What: Presentation for parents to help them protect teens, preteens from hazards of MySpace, Facebook

Keynoter: Detective Inez Dudley, Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit. Other panelists: computer teacher, school counselors, Lewiston police officer Bill Brochu

When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19

Where: Lewiston Middle School auditorium

Who’s invited: Parents and interested persons in Lewiston-Auburn area

Cyberbullying
LMS to teach parents how to protect kids

LEWISTON – Like students across the country, Lewiston Middle School students talk to each other in cyberspace, sometimes in scary, harmful ways.

“… thnks 4 bein a backstabbing s–t … u look like a ten yr old that skipped a couple grades. ur default pic is mad ugly cuz u have a huge nose nd that hat looks horrible on u. … just wanted 2 tell u that i really really don’t like u. and if u even try comin near mee in skool 2morro, i’m gunna flip out on u and won’t care if i get suspended 4 it … so remember that next time u talk s–t about me … TALK S–T, GET HIT!! thats just how i roll.”

The above is a real message, turned in by a parent, from one student to another. It’s what officials call “cyberbullying.”

“We want parents to be more aware of the Internet and how their students are using it,” said Lewiston police officer Bill Brochu, the middle school resource officer. “We have a lot of threats, bullying, harassment by means of MySpace (and Facebook).”

In the example above, Brochu called the two students to talk to them. Both looked like innocent girls who wouldn’t use foul language or threats of violence, he said.

Cyberbullying distracts students from focusing on academics and hurts their self-esteem. In a few cases, cyberbullying has led to depression and suicide.

The Lewiston Middle School is hosting a presentation for parents at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the school’s auditorium.

The keynoter is Detective Inez Dudley, a forensics investigator for the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit. Dudley and others will talk about the dangers in using MySpace and Facebook, and what parents can do to keep their children safe.

Used correctly, MySpace and Facebook are positive means for social networking for many people.

“This is my life, come celebrate with me,” said Billy Jo Brito, the school’s aspirations coordinator. But too often it turns to “open season” on kids. “Some of them are being crucified,” she said.

Bad language is used by students “you think wouldn’t know what the language means,” Brito said. “I found students are expressing an aggressive side of themselves through texting, instant messaging and MySpace. It’s really scary to hear them talk about who said what, the fights that are threatened.”

Parents need to be involved, she and Brochu said. “They need to find out if their child has a MySpace page for starters.”

Most middle-schoolers do have a page, and most have cell phones. Cyberbullying is done through texting, but Brochu said he’s more concerned with blogging on MySpace pages. Texting typically is sent to one person at a time, whereas blogging can have a kind of broadcasting effect.

“You can just type it in, hit enter – that message is now put out for everybody to look at,” Brochu said. One harassing note becomes powerful, he said. “It’s received by all the friends of the recipient.”

Compared to the old ways of bullying in person, cyberbullying is impersonal, it’s fast, easy, “and students don’t feel that guilty about it,” Brochu said.

Meanwhile, many parents don’t know what’s going on, officials said. Kids use incredible communication through abbreviation.

“That is the culture,” Brochu said. “Kids are very sophisticated, quite intelligent. They’re far more computer literate than the parents, including myself.”

Wednesday’s session will “hopefully open some eyes to how little we as adults know,” Brochu said. “That’s the danger.”