The Need for Cyber Wellness Program
A cyber wellness program is meant to inform stakeholders of the risks associated with the use of smartphone/mobile gadgets, internet and social media, and equip them with a framework to effectively
- set-up a policy against abuses and guidelines on how to use said tools for value adding purposes (school admin)
- set up procedure on how to handle bullying and cyber abuses, and how to help victims. (school admin)
- develop a curriculum or training program for students, teaching and non teaching staff; and learning session for parents. (school admin)
- use practical approaches to set-up house rules pertaining to internet and gadget use, and engage kids about gaming and social media (parents/guardians)
- avoid online behaviours that will expose users to risks, observe online ethics and practice online safety behaviours (enduser/students)
Why Institutionalise A Cyber Wellness Program?
Firstly, the anti bullying act of 2013 requires primary and secondary schools  to have a bullying seminar for students, parents and teachers.
Cyberbullying is one form of bullying, per law, and one of the risks associated with the use of internet, social media, smartphones and other gadgets.
Offline bullying, compared to cyberbullying is easier to address because the perpetuator can be identified.
Bullying is an offshoot of social engineering, a cyber risk, because a bully can incite his/her classmates and other bystanders to join him/her in harassing the victim, without them realising that they are being used.
And because cyberbullying have different forms and perpetuator can misrepresent his/her identity, its effects is far reaching and more challenging to address. Therefore, dealing with the problem before it happens is way better than after the fact reaction.
Secondly, knowledge about cyber wellness is a growing need among parents. By knowing the what to’s and how to’s when cyber abuse is experienced by a family member, this can greatly reduce stress of the parents involve
At a lost, I met parents and guardians seeking answers, options to take, and immediate help because
- a son was suspended bec. a “topless” picture of his female classmate was shown to him by a friend. The girl gave this pic via snap chat to her crush, but the crush shared the pic to his classmates. The girl thought the pic will self destruct but a screen shot was saved.
- Â Nude pics of a daughter was being circulated on the web. The girl was duped (social engineering) into doing this by an adult male who uses a handsome profile picture.
- Pics of a daughter is being associated to a nude picture and an FB account was set-up specifically to bully her.
- Hate pages are being set-up against a son to showcase his lapses in sports activities in school
- And many similar incidents
And Finally, GR 202666 (Supreme Court Jurisprudence). A resolution in a case wherein students were disbarred from marching on their graduation day because of an online behaviour that violated school policy, underscored the need for schools and parents to work closely in ensuring kids will be responsible users of social media and mobile apps.
It’s my belief that cyber wellness can reduce incidents of abuses because both parents and kids would know how to avoid the risks and report them. And the school would have program to deal with issues pertaining to cyber abuses.
Aside: Below are some of the sessions we have conducted
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Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher 2
Awareness should really be enforced. A lot of people, especially teenagers are aware of cyberbullying, but they seem to shrug it off because they don’t realize how destructive and ugly it can get for a victim. Cyber awareness would definitely have them think twice about what they share and comment online.
At this current generation, cyber bullying is no new to us ~ When I open my social media, there are a lot of grabbed photos used by someone which we usually called “posers” – I hope this awareness program would have an impact so as to minimise the rampant bullying online-
xoxo,
Jaimie of THE MERMAID IN STILETTOS
We should really help others to be aware about cyber bullying. I am also worried about this when the time my kids will use the technology. We are not really sure on what’s out there so the government should really implement the right law for cyberbullying.
Nowadays cyber bullying is not new to us, it is because of the Tv news and make us worried about it, i hope in my future kids will not experiencing this,
I remember I was bullied a lot of times during my grade school and I never told my parents about it. There are fear everytime I go to school knowing these kids will make fun of me. Sad to know that bullying now does exists online. I hope with this cyber wellness education, it will help to lessen the cyber bullying cases here in the country.
As a mom, bullying is a major concern for me. I haven’t thought of this much when I was a kid, but now, I worry about what my son could experience. This will be a hard issue to resolve, but that doesn’t mean it’s an impossible one. I hope the world will be a better place when my son starts schooling.
If there is a petition right now for this, I’ll gladly sign up. With the anonymity that the web offers, kids find it very easy to hide behind an online persona and just unleash such negativity. In my eldest child’s school, they do have a clause in the handbook that explains bullying and how to deal with it in case we believe our kid is experiencing such, but I definitely think they should broaden this to include cyber bullying as well.
hmmm, maybe formalizing our voice thru a petition should be initiated. Thanks @mommykach:disqus
This is one of the things that I hope to instill in my son’s school. They need to be taught this lesson at a very early age so that they can learn to be more responsible.
I think adding this in the school’s curriculum, with proper or effective execution, will help form the Filipino childrens into respectful individuals. Lately, it saddens me how some Filipinos act on social media now that the elections are fast approaching. I think their reactions are blowing out of proportions. Why can’t they just respect the opinions of others?… I just hope this kind of proposal will get approved.
I agree about your points on why schools should have Cyber Wellness on their curriculum. I would recommend parents to be part of this cyber wellness curriculum and discussion. As a Computer Engineer, I believe parents should be knowledgeable on how they could filter contents on the browsers of their computers and on how to use specific tools to block access on sites that can promote nudity, violence or bullying. It’s easy actually. And what to do if they knew too that their kids have accessed these sites already.
With cyber bullying, it can start even from a single funny photo shared over the internet. I guess, avoiding this act should start with schools emphasizing responsibility on posting things on sites and not patronizing bullying. After all, bullying should be discussed on GMRC subject. May I add that students should be taught also on avoiding accessing confidential sites like bank sites, paypal or such when they are using free WIFI. A hacker can easily intercept data over unsecured access Internet thru WiFi, this is so easy especially under the same network.
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I agree on this. I hope Schools can have a Cyber Wellness Education today. What an informative post indeed. Thank you
I agree with most of the points posted however, I believe, even though cyber bullying shouldn’t be tolerated, it is something that is really hard to address. Yes, conducting seminars are good but I believe it’s still the responsibility of the parent to look at or control the kid’s usage of the internet. With the world moving forward into modern technology, everyone, most especially the parents should be able to adapt. In a simple sentence we can say that “Internet is everyone’s responsibility”.
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@maayalegaspi:disqus given the different priorities of parents, what must schools do to involve the parents
I really hope schools can have this cyber wellness education. I think the kids are the most vulnerable and susceptible to the negative impacts of the internet. It’s also good if parents will be able to give support to such kind of program and continue what the school started at home.
Times have indeed changed. These programs would have been unthinkable 10 years ago! But now I think this is now a vital program and should be included in the K to 12 curriculum.
I think the internet is so scary for a parent with children that can go into the cyber world. It’s important as being a parent to know what your children are seeing, but it’s hard to control. When you put only a sexual hashtag in Instagram, you get so much bad pictures that I’m not sure if my children would be allowed to have Instagram. http://www.sofarsosabine.com
This is the need of the hour indeed. Although my kids are too young to face any of it as of now. I am sure by the time they grow up things would have changed for the worse. Would love to learn more and champion this in India
Informative post and definitely a must read. It should really be included in the school curriculum/program. I have a lot of friends who have experienced cyber bullying. From people creating fake accounts of them, to hate messages and everything in between. Back in the day, when only a few social networking sites abound, it was simpler. but now identity theft and scams are even more of a risk than ever.
Cyberbullying is definitely one of the most alarming issues that our country is facing today and something that government should not be ignored… now that almost everyone from all walks of life has the access to the internet .. parents should be more aware and guide their kids about the cyber world and it s possible consequences if it is not used properly
Great post here. This is definitely a concern that must be well addressed.
Children especially should be educated about the internet. Back when I was in high school in the Philippines, it was friendster/myspace days, there was a lot of cyber bullying going around. People were creating fake accounts and photshopping images of classmates making them look like they’re doing crazy and inappropriate stuff.
The damage that could be done from cyber bullying is definitely real. Good to see that there are cyber wellness programs. Schools should definitely integrate this into their system. I truly believe it should be a given in this century.
Thanks for sharing.
Cyber bullying is a serious issue, i’m glad to hear it’s being fought. People don’t realize how big impact it can have on someone, it can even lead to suicide. We all need to do our best to educate ourselves and others on it! Cyber wellness sounds like a great program.
This is such an important topic and one that all schools around the world need educating on! I didn’t grow up in the Internet era, it boomed when I was around 18, but I have heard a lot of people’s children now being bullied via social media and even been instances on the news of children taking their lives because of cyber bullying. If children, teachers and parents alike are educated on such issues then we have a chance to protect our children!
Sonnie,
When I was exploring the different groups on Facebook, I have come across so many fake accounts that uses images copies off someone else. Most were just that, some were really identity thefts meant to dupe other people.
So yes, at this time and age when technology (online) is no longer an option but a necessity and children growing with with access to the internet, the need to be educated on the safety is the same as the need to be educated on how to cross a street!
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