Cyberbullying

Are you or your kids waiting to get your hands on a pair of Spectacles from Snapchat? Spectacles are sunglasses with an integrated video camera that makes it easy to create short videos, and marketing experts are saying the influencers your kids follow online (celebrities and bloggers who post “personal reviews” and have millions of followers online) will be using these stylish pieces of hardware in significant ways in 2017. They expect we will see more first person reviews and “unboxings” of products meant to influence teens and other consumers. They also expect that the device will be used to do more first person shoots of extreme sporting events – think of a more advanced Go-Pro. If the thought of these “glasses” is concerning to you, there are already teens posting hacks on how to disguise the spectacles to prevent others from knowing they are being filmed. This obviously raises concerns about video being used to bully and harass since the glasses will do all the work and no one will even have to pull out a phone or use their hands to point and shoot.

The Cyberbullying Research Center is a great cyberbullying resource for parents. The site goes way beyond facts and figures and has materials on cell phone safety, sexting, password safety tips for teens and a whole range of handouts, lists, scripts and more for discussing, reacting to and preventing cyberbullying.

The Cyberbullying Research Center is a great cyberbullying resource for parents. The site goes way beyond facts and figures and has materials on cell phone safety, sexting, password safety tips for teens and a whole range of handouts, lists, scripts and more for discussing, reacting to and preventing cyberbullying.

In keeping with that oft-repeated phrase “there’s an app for that,” now comes Oyoty. Oyoty is a chatbot is designed for children aged up to 12 who are active on social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). It acts as a personal assistant of sorts via a smartphone or tablet, and automatically scans what kids are posting publicly. It will intervene by flagging problem posts to children themselves to help them understand why it’s not a good idea to share - whether it be an overly provocative selfie or posting personal information. The interventions are also structured so the child is guided to edit or delete the content themselves, keeping them involved in the process of their own moderation – again with the aim of helping them understand what is and is not appropriate to share online. If the child refuses to moderate their own content, the bot can and will escalate issues directly to parents via an alert — the default setting being three days after no action has been taken by the child to resolve a problem. The hope is clearly that kids will agree to rethink any problems before the bot has to get parents directly involved. This app is so new that there is no feedback yet on how well it works, but this use of Artificial Intelligence is an interesting new tool for parents who are trying to “trust but monitor”.

In keeping with that oft-repeated phrase “there’s an app for that,” now comes Oyoty. Oyoty is a chatbot is designed for children aged up to 12 who are active on social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). It acts as a personal assistant of sorts via a smartphone or tablet, and automatically scans what kids are posting publicly. It will intervene by flagging problem posts to children themselves to help them understand why it’s not a good idea to share - whether it be an overly provocative selfie or posting personal information. The interventions are also structured so the child is guided to edit or delete the content themselves, keeping them involved in the process of their own moderation – again with the aim of helping them understand what is and is not appropriate to share online. If the child refuses to moderate their own content, the bot can and will escalate issues directly to parents via an alert — the default setting being three days after no action has been taken by the child to resolve a problem. The hope is clearly that kids will agree to rethink any problems before the bot has to get parents directly involved. This app is so new that there is no feedback yet on how well it works, but this use of Artificial Intelligence is an interesting new tool for parents who are trying to “trust but monitor”.

Twitter has been a pioneer in real-time social media, allowing first responders to tweet about severe weather warnings such as movements of tornados and hurricanes and, in the past, even giving the world a play-by-play version of the raid on Osama Bin Laden. But Twitter is in trouble, recently announcing it will cut 9% of its global workforce. While Twitter has been at the forefront of social media, the company has struggled to reign in increasing abuse on the service. 

The barrage of online harassment is one reason the company has fallen flat with several buyers, according to reports. Rumors have circulated that Disney may buy the company, but previously the organization declined to pursue Twitter because of the platform's well-publicized issues with trolls, such as the case with Milo Yiannopolous, who harass users.

Twitter has been a pioneer in real-time social media, allowing first responders to tweet about severe weather warnings such as movements of tornados and hurricanes and, in the past, even giving the world a play-by-play version of the raid on Osama Bin Laden. But Twitter is in trouble, recently announcing it will cut 9% of its global workforce. While Twitter has been at the forefront of social media, the company has struggled to reign in increasing abuse on the service. 

The barrage of online harassment is one reason the company has fallen flat with several buyers, according to reports. Rumors have circulated that Disney may buy the company, but previously the organization declined to pursue Twitter because of the platform's well-publicized issues with trolls, such as the case with Milo Yiannopolous, who harass users.

Instagram has decided to let users block comments that contain objectionable language from appearing on their posts. If someone (or some bot) adds a comment containing a keyword you have decided to block, the post will be automatically hidden from your feed, even though it may still be included in the comment count under the photo. Take a look at How to Clean Up Instagram Comments for advice on how to set up filters for your feed.

Instagram has decided to let users block comments that contain objectionable language from appearing on their posts. If someone (or some bot) adds a comment containing a keyword you have decided to block, the post will be automatically hidden from your feed, even though it may still be included in the comment count under the photo. Take a look at How to Clean Up Instagram Comments for advice on how to set up filters for your feed.

Is your child looking for someone to sit with during lunch? There's an IOS app for that. The Sit With Us mobile app was created by a student who spent a year eating alone and wanted to make sure everyone has someone to sit with during lunch. The app allows students to sign up as ambassadors and post open lunch tables to help reach out to other kids who have no one to sit with.