After an eventful 5 months full of hard work, dedication and willingness to stand UP to this very important cause, the 15 NO BULL nominees have been selected! “It has been incredible working with all of the teens over the last several months. Their ability to spread awareness and courage using the power of social media and film is a powerful thing that can create real change at the grass-roots level. The NO BULL Challenge platform is free to all U.S. middle and high schools, and is easily accessible to every student and school.” commented Shawn Edgington, the Founder and President of the Great American NO BULL Challenge.
Congratulations to:
Spencer Agren of Gunnison, UT – Producer of “One Text”
There’s nothing more urgent in today’s schools than bullying, and there’s a must-see documentary premiering in select theaters on March 30th that powerfully speaks to the growing epidemic titled Bully. Bully tells the gut-wrenching stories of several children who were victimized by classmates in such a relatable way, that you will find yourself wanting to reach out from your seat to help them. Chances are that the only way your child will get to see Bully is if you or another adult takes them because of the R rating the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) gave the film. Unfortunately, the rating has handcuffed the film from being seen in schools due to a very small amount of language in the film.
I was asked to screen Bully earlier this month so I could support the cause of reversing the R rating to PG-13. I invited teens, parents and an officer of Formspring to attend the screening with me, so I could get a strong sense for the film’s content from three different perspectives. I must admit, I went into the film thinking I was going to keep track of the number of “F” bombs that were dropped. I was wrong in a very big way. Twenty-five minutes into the film, I found myself searching for the reason for the film’s R rating. When it was over, all we could do was shake our heads as to what a disservice the MPAA did to such an important issue and film. I’m a conservative parent of teens, an anti-bullying advocate, a bestselling author and a mother who’s experienced both bullying and cyberbullying first-hand. I’m also a firm believer that every parent, educator, administrator and teenager needs to see this film, which brings me to the larger problem.
Many parents and educators think that bullying is a tired social problem that won’t go away and is part of growing up. Even worse, many adults don’t take cyberbullying seriously, and have yet to take the time it takes to understand the long-lasting damage it can cause.
What I’m referring to is sextortion: sexual blackmail of children and teens online just like you. Because most teens are extremely trusting, especially when it comes to social networks, you’re an easy target, which makes this an even more difficult trend to stomach.
Here’s how sextortion works: Online predators, ex-boyfriends or frenemies get a hold of inappropriate photos or videos of you by way of email, text, hacking, social networks or chatrooms, and then threaten complete humiliation if they don’t get what they ask you for. These criminals threaten they will post or send the inappropriate content to your parents, friends, family, teachers, coaches or bosses, make demands for money, or even threats of physical harm. SCARRY!
Sextortionists are experts at getting what they want, knowing that teens will be too afraid to tell anyone what’s happening to them, especially their parents, leaving them in the driver’s seat to get exactly they want. Children and teenagers just like you can quickly become trapped in a silent cycle of online sexual exploitation, every parent’s worst nightmare.
The buzzing’s of social media harmonize through symphonic typings of text messages, late night tweets, and clattering clicks on red notification tabs. This technologic tune hacks into Facebook bars, and regenerates the Twitter-sphere’s teasing and toxic rotation. Teenagers dance along to the beat of stumping statuses, and become pleasurably distracted by streaming entertainment. The zooming gushes of high speed access, and innovative inventions have charged the social media’s powerhouse, ultimately creating an empire that reigns supreme and unsurpassed.
Over 350 million users spend twenty minutes navigating Zuckerberg’s social networking site daily. 25 million of his Facebook fans engage in polyamorous relationships with Twitter, Tumblr, and Myspace for an additional 2,400 seconds throughout the duration of the week. This savvy time sinker is primarily booming due to its accommodating convenience. There are more than 180 mobile operators in 60 different countries that promote social networking products, including downloadable apps.
Leaving teenagers free to suppress their superficial needs, while becoming professional prowlers of the World Wide Web can be cause for concern. Although social media has proven to be reliable in terms of defeating chronic boredom, blogging, chatting, instant messaging, texting, emailing, surfing, and streaming are temporary fixers that often result in the sabotage of daily responsibilities.
Hey, if your reading this my name is Joel, unlike other teenagers that are my age I choose to not have a Facebook. Everyone my age at one point has been asked the inevitable question, “Can you add me as a friend?” Status, friendship, the family gossip mill and wanting to share our thoughts constantly, what is it that makes social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook so appealing to teenagers?
To find out why teenagers find Facebook and other social networking sites are so popular, I went straight to the source and interviewed some of my friends at my high school.
I go to a relatively small private Christian school in Kissimmee, Florida called Life Christian Academy. With around one hundred and twenty kids in my high school, the social scene is pretty much the same as any other high school, rumors, drama, the usual. So to find out better why teens use social networking I put on my best Bryan Williams impersonation and headed off. In total, I interviewed twelve people, each one of them of a different background, status and age.
Has your child ever been the victim of cyberbullying? If not, the odds are pretty high that one day he or she will be. The sad fact is 50% of teens admit to being bullied onlineor by text message.
Today’s youth are falling victim to the perils of social media and cell phone messaging. And most parents are WITHOUT the tools to help their kids. Are you one of them?
Introducing The Parent’s Guide to Texting, Facebook, and Social Media: Understanding the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World by Shawn Marie Edgington. All royalties from today’s sales of this book will be donated to the Megan Meier Foundation to protect children from cyberbullying as well as great cyber safety bonus gifts with today’s $10.00 purchase on Amazon!
The Parent’s Guide just got reviewed by BookReview.com and received and EXCELLENT Rating by Liz Dederich!
Reviewed by:Liz Dederich
The Parent’s Guide to Texting, Facebook, and Social Media: Understanding the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World is a terrifying book. I say terrifying because it very clearly illustrates the dangers our children are facing now with the ease of access to the internet. I am old enough to remember the days of having to put the hand set of the corded phone into the cradle attached to the computer, walk away to have dinner, take a bath, read the newspaper and come back to find I’m still not quite online. Now everything is instant. Hand held gaming systems, smart phones and even television satellite packages connect without even the push of a button.
It seems like a new sexting story is in the news every other week. Sadly, despite the highly publicized devastation these incidents cause, teens continue sexting. Another such case recently hit the news recounting the story of an eighth grader who sent a nude picture of herself to her boyfriend. In less than 24 hours, the picture had gone viral in four local middle schools in Olympia, Washington. The county prosecutor charged three students with the dissemination of child pornography, a Class C felony. Not only was the girls ex-boyfriend, but his friend and the girls best friend. Many parents and students were surprised by the legal issues raised. (Read full article here)
Shawn Marie Edgington is America’s leading Texpert, a cyberbullying prevention expert and your go-to cyber safety mom. Shawn’s the author of Read Between the Lines: A Humorous Guide to Texting with Simplicity and Style, and the new bookThe Parent’s Guide to Texting, Facebook and Social Media, the creator of the One-Click Safety Series and the founder of The Social Media Academy. She’s the CEO of a national insurance firm, where she provides risk management to clients across the country.
Casey Heynes, a 16 year-old Australian, was repeatedly picked on by his peers at school for being overweight. Last week he finally had enough. He stood up to his bully, throwing him to the ground, which was caught on video and ignited a debate on the issue of bullying and how it is handled. View the video at here Casey Haynes bodyslams bully richard gayle
The video demonstrates how Casey picked up his bully and slammed him to the ground. Both Casey and the bully have been suspended from school. Many people are outraged by the punishment Casey has received at his attempt to fight back and stand up to his bully. An Anonymous message sent to the school read “We have had enough of this bigotry. They failed at providing a violence-free environment for their students, and when Casey took things in his own hands they bitchslapped him for defending himself.”
Is it right that both boys were suspended from school? Why didn’t bystanders try to stop the abuse? What can schools do to prevent this sort of situation?
Most parents’ that live in Northern California (Silicon Valley Headquarters) tend to be pretty tech-savvy and ”in the know.” But, I’ve been surprised to find out that most parents are just the opposite when it comes to Facebook and how their children use this powerful social network.
And, I’m totally shocked that most parents’ have no idea that Facebook requires kids to be at least 13-years-old to sign up. And then talk about a shocker – it’s not unusual that parent’s didn’t realize that once asked, they find out that their 10-year-old already has a Facebook page, has already friended their 289 friends, and posted all of their pictures and videos… and let’s just add fuel to the fire – they also put their name, address and phone number AND forgot to set their privacy settings to private. YIKES!
Forgot? Maybe that’s a bad choice of words. Really, there child was never told by their parents (or anyone else) what to do and what NOT to do when it came to belong to a social network.
