On Monday, April 12, 2010 in a recent meeting at Washington DC, Facebook has been urged to add "panic buttons" to its pages. The "panic button" already in use on many other social networking websites takes the user to a site that details how to handle issues such as cyber-bullying, hacking, viruses, distressing material and inappropriate sexual advances or behavior.
Cyber-Bullying has been a big problem and seems to be an expectable way kids use to express their feelings towards others. It is important to understand and be able to determine the signs and effects of cyber-bullying on kids. Cyberbullying allows the schoolyard bully to continue to hound their victims 24 hours a day and can invite others to join in on the harassment. Mentality combined with the anonymity of the attacks can put a lot of stress on young victims that don’t know how to deal with the situation.
Below are some interesting statistics according to iSafe.org:
• 42% of kids have been bullied while online. 1 in 4 have had it happen more than once.
• 35% of kids have been threatened online. Nearly 1 in 5 have had it happen more than once.
• 21% of kids have received mean or threatening e-mail or other messages.
• 58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than 4 out of 10 say it has happened more than once.
• 53% of kids admit having said something mean or hurtful to another person online. More than 1 in 3 have done it more than once.
• 58% have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre is especially urging Facebook to act now after the October murder of Ashleigh Hall, a 17-year-old student in the United Kingdom (UK) by Peter Chapman, a man she met via the site. Last month Chapman, 33, was jailed for the killing.
Suicides are also a sad result of continuous cyber-bullying if left unchecked as in the case of Ryan Patrick Halligan and Megan Taylor Meier.
Facebook has not committed to adding the “Panic Buttons” as of yet, but if they do, it would be a big help in combating these cyber issues. In addition, parents taking the time to monitor and talk to their kids and using technology to monitor their activities are all helpful steps to keeping kids safe.
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