Sue Scheff: Survey Shows Parents Still Less Concerned About Cyberbullying Than Other Online Threats
by Sue Scheff on Dec 01, 2009
ReputationDefender/MyChild is an excellent resource to help keep your kids safe online. Recently they posted on their Blog about a new survey that suggests parents not as concerned about cyberbullying as they are with other online threats. Read more and learn how you can be proactive in keeping your kids safe in cyberspace.According to Dr. Matthew Davis, who organized the study,
Because kids and teens are so tuned in online, there is little disconnect from their time at school to their time at home. In some ways, this is good. Studies have shown that social networking websites help maintain stronger peripheral relationships over long periods of time, allowing for a more robust and useful social circle.
Tags: Cyber Safety, Cyberbullying, Internet Safety, Michael Fertik, Online Safety, Parenting Blogs, Parents Universal Resource Experts, ReputationDefender MyChild, Sue Scheff
Sue Scheff: Parenting in the Digital Age
by Sue Scheff on Nov 09, 2009
I created my organization, Parents Universal Resource Experts in 2001. Many parents contact us for assistance when they are at their wit’s end with their teenager. Parenting has so many more challenges since 2001, with the ever expanding technology that seems almost impossbile to keep up with.
Now bullying has escalated to cyberbullying. Texting has created sexting. For parents, teachers and most adults, we are struggling to keep up. Today I speak a lot about protecting your teens online – what they post today, can haunt them tomorrow. More and more colleges are using Search Engines to research their candidates, do you know what Google is saying about your potential college applicant?
ReputationDefender is the original online reputation management services, and since 2006 they have been helping people learn about their virtual presence. I personally have retained them, and find them to be priceless. Their service to protect your children is also priceless – take a moment to read their recent Blog post. They are always 10 steps ahead of us! As a parent, we need to be there too!
Source: ReputationDefender Blog
Parenting in the Digital Age
By Rob Frappier
It’s 2009. That means that there are children using the internet everyday who were born after the Y2K scare. Am I the only one that finds that fact somewhat mind boggling?
In the last decade, the internet has grown exponentially. With the creation of social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook, the internet has become more than a place to seek out information, but to connect with friends. For kids, the development of social networking expanded the school day from 7 hours to 24 hours, replacing the phone as the place where students shared gossip after the last bell rang.
Along with the increased internet usage, came a new problem, cyberbullying. Kids and teens, many no doubt struggling with their own emotional development and maturation issues, used the internet as a tool to reach out and anonymously torment their peers. In the most simplistic cases, cyberbullying leads to depression and anxiety. In severe cases, where abuse is especially virulent and prolonged, it has led teens to commit suicide. Apart from cyberbullying, there’s the danger of your child meeting a cyberpredator online, or, posting inappropriate and reputation damaging information about themselves or your family. The list goes on and on.
When you have a child, you’re expected to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders for them. In the digital age, that means carrying the weight of the World Wide Web as well. As scary as it can be to think about the dangers lurking online (in addition to the countless everyday worries), it doesn’t do any good to ignore these issues. If your kids have more experience using the internet than you do, that doesn’t automatically mean that they understand the proper way to use it. As in any other aspect of life, your kids need you to help guide them, and with the internet that means setting expectations and abiding by them.
There are a number of ways you can help protect your kids from getting into trouble online. Here at ReputationDefender, we offer MyChild. With MyChild, you can see where and in what context your child’s name appears on the web. Through personalized monthly reports, parents can keep an eye on how their kids are using the web and help head off any potential problems before they spin out of control. Later in the week, I will be offering some practical advice for parents on securing their children’s safety online and protecting their family’s reputation.
Being a parent isn’t easy under the best circumstances. That’s why, from our earliest days as a company, we have been committed to making the internet a safer and better place for kids. We show this in our products, and in our work with other leaders in the field, such as the Internet Keep Safe Coalition.
Check back to the ReputationDefender Blog later in the week for more help and advice on raising your children in the digital age.
Follow ReputationDefender on Twitter @RepDef
(I believe in ReputationDefender. I do not receive any referral fees and have never been paid by them. I am simply a satisfied client and Parent Advocate that wants to share information to help other parents.)
Tags: Internet Safety, Internet Slander, Michael Fertik, Online Safety, Parenting, Parenting Teens, Parents Universal Resource Experts, Reputation Defender, ReputationDefender MyChild, Wits End
Sue Scheff: ReputationDefender – Parenting Tips to Help Stop Cyberbullying
by Sue Scheff on Jun 05, 2009
Source: ReputationDefender
How to Stop Cyber Bullying
Cyber Bullying is an act of aggression exercised online and is typically experienced by web-savvy teens and pre-teens. Cyber bullying, which can take place through social networking sites, forums, emails, instant messaging conversations, and blogs, are aimed at causing emotional harm on the part of the victim. This harm often takes the form of embarrassment, an attack on the victim’s self esteem, or promoting a sense of isolation in the victim through exclusion from social circles.
Cyber bullying, simply put, is easier to accomplish than offline bullying. While an aggressor bullying at school is easily identified, so-called “e-bullies” can hide behind the monitors of their personal computers, protecting the aggressor from the consequences of their tactics.
Human behavior among young people hasn’t changed, but technology and the scope of ramifications has increased dramatically. As the PEW Internet & American Life Project observes, “the impulses behind [cyber bullying] are the same [as those for offline bullying], but the effect is magnified.”
There is no easy way to stop cyber bullying, but there are ways to diminish its effects on your children. Below are a few tips parents and adults can use to help young people understand the potential challenges they face online.
Monitor Your Child’s Mood
Pay attention to your child’s overall mood. Do they seem quiet after spending time online? Does their behavior, aggression, or frustration levels change after they spend time on the Internet?
Teens and children are unlikely to outwardly admit if they are being bullied, largely due to feelings of inferiority, low-self esteem, or embarrassment at social exclusion. Pay attention to changes in your child’s behavior and ask them if they or anyone they know has had mean or hurtful things written about them online.
Talk to Your Kids About Privacy
Engage your child in an honest discussion on the contradiction of terms in the phrase: “privacy on the Internet.” According to the PEW Internet & American Life Project, 15% of teens said that someone they know had forwarded or otherwise posted online communications that they, the teens “assumed was private.” Young people often “copy-paste” instant message conversations or email messages meant to be private, and share them publicly for purposes of embarrassment, social exclusion, or simply malice. There is an easy solution to this type of cyber bullying, widely considered to be the most common form of online harassment: make sure your kids know that nothing published, typed, posted, or shared online is private. Encourage your kids to refrain from communicating ideas online that they would not want their friends, family, or peers to see.
Familiarize Yourself with Your Child’s Online Habits
Make sure you know what it is exactly that your child does when he or she is online. Is your child active on social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace? Studies have shown that young people who use social networking sites are more prone to have experience with cyber bullying, either as an aggressor, as a victim, or even both.
As logic would suggest, the more time your child spends online, particularly if they regularly share their thoughts and ideas on the World Wide Web, the more susceptible he or she is to cyber bullying.
Talk to Your Child About Community Responsibility
According to the PEW Internet & American Life Project’s data on online teens, young people who regularly create content online through blogs, web sites, or photo upload sites are more likely than those teens who do not contribute to the online community to report cyberbullying and online harassment. This data demonstrates that teens that are active in creating a positive community in which they can express themselves are also eager to police it, and thus protecting their community from damaging harassment and hurtful aggression.
Talk to your kids about the fact that their online community can be a healthy place to express themselves, if certain rules are adhered to. The more active your kids are on reporting cyber bullying and online harassment, the easier it will be to reduce its strength.
For more information on keeping your kids safe online, along with a guide to approaching online crime and privacy issues, visit www.ReputationDefender.com.
Tags: Cyber Safety, Cyberbully, Cyberbullying, Michael Fertik, Parenting Online, Parenting Teens Online, Parents Universal Resource Experts, Reputation Defender, ReputationDefender MyChild, Sue Scheff
Sue Scheff – Prevent Cyberbullying
by Sue Scheff on Jan 27, 2009
Vanessa Van Petten continues to bring valuable information for parents with today’s teens. This week she has dedicated to helping prevent cyberbullying.
Partners for CyberBully Awareness Campaign:
Vivien Bruss of Cool Moms Rule
Also check out Vanessa’s book – Dirt E-Secrets of an Internet Kid
Tags: Cyber Safety, Cyberbully, Cyberbullying, Internet Safety, Online Safety, Parenting Teens Online, Parents Universal Resource Experts, ReputationDefender MyChild, Sue Scheff, Vanessa Van Petten
Sue Scheff 2009 Parenting Teens in Cyberspace for their Future
by Sue Scheff on Jan 04, 2009
As a parent advocate, I encourage parents to learn more about online safety. A great place to start is Reputation Defender! Remember, your child may be a “child” today, but soon they will be applying to college and filling out employment applications. Will their online profile be acceptable?MyChild by ReputationDefender scours the Internet for all references to your child or teen – by name, photography, screen name, or social network profiles – and packages it to you in an easy-to-understand report. Worried about bullies? Concerned that your teens’ friends and peers are posting inappropriate materials online? MyChild searches every corner of the Internet for traces of your kids. If you want to help your teen manage their online reputation, but have felt powerless to do so, ReputationDefender is your answer!
Tags: Cyber Safety, Internet Safety, Online Safety, Parenting Teens Online, Parents Universal Resource Experts, Reputation Defender, ReputationDefender MyChild, Sue Scheff
