FREE Online Safety Webinars – Crime Stoppers Announces Spring 2021 Calendar
How to Promote Online Safety for Minors
How many of us have taken note of the early age children now access the internet? What if I told you it is not uncommon for infants and toddlers in the U.S. to be given access to the internet? The relationship with infants, toddlers and the internet can begin with things that seem harmless, like accessing lullaby’s on YouTube, or providing a toddler with content on an iPad or other tablet device where ABC Mouse and Disney are readily available and often entertaining. Now, how many of us who provide internet access to children have trained them in the safe usage of the internet or know anything about safe usage? I suspect the number of persons who answer yes to the last two questions is relatively low. Let me provide you with some tools to help prepare you for early training, and constant reminders as we let our children access the internet. First and foremost, why is safety on the internet important to minor? The internet is a shared space, literally meaning all users are in one place. Consider it a neighborhood with a daycare next to a nuclear waste plant, next to a restaurant and a church. Neighbors, pastors, […]
Understanding the Basics of the Internet
The internet tells us plainly what it is, a web, a world wide web in fact (thus the “www” indicator) that connects us globally to a shared space. Like a spider’s web, the internet can be beautiful, confusing, complex, and sometimes even dangerous. How and where we access this shared cyber space will helps shape our experiences and define our risks. To access the internet, users will launch an internet browser and choose something known as a search engine. Search engines, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo search and index websites which are on the internet because of links. These search engines will use these links to rank search results according to things like relevancy, inbound links, and keywords. This search is what you have probably heard generally referred to as “browsing.” Browsers search the surface of the internet for various topics. The Internet itself is a large network of billions of computers and electronic devices that contain information and technology tools that can be accessed by anybody with an internet connection, namely using various searches which index the data. Residing on that network of computers are large volumes of documents, related texts, images, and other data which form the world wide web. Many users […]
Cyber Safety Overview
This year, 2020, is quite different for so many reasons; notably, Covid 19. Covid-19 has moved people indoors, requiring us to perform work and school from home for most of the calendar year. Some businesses have managed to thrive during 2020, including the mobile phone and PC business. Yes, the PC (personal computer) is popular again, and PC usage continues to increase. This is good news for companies that make PC’s, PC hardware, software and peripherals. “Customers are using Windows PCs to stay productive, connect and learn in this time. In fact, over 4 trillion minutes are being spent on Windows 10 a month, a 75% increase year on year,” Panos Panay, Microsoft’s chief product officer, wrote in a blog post on Monday. Windows had nearly 87% share of the PC operating system market in April, according to NetMarketShare, and in March, Microsoft said it had reached 1 billion active Windows 10 devices. Cell phone usage is also on the rise. User’s are spending more time logging into their social media and are spending longer on social media with each use. Internet technology has impacted our lives since its inception. Each device provides another opportunity for exposure to harmful cyber […]
Bullying Differences and Similarities
I am aware that some people have a difficult time making a distinction between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, so let us discuss these aggression types and add clarification. I confess to being born in the late 70’s. When I was in grade school, the coolest advance in technology was the Boom Box (Google it) Walkie Talkie or the portable cassette player with earphones. Pictures were taken on portable cameras, either using a polaroid camera or captured on a roll of film. Cell phones did not exist and call waiting had not been invented yet. The number of kids per class were approximately 25, there were a few hundred kids on campus and the number of bullies on campus seemed quite minimal. The school-yard bully seemed like a kid’s worst nightmare. This type of bully generally victimized others by teasing, threatening, belittling, committing acts of physical violence, vandalizing, taking personal items by force or coercion. We will call this bully, the Traditional Bully. The Traditional Bully would usually carry out these aggressions on school property, buses, bus stops or school sponsored events. The number of victims that the Traditional Bully would interact with was limited to those within a physical proximity […]
So what can schools do to discipline cyberbullies?
One basic premise of cyberbullying is that the activities can occur whenever and wherever the aggressor may be. This created a gray area of hesitation for educators when the issues of punishment for an aggressor were presented, if the activities occurred outside of campus. We have previously discussed the longevity of bullying, the rise of cyberbullying, and the creation of David’s Law; now let us talk about what schools can do to punish aggressors. With the passing of David’s Law, every school district in Texas was and is required to incorporated the provisions of David’s Law into their district policies. This mandate gave schools and school districts the powers to punish cyberbullies for their transgressions. We will briefly revisit David’s Law. David’s Law is named after 16 year old David Molak who took his own life due to cyberbullying. Senate Bill 179 changed the definition of bullying in the Texas Education Code and now makes cyberbullying a punishable offense. CYBERBULLYING DEFINED UNDER DAVID’S LAW: “Cyberbullying” as defined in David’s Law means bullying arising from a pattern of acts or one significant act that is done through the use of any electronic communication device, including a cellular or other type of […]
David’s Law: What is it and who benefits?
As we have previously learned in Blog 1 “Let’s talk about cyberbullying month,” and Blog 2, “Cyberbullying, what is it,” there are actions which are considered bullying and some which are cyberbullying. Throughout the United States, cyberbullying is punishable by civil and criminal laws. In Texas, one of the methods of punishing aggressors is utilizing “David’s Law.” David’s Law was an Act initially passed as Senate Bill 179, and its codification into the Texas Education Code and Penal Code created the framework for how students who are victims of cyberbullying can be protected. But why is the law called “David’s Law?” The law is named this way because of the life it honors and the motivation behind the movement. David Bartlett Molak, age 16, took his own life on Monday, January 4, 2016, in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. David was a son, brother, Eagle Scout and friend to many. David’s passions included hunting, fishing, professional football and playing various games with his family. In the last few months before his death, David became the repetitive target of relentless cyberbullying. The Molak family describes David’s experience as David becoming “overwhelmed with hopelessness after being continuously harassed, humiliated and threatened […]
Domestic Violence Does Not Discriminate
The most often used definition of domestic violence is a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship. Domestic violence does not discriminate and occurs in every race, ethnicity, socio-economic background, education, age, gender or sexual orientation. It has no age limit and can occur from teens to the elderly. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) nearly 1 in 5 women and nearly 1 in 7 men report having experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner in their life- time. So basically, anyone reading this blog, is someone who has experienced domestic violence or knows someone who has, whether you know about it or not. Research has shown that domestic violence increases during times of natural disaster and the COVID-19 pandemic is a unlike anything we have experienced. During this time, victims may be unable to find shelter, go to family or friends, or even know what resources are still available to them during their time of need. Victims may be trapped with abusive partners if they lose their jobs or cannot work. In addition, minimal access to paid time off or unemployment insurance, can leave […]
Cyberbullying – What is it?
Cyberbullying has significant social, physical and psychological impacts, which is why the Center of Disease Control considers it a public health concern. Years ago, a schoolyard bully was a student’s worst nightmare; anybody born before 1990 likely can identify with this statement. Now, there’s a second, possibly more dangerous bully; cyberbullies. Cyberbullies can be obvious, remain anonymous, create fake profiles, and can strike at all hours of the day and night on multiple platforms. With minimal effort, they can threaten, taunt, harass and humiliate their target, causing severe emotional distress that, in some instances, bullying has even led to suicide. According to board certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrists and the Center for Disease Control, suicide is the second leading cause of death for American teenagers and young adults. Cyberbullying is considered a contributing factor. But what is cyberbullying, how does it happen and how did it grow into a phenomenon? Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology to harass, threaten, intimidate, humiliate and target victims. Cyberbullying is basically the electronic version of bullying. It occurs when an individual engages in bullying through the use of any electronic communication device, including a phone, computer, camera, e-mail, instant message, […]
Let’s Talk About National Bullying Prevention Month!
I’d like to tell you that bullying is a new phenomenon, but history and folklore would disagree. Believe it or not, Cinderella is not a story that originated in a 1950’s Disney movie. This story is a folk tale representing elements of cruel & unjust oppression followed by triumph. Cinderella is a young woman living in bleak circumstances, constantly being harassed by family before achieving extraordinarily great fortune. The ancient story of Rhodopis, which dates back around 7 BC and AD 23, is usually considered to be the first variant of the Cinderella story. The word Cinderella has come to symbolize one whose attributes were unrecognized, one who was shunned by those with power; one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success. Cinderella and Rhodopis share various traits … both were victims of aggressors, targets of bullying, found means to overcome, and both stories go back hundreds of years. In present times victims do not have Cinderella’s fairy godmother “to right their wrongs”. Yet there are still bullying stories being written and victims in need of tools and means to overcome. I will take the next few weeks to share information on the topic of bullying to help readers gain knowledge […]