Cyberbullying News | Research, Reviews, Summaries & Expert Interviews for Educators & Researchers

We often hear that parents, educators, and other adults are frequently frustrated, and often intimidated, about how best to communicate with young people about their online lives.  We know that sometimes it feels as if young people are living on their own cyber island which adults are unable to access.  We struggle with how to bridge the gap that appears to be opening up between the generations before it becomes a chasm.  Admit it … most adults think we are doing well if we put together a Power Point presentation with all the “bells and whistles” that can be added to it, yet we discover that such a presentation is considered “so yesterday” by most young people who can hardly keep their eyes from glazing over!  Help is at hand, however.  Read on to discover what teens and adults think about the ethics of digital life and what we can do to begin to reconnect with young people and build a bridge onto their cyber island.

Meeting of Minds: Cross-Generational Dialogue on the Ethics of Digital Life, a report put together in October 2009 by Global Kids, Inc., The GoodPlay Project at Harvard University’s Project Zero, and Common Sense Media (and made possible by the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation), highlights “how adults and youth think about ethical issues online” (p. 3) and “provides a number of key lessons that can be applied to other cross-generational conversations, such as at home, in the classroom, online, and in broader community contexts” (p. 18).

Below are the main points taken from the Report.

Purpose of the Report: The report sought answers to:

• Can youth and adults have open and honest conversation in an online setting?
• What are the perceptions and tensions across generations when it comes to how we act on the Internet?
• Is it possible to reach common ground when it comes to digital ethics?

Methods Used:

• 250 parents, teachers, and teens were brought together for a three-week online conversation
• Each day, participants responded to scenarios and questions presented
• Over 2,500 messages were posted over the course of the study

Key Findings

• The Disconnect? (different “patterns of thinking” between young people and adults)
  • Teens
    • Are most likely to engage in individualistic and consequence thinking (i.e., they are concerned about themselves) with regard to topics such as the sharing of information online, illegal downloading, cyberbullying, etc.
    • Are somewhat likely to engage in moral thinking (concern for others whom they know)
    • Are least likely to engage in ethical thinking (thinking about the effects of one’s actions on the online community at large), although there was evidence of some very nuanced thinking in this area.
  • Adults: Generally exhibited strong and consistent patterns of moral and ethical thinking about digital dilemmas
  • Implications: It is critical that adults help youth think about online life in moral and ethical ways – and to act as moral and ethical digital citizens, especially as youth are online more often and at younger ages than ever before.  Adults (parents and educators) need to provide experiences that scaffold self-critical, moral, and ethical ways of thinking about their online behavior, i.e., adults model their own thinking processes so that young people can learn from that modeling.
• Ethics in the Digital World: 5 areas of interest
  • Identity: The idea of “testing out” an ideal self online was recognized as being useful, but both adults and teens saw real risks in terms of not being true to oneself or becoming disconnected from one’s offline self.  Youth felt there were benefits of online spaces where they could “try out” different ways of being, although they generally did so because they wanted to be cool or to fit in.  Negative potentials were generally seen as consequences to the individual rather than others feeling deceived or harmed in the process.
  • Privacy: Adults and youth differed in that adults were more concerned about information shared online  reaching unintended audiences.  Youth would rather share information with their peers than with the adults in their lives.  Few youth considered the risks and potential harms of sharing information about others online – they tended to view privacy as an individual, rather than a collective, responsibility. 
  • Credibility: In online spaces, definitions of credibility – who is an expert, the integrity of information – may be different from in offline environments where traditional credentials often signal a credible, trustworthy source.  It is important for youth to think critically about information sources, but also about whether they can trust individuals with whom they interact online and how they can convey their own credibility.  With regard to Wikipedia, both youth and adults alike viewed the site as an effective starting point for research and reliable for basic information, but not an end point for things like school assignments.  With regard to the issue of personal credibility, more teens displayed extreme views than adults.  For example, when asked whether it would be okay to meet an older teen known via online gaming, responses varied from yes to never to perhaps given certain conditions.
  • Authorship and Ownership: With regard to illegal downloading, adults were generally against it, while the teens came out in favor (it’s easy to do and doesn’t cost anything).  With regard to the meaning of creativity in the digital age, teens were highly conscious of the need to give credit to original creators.
  • Participation: Many teens thought deeply about their behavior towards others, but many viewed participation as responsibility only to themselves (e.g., keeping themselves safe by not giving out personal information). With regard to cyberbullying, most teens advised proactive steps to deal with the situation, such as reaching out to parents or friends, but a third of the teens argued for ignoring the bullying (i.e., they felt a lack of agency in being able to respond). In terms of civic engagement, both teens and adults expressed optimism about the potential of the Internet to effect positive change in the world – connecting people and information, building support to address social problems, etc.

Moving Forward:

• Create open spaces: It is important to create a space where conversation is valued and where participants feel safe sharing opinions and experiences.
• Ask the right questions: Ask questions that are relevant to the lives of both young people and adults – don’t skew the conversation one way or another.
• Be inclusive: Ensure that diverse voices have equal weight in the conversation.  Value those with lower levels of comfort with technology as much as those with high degrees of fluency.  Most importantly: value teen voices as much as those of adults.
• THE MAIN THING: Have these types of conversations.  The ethics of digital life must be co-created by adults and young people, and in communities as opposed to on the individual level. Achieving an age of ethical digital citizenship will not happen through adults prescribing behavior, nor through self-navigation and negotiation by teens, but rather only through an intentional meeting of the minds.