Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is becoming more and more common. It is become even more dangerous to enjoy the resources and communications that come from the Internet. I think that one of the biggest mistakes is that will all the new chat rooms and the social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, and many others it is so easy to be who ever you want to be. What I mean by this is that when you fill out the online profile on any of these chat rooms or social networks there is nothing that prevent you from lying. The article "A Profile of Online Profiles" by Charles M. Blow discusses many studies and statistics about these online tools.
Brad Paisley even wrote a song called "Online"that jokes about how he can be anyone he wants to be when he is online. It may be funny in some sense, but it is an extremely important issue. When I was in Middle School the Internet was still pretty new, and the stuff that scared you on the news was typically about people being killed or murdered, now its the same story but with a twist. The twist is that people are pretending to be someone else online, and then tricking children and even adults into meeting them. Obviously this is quite dramatic, but unfortunately it is the harsh reality.
I don't know how cyberbullying can be prevented. I do, however, know precautions that students, parents, teachers, and schools can take to try and keep the Internet a safe place to be. The precautions that should be taken when using things such as myspace or facebook is to make your settings private. Don't allow just anyone to be your friend or view your profile. Second don't add anyone who invites your or requests your friendship if you don't know them. Even if you have mutual friends don't assume that just because they want to add or you they claim they know, they are a safe person. As parents and teachers we need to monitor the information and "stuff" that students are seeing and getting involved in online. This may mean creating a profile of your own just monitor the conversations or profiles of the students/children around you.
It is important that the Internet is a safe place to roam. It may seem that all the horror stories about things happening through cyberbullying are unreal, but unfortunately it is something that is occurring more and more. So it is extremely important to use extreme and I mean EXTREME caution when using the Internet, social networks, chat rooms, and any other form of communication when online.