing that these questions would be raised by someone who lures 14 to 16 year olds to his home every summer...

ColinEssex said:

Anyway, I don't have any children, so it's easy for people like me to become isolated from the realities of modern life of children. Although, as it is on TV and media so much, there must be something in it.

I wonder if being a child / teen in today's life is more difficult than say in the 60's or 70's.
Col

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ColinEssex said:

Yes, I follow what you're saying Scott. The students we have in the summer are aged around 14 to 16 and are very much into Facebook.
Col

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Fifty2One said:

Amazing that these questions would be raised by someone who lures 14 to 16 year olds to his home every summer...

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I think that this post is beyond contempt, if it were directed at me I would report it to the mods.

Brian

Fifty2One said:

Amazing that these questions would be raised by someone who lures 14 to 16 year olds to his home every summer...

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Now come on, that was in bad taste, even if it was supposed to be humour...

Lets get back on track..

Brianwarnock said:

I think that this post is beyond contempt, if it were directed at me I would report it to the mods.

Brian

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Brian,

I echo your post, there are some lines that simply should not be crossed..

ColinEssex said:

I wonder if being a child / teen in today's life is more difficult than say in the 60's or 70's.

Col

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I don't think it is difficult or easier, just different, when I was 8 years old, I was out with my friend burning action men, and getting my knees scraped falling off my bike, simply because there was nothing else to do and my only instructions from my parents were to be back home before it got dark.

My boys, aged 11 and 10, when they were 8 they were playing Xbox, or Wii, or Nintendo DS games, neither of them had ridden a bike before. Yet the tribulations of being a child hadn't changed, it was just staged in a different theatre.

I think Media has a lot to do with it, back in the 70's, early 80's I was blissfully unaware of such a thing as a peadophile, and whether my parents were aware of it at the time I am unknown, but if they were they didn't stop me from going outside and all day and not coming back until it started to get dark. Now days, the media thrusts upon us the dangers of sex molesters and child abduction, parents are scared to let their children out for fear of it, when in reality, the chances of your child being kidnapped by a sex ring is tiny, yet the perception portrayed by the media makes it common place...

scott-atkinson said:

Brian,

I echo your post, there are some lines that simply should not be crossed..

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I wouldn't get too offended, unsurprisingly this isn't new ground for Colin...

Link

Fifty2One said:

Amazing that these questions would be raised by someone who lures 14 to 16 year olds to his home every summer...

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I'm not offended by this post although I do object to the word "lure", which of course is not true, we are checked by criminal records bureaux and have regular visits by the organising company. It is very carefully monitored.

Actually, having French students every summer is quite refreshing. We have been having them since the mid 1990's and have often visited them in France.

It is refreshing because they are well mannered, polite and always happy to help out. I think students of that age are often maligned in the press and TV, I like to think that this is a minority and that most are as good as our students.

Col

AccessBlaster said:

What is the purpose of using an apostrophe in "limey's" and taffy's"? Would that not indicate possession?

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For once Colin's grasp of English grammar has let him down.

AccessBlaster said:

As long as it doesn't fall on the UK side of the fence.

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I try not to be offensive to anybody, and in turn I hope to receive the same level of respect.

Even though that contemptuous post was not directed at me, when a member accuses another member of potentially grooming children then that is a line that is crossed no matter where on the planet it is, Stateside, Canada, UK, Outer Mongolia, makes no difference.

Lets just clear that up ok...

Now can we please get back onto the thread subject and stop throwing Sh*t over the fence at each other...

Given that we all seem to be in agreeance that Cyber Bullying occurs, what in your view should be done to eliminate it, or indeed can we eliminate it?

scott-atkinson said:

Given that we all seem to be in agreeance that Cyber Bullying occurs, what in your view should be done to eliminate it, or indeed can we eliminate it?

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People tend not to become 'outraged' when they are in someway amicable with the perpetrator which adds to it's survivability.

Colin has crossed similar lines but is met at best with an euphemistic 'let the team down' response and at worse, with regards to my earlier post, passive acceptance.

It doesn't really matter what side of the fence you are on. This aspect of allegiance, I think, is an integral part of any answer to your question.

I have the "unique" experience (read: a user here who was born in the late 80's) of going to school from the early-90's to the mid-00's (graduated 2006).

I was bullied in middle school for being of above average intelligence, to the point where I would be picked up and thrown across the locker room because someone didn't like me (I was also one of a very small number of Asian people in my town, which led to abuse by the school administrators and staff, but that's an issue for another topic). This was, of course, before I had grown to my current height of 6'4" / 193cm.

I grew up through the technology age, and by the time I graduated high school, texting had become commonplace, and I immediately started teaching middle school to high school aged kids (11-19). I also wasted a few years on 4chan, while at uni.

I've seen reputations get completely destroyed by cyberbullying. To provide context: The modern teen/pre-teen stores most almost all of his/her life online. Mobile devices make this extremely simple with automatic syncing, location services, etc. If someone takes a photo, more than likely, the exact GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken is saved in the image's metadata, and the image is automatically uploaded to Instagram or Facebook or Google or Dropbox, where it waits to be published.

Consider that a good portion of people's inter-personal communications, with friends and significant others, happens through text or other online media, and think about all of the personal and intimate details two people may be sharing, where everything can be screenshotted, logged, uploaded, and shared for the world to see in the blink of an eye.

Send a picture to the wrong person? Blackmail material. Send a picture to the right person, but then you break up a year later? Same thing. Post a picture "anonymously" on a website or forum? All of that metadata can be used to identify who took it and where.

In an age where everything (literally EVERYTHING) is logged and backed up, there's no room for making mistakes, no room for error, because everything can (and will) be thrown back in your face. (See; Links to old topic in this thread). Combine that with the psychological and emotional instability of anybody aged 11-19 (along with a wealth of cultural norms that condemn certain behaviours), and we're certainly going to have kids who feel that their only way out is suicide.

AccessBlaster said:

Scott,

You still don't get it. No matter how important this thread is, its not going anywhere. For me its not about you Brian or Rabbie, its a protest against one person. Its the future get used to it.

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I'm guessing through your insinuations and cryptic comments that you are referring to me? ? ?

You seldom seem to say what you mean, why not get it off your chest, then we can get on with the thread.

My apologies if I am wrong, but it can be difficult to interpret your meanings.

Col

I'm just going to summarize my previous long post into two sentences:

Look at how butthurt a bunch of grown-ass men on a MS Access forum get. Teens/Pre-teens are going through a stage in brain development which tends to amplify emotional responses.

Casting my vote for "fact"

It's interesting in a Thread about Cyberbullying, that the majority of posters, myself included have resorted to mud slinging, insults, and bully boy tactics... and we are asking if Cyber Bullying exists... I think we have answered our own question... and to be honest I am disappointed that grown men and women, including myself have just proved this to be true... an issue that effects children around the world, if grown adults cannot be civil then what hope do we have for our children...

It's time to close this thread I think... point in case proved... much to my and everybody else's shame...

Sorry my bad: "lure" was not the correct word "invite" would be the more appropriate English word.

I certainly hope they "background check" everyone a bit better then they checked BBC stars, certain clergy members and other public figures who also had their way with young people.

I still find it amazing that these questions would be raised by someone who has 14 to 16 year olds in his charge every summer. Perhaps they do not check into that aspect of the mentors in that summer program.

ColinEssex said:

I'm not offended by this post although I do object to the word "lure", which of course is not true, we are checked by criminal records bureaux and have regular visits by the organising company. It is very carefully monitored.

Actually, having French students every summer is quite refreshing. We have been having them since the mid 1990's and have often visited them in France.

It is refreshing because they are well mannered, polite and always happy to help out. I think students of that age are often maligned in the press and TV, I like to think that this is a minority and that most are as good as our students.

Col

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