AdaptiveMobile Blogs

16th May 2008    Current rating: 

Justice was finally brought to light in regards to a tragic situation that occurred nearly 2 years ago. As you may recall, a 13 year old American girl committed suicide after being cyber bullied by what turned out to be a 49 year old female neighbor, posing as a 16 year old boy on MySpace.

It’s great to see that MySpace officials were cooperating fully with the investigation, but this situation serves as a strong reminder that parents need to watch for warning signs that their children are bullying or being bullied. And with kids using sites like MySpace on their mobile phones, it’s more important than ever that parents are keeping the lines of communication open with their children. While Websites, ISPs and mobile carriers can do their best to safe guard users, true protection begins at home.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has a great write up that shares some warnings signs that a child might be a victim of cyber bullying. As always, we encourage parents around the world to take an active role in teaching their kids safe surfing, both online and via mobile.

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You raise a really good point here about the need for parents to be aware of what their kids are doing online. As a mother of two middle school girls, I feel that letting my kids play online without some kind of supervision is about the same as letting them run around New York City alone. And now that my oldest has a cell phone Im especially cautious! And to think I didnt even have a phone in my bedroom at that age...!rnrnWired has an interesting debate about the charges against the woman behind the phony MySpace page: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/myspaceindictm.html rnrnI still feel no matter what, the underlying lesson is still the same as parents weve got to keep the lines of communication open with our kids on all levels. rnrn