Are SmartPhone's keeping bullying alive in Schools?

Updated May 2021; This is the opinion of leading American experts at MIT. Schoolyard bullying has been seriously reduced since 1999. Sadly the bullies many of whom are cowards have taken to cyberbullying instead. Online bullying is the only form of bullying growing. This is hardly what was intended for smartphones when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world in 2007. Book a Speaker for your School

• 34% of kids will experience cyberbullying as kids 
• Girls are twice as likely to be the victims of cyberbullying.
• Victims of cyberbullying have a higher risk of depression, even compared to victims of traditional bullying face to face.
• Children are 7 times more likely to be cyberbullied by friends than by strangers.
• Children who are bullied are 9 times more likely to be the victim of identity fraud as well.
• Cyberbullies do not use the internet to find victims, but they use digital technology to bully people who they are already bullying at school.
• Digital technology is not the problem by itself but makes an existing problem far worst. If the issue can be resolved in school, then it will not happen at home

The reasons reported by students for being bullying

• Looks (27%) 
• Race (10%) 
• Ethnicity (7%) 
• Gender (7%), 
• Disability (4%), 
• Religion (4%) 
• Sexual orientation (3%) 

Another trend that continually plays itself out is that those who are bullied typically go on to bully more people. Girls are more likely to report that they are being cyberbullied. Most commonly, cyberbullying occurs when the other person is seen as different in some way. Online Speaker for Kids in Schools UK
 

There are 4 significant kinds of harassment. These are social media portals, provocation, flaring and rejection.   

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter are the main options for bullies. Although most kids are using Snapchat as their preferred weapon of choice on this matter. Parents need not worry too much about Twitter. 
 

Who said you can't check your kids' phone. trust & Verify.

We think that Parents should feel free to check their kid's phone to make sure that their kids are behaving themselves online. Enough said, if kids under 18, it will be you the Police come to see if something goes wrong.

On a more positive note, while cyberbullying is increasing, schoolyard bullying itself is not as common as in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s. Experts say that without smartphones bullying would be a thing of the past.  

Figures show that bullying declined through 2014, but the rise of smartphones has bought a serious new dimension to the issue. 

Investigations worldwide found a 22% decrease in school bullying from 2003 and 2011. 

Internet safety and social media decency for all.

We like to remind parents and teachers and inform teenagers that Police are now more capable of cracking open WhatsApp, Snapchat. The age of disappearing messages, permanent deletions is now passing. Police can recover messages, recover previously encrypted messages. Snapchat made children and teenagers too confident they couldn't be discovered and carry on bullying with impunity. Internet safety and social media decency for all.

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