Sunday, March 25, 2012

Should schools and lawmakers do more to protect kids from cyber bullies?

Cyberbullying is a public health concern in the modern internet age. The Centers for Disease Control did a study of youth risk behaviors in 2015 that found that 15.5% of students in the United States face some form of electronic bullying. While these numbers are self-reported and might not be entirely accurate, they do give us an idea of how pervasive the issue is for teens.
The fact that such a large number of teens have faced some form of online bullying is an indication that society needs to put more protections in place. However, looking at the current policies in place, it seems that lawmakers in nearly every state have done the footwork to make cyberbullying illegal and provide education and resources for schools and parents to ameliorate the issue.
It seems like the most significant issue with cyberbullying at the moment is that schools and authorities do not use the current laws and policies to help those who suffer. Cyberbullying, like physical bullying, is treated too flippantly in society, and that can account for the fact that it still affects one in eight teens. The New York Times reported that many schools see cyberbullying as something that happens outside of the school and thus feel under-equipped to deal with it. Cyberbullying will remain a significant problem until schools and law enforcement see the threat as serious and take action to protect teens.
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/2015/ss6506_updated.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/style/28bully.html

https://www.stopbullying.gov/resources/laws

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the theme of the chapter Lead?

Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...