Interenational Cyberbullying Conference

I did not get a chance to post while during the conference, but what a fantastic event. The Community Day (day 1) took place in Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York.

Dr. Aftab is quite the woman and I got there early enough to witness her hard at work leading and directing about 100 adults and kids. I was not expecting to see so many students from the surrounding area, but busload after busload filed into the theatre. To me, as a trainer, this was the best part because I got to hear directly from them.

A particular Teen Angel chapter, which is Dr. Aftab’s organization of kid-experts on Internet Safety issues, led a majority of the conference and I’ve never seen a more articulate, bright and passionate group of kids. They will go on to do great things, I’m sure.

Enough narrative, here’s a breakdown of who was there and what was discussed on Day 1:

Who attended:
Tech and policy directors from Verizon, Microsoft, McAffee, AOL, and more.
Tina Meier and Debbie Johnston (mothers of children who were pushed to suicide from cyberbullying)
About 200 kids including a Teen Angel chapter from a Deaf and Hearing Impaired school (Very cool to see.)
Social workers, school counselors and educators
Representatives from Girl Scouts, Girl Ambition, the Anti-Defamation League, and many more

Questions answered:
1. Why are the cyberbullying numbers from research studies much lower than Dr. Aftab and Teen Angels’ numbers (85% of 45,000 kids)?

Kids don’t know what cyberbullying is.

2. Why don’t kids tell their parents when they’re cyberbullied?

About 30 kids stood up to answer this question. Here are just a few of their answers:
They’re afraid parents will restrict Internet access
They’re embarrassed
Their parents don’t know they talk to strangers online
Their parents don’t know they have a Myspace/Facebook etc.
They don’t want to be monitored any more than they already are
They want to solve their own problems
They don’t want parents judging their friends
(You’re most likely to get cyberbullied by friends)

3. What are some solutions for parents, teachers and kids?

Listen without reacting or punishing
Discuss before it happens
Stop, Block, and Tell

Next entry will continue discussion of the International Cyberbullying conference.