Group items tagged

Then, social networking started taking off. First came Friendster, then MySpace and Facebook, and now Twitter. The popularity of texting began soaring, too. All of this makes me wonder: What is Time Warner-owned AOL Instant Messenger doing to ensure that aging Millennials like me keep instant messaging a part of their daily routine?

AOL spokeswoman Erin Gifford said she wasn't sure what efforts the company was deploying to keep 20-somethings interested in messaging. That's not to say AOL Instant Messenger, which debuted in 1997, hasn't remained popular. It currently has about 30.4 million active users in the United States, making it the most popular instant messenger service in the country.

AIM's sweet spot is people between the ages of 13 and 24. They make up about 49 percent of all AOL instant messenger users. That leaves 51 percent of us who are 25 and older.

A survey of more than 200 Kansas State University students — mostly freshmen — indicates 54 percent of them believe cyberbullying is a "minor problem" or a "common problem" among students at the university.

The survey used the cyberbullying definition provided in Kansas' anti-bullying law, which took effect in January 2008 and was revised in July to include cyberbullying. The law requires schools to develop anti-bullying policies, plans and preventative measures. Cyberbullying is the use of any electronic communication device, such as e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, blogs, mobile phones, pages, online games or Web sites, to create an intimidating, threatening or abusive environment.

ead teachers are being advised to draw up new rules on mobile phone use amid a growing number of cases of what is now known as “cyber-bullying”. In many secondary schools, over 90% of bullying cases are through text messages or internet chatrooms. It is hoped that the rules about mobile phone use will protect children from abusive texts, stop phones going off in class and prevent mobiles being taken into exam halls.

Although the majority of kids who are harassed online aren’t physically bothered in person, the cyber-bully still takes a heavy emotional toll on his or her victims. Kids who are targeted online are more likely to get a detention or be suspended, skip school and experience emotional distress, the medical journal reports. Teenagers who receive rude or nasty comments via text messages are six times more likely to say they feel unsafe at school.

The problem is that bullying is still perceived by many educators and parents as a problem that involves physical contact. Most enforcement efforts focus on bullying in school classrooms, corridors and toilets. But given that 80% of adolescents use mobile phones or computers, “social interactions have increasingly moved from personal contact at school to virtual contact in the chatroom,'’ write Kirk R. Williams and Nancy G. Guerra, co-authors of one of the journal reports. “Internet bullying has emerged as a new and growing form of social cruelty.'’

He was originally charged with conspiracy to commit murder. On Friday, Circuit Judge Hubert L. Grimes sentenced him to probation, which could last until he turns 19. He was accused of making threats on MySpace, where his page showed a tombstone, satanic references and admiration for the shooters in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, authorities said. Through instant messages on MySpace to another student, he also threatened to lock the cafeteria doors during one of the lunch periods and shoot everyone inside, authorities said.

boy used his MySpace page to react against the intense bullying at the middle school, which left him in fear. The boy has said that one of the bullies threatened to slit his throat.

Parents are worried about a new form of stranger danger in the form of cyber-bullying - abuse through email, chatrooms or text messaging.

The issues around Internet safety often arose when adults such as parents or teachers did not understand the importance of the online world to their children. "You get children as young as 8 now who say, 'Take away my phone and take away my life'," he said. When children thought they would be restricted from the Internet and mobile phones if they reported bad experiences, such as bullying, they were less likely to report it, he said.

They said the worst part of cyber-bullying was the distance between the perpetrator and the victim. "They don't have to see the consequences if they post a comment or a picture in a chatroom," Hannah said.

Yet with so many different types of cyberbullying, ranging from online impersonation to e-mail hacking and distributing embarrassing materials about a person, it can be difficult for kids, let alone those trying to help them, to know how to respond and stop the 21st century bully in his or her tracks. "Awareness about the issue is high, but awareness about what to do when it happens is mixed," says Michele Ybarra, president and research director for Internet Solutions for Kids (ISK) and an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Research suggests that those on the receiving end of traditional bullying may be more likely to cyberbully as a form of retaliation. Kids involved in the more severe instances of cyberbullying also tend to have more psychosocial problems, exhibiting aggression, getting in trouble at school and having poor relationships with their parents, says Nancy Willard, an expert on cyberbullying and author of Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. And while traditional bullying appears to peak in middle school and drop off as kids reach high school, cyberbullying tends to slightly increase among kids in high school, a trend researchers can't yet explain.

One of the tricky things about helping cyberbullying targets is that they aren't always willing to talk about the problem. Teens often cite a fear of having their Internet privileges revoked as a reason for keeping quiet, Agatston says. Kids who receive threatening messages in school may not divulge what's happened for fear of getting in trouble, since many schools ban use of cellphones during the day. To get around that problem, Willard recommends having a frank discussion with your children about cyberbullying before it happens.

The fact that cell phones pose a great risk when combined with driving cannot be of any surprise to anyone. Let’s face it. First, drivers must take their eyes off the road while dialing. Second, people can become so absorbed in their conversations or other cell phone use that their ability to concentrate on the act of driving is severely impaired, jeopardizing the safety of vehicle occupants and pedestrians alike.

Time Away from Homework. Technology affords teens (and adults) a host of ways to do something other than what they are supposed to, in this case homework.

Mounting Minutes ($$$) Since consumers must be 18 in order to purchase a cell phone contract in the United States, most parents are buying the phones their children carry. This is good news because parents can choose a plan that fits how the cell phone will be used and can review monthly cell phone bills which typically includes a log itemizing phone activity. However, problems still exist. For one, children can quickly go over their allotted minutes for the month which can leave their parents with bills that can easily approach hundreds of dollars for the month.

Most agencies manage sensitive citizen data: addresses, Social Security numbers, financial records and medical information. You name it, some state or local office has it, and probably electronically. The problem? Many theorize that the Millennials' penchant for online openness could unintentionally expose private information, leaving it ripe for the picking. Millennials bring innovative ideas about technology's use, but for that same reason, do they also pose new security risks?

Anti-virus vendor Symantec released a study in March 2008 assessing this issue. Symantec commissioned Applied Research-West to execute the study, and 600 participants were surveyed from different verticals, including government. Survey participants included 200 IT decision-makers, 200 Millennial workers and 200 non-Millennial workers born before 1980. The data revealed that Millennials are more likely than workers of other ages to use Web 2.0 applications on company time and equipment. Some interesting figures include: 69 percent of surveyed Millennials will use whatever application, device or technology they want at work, regardless of office IT policies; and only 45 percent of Millennials stick to company-issued devices or software, compared to 70 percent of non-Millennials.

How might young people be workplace assets? Could all that time typing or texting make them speedy typists, able to whip up memos at the drop of a hat? Does familiarity with new and emerging technologies have its benefit? You bet, according to Dustin Lanier, director of the Texas Council on Competitive Government. The council brings state leaders together to shape policy for government departments, including IT. "I think they've built an approach to work that involves a lot of multitasking," Lanier said of the Millennials. "Something will be loading on one screen, you alt-tab to another application and pull up an e-mail, the first process loads, you flip back, start a new process, flip to a forum and pull up a topic. It's frenetic but normal to that group." Lanier doesn't think Millennials present more of an IT threat than their older co-workers. After all, young people don't have a monopoly on being distracted in the office. "I can't tell you how many times I've walked by people's desks of all ages and seen Minesweeper up," he said. He thinks employers should embrace some Web 2.0 applications. Otherwise, Millennials might be discouraged from sticking around. According to Lanier, this younger work force comprises many people who think of themselves as free agents. Government should accommodate some of their habits in order to prevent them from quitting.

Of those that reported that they had been cyberbullied, over 50 percent reported the cyberbullying lasted on average 2-4 days, while approximately 30 percent lasted a week or longer. Over 41 percent of the time cyberbullying took place with instant messaging, chat rooms and blogs (MySpace, Xanga, Facebook, Bebo, etc). In addition, 35 percent reported that e-mail was used to cyberbullied them.

ngry, depressed and hurt were the top three emotions experienced

he most reported reasons those that admitted to cyberbullying (14/59) gave were out of revenge (57 percent) and anger (43 percent) while 21 percent admit to cyberbullying because they did not like the other person. When asked how the cyberbullying take place, the results are similar to the ones reported by victims of cyberbullying: 43 percent by instant messaging or chat rooms and 36 percent by e-mails or blogs