[LM_NET] Report on ESCL and NAAG presentation on cyberbullying

[Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>]

Hi all,

I gave a presentation on cyberbullying this week to both the Eastern
Conference of State Legislators and the National Association of Attorneys
General. I have some new insight into some structural issues that I think
are at the heart of some of what I consider to be inaccurate and
inappropriate messages.

First, I would like to say that I met some of the elected officials in
Eastern states who focus on educational issues and I was very impressed with
their dedication to the well-being of young people and addressing both the
concerns of bullying and cyberbullying.

My presentation at NAAG went well, but my "walk-away perception" was that I
was not talking to the right audience. I think there are concerns of a
systemic organizational concern within the AG offices, similar to the
concern I have about what is happening in many state departments of
education - as well as in most schools. The problem is that we do not have
the right folks together at the table. In schools, the safe school and
educational technology folks need to be working together.

This is the blind men describing parts of the elephant concern.

The folks I spoke to at NAAG were the ones who are prosecuting Internet
crime. My perspective is that they have little to no background in
addressing youth risk or an understanding of the effective practices to do
so. This is not meant as criticism, just a statement of perspective. To give
you an example of the creeps these folks have to deal with look at this
press release: http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=3806. So this is
the part of the "elephant" these folks are seeing.

Now I put my youth risk "hat" on and read these arrest reports and wonder
how many teens are actually hanging out in these chat rooms. I also think I
can reasonably predict the reaction of the vast, vast majority of teens upon
receiving a video of a nude man masturbating.

When these folks are placed in charge of creating Internet safety messages,
it is no wonder that they come up with fear-based messages. And because they
generally have no professional background in adolescent risk prevention,
they do not know that lots of research demonstrates that these kinds of
fear-based messages do not work.

There are people who work in AG offices who do understand adolescent risk.
They work in another office - juvenile justice and prevention. So there is a
systemic problem in the AG offices similar to the one in the departments of
education. 

In order to more effectively address youth risk online we have to move away
from the blind men approach. I have developed a plan to do this - with a
focus at the state level. If any of you want to see this, I would be happy
to send it. 

In your own schools, the best thing you can do is to try to form a better
partnership between the safe schools staff and those of you who understand
technologies. The safe schools folks know that fear-based messages are not
effective. But many times they do not understand the technologies.

Nancy


-- 
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
http://csriu.wordpress.com
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)

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