As of this year, 34 of the United States of America have laws in place that relate to cyberbullying, electronic harassment or bullying among minors in a school context. Every state has some sort of law in place that addresses related issues such as cyberstalking or cyberharassment, which do not necessarily relate to students specifically. Details of these laws and links to their respective codes can be found at the NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures). It’s good that these laws are in place, but students need to know what these laws are and what, if any, consequences or teeth that they might bear or bare, as the case may be. The laws are there, but often the awareness is not. It’s a bit like the intergalactic hyperspace highway plans stored in the basement of some government agency in Douglas Adams'”Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” explaining to the public that their planet would soon be removed as part of the construction process and that they had better find another place to live. When the earth residents seem affronted at the inevitable and precipitous destruction, they are calmly told that the plans had been there for decades; they merely had to look at them if they wanted to be informed.

We want our students to be informed, even if they don’t know that they should be. The consequences of bullying (for both victims and perpetrators) are too serious and potentially permanent to be ignored. There have already been many cases of cyberbullying that have led to suicide. We know that much. We also know that material flung into the sticky web of the internet has a way of hanging around for a long time, and possibly permanently. The spoken word or the physical push does not usually leave a traceable and permanent record. Barbed words and malicious images downloaded into cyberspace, however, can replicate at an amazing rate and be stored forever.

Every school should have a visible and intentional policy in place that relates to cyberbullying. Students should know in detail what sort of behavior is unacceptable and what are the immediate consequences of that behavior. They should understand that what they do in high school in cyberspace can follow them to college and on into their early job searches. There are many good things about being able to quickly connect with the rest of the world, but students should also be aware of how visible their online activities are.

My daughter in high school was not aware of any cyberbullying incidents at her own school, but she knew about the sorts of things that had gone on in other areas. At our school, we do have some specific policies in place that address this sort of thing, but the information should be more visible and accessible, and the parents need to be better informed. Misuse of computers needs to have definite consequences as well. Currently, a student may lose a cell phone or iPhone for a day if it is being misused, but when caught computer gaming on a laptop, for example, on school grounds during the instructional day, there is no real consequence besides being asked to stop. Perhaps we need to have some firm rules and consequences in place. This is one area that will be addressed by the colleagues from my school in our final project for this current COETAIL course.