The Dark Side of the Web and Life as a teenager

A couple of days ago I've heard a story of a girl who was so bright and talented it got on some of her classmates' nerves so much, she had to be moved to another class because they couldn't stop hitting and insulting her. When she finally entered a high school famous for being open only to super bright kids she found friends. I thought - I'm so glad I'm a twentysomething, I don't ever want to be a teenager again. 

You know how some teachers say that what's keeping them young is hanging out with young people everyday? Well, welcome to the dark side of being kept young. According to the linked infographic in the US 75% of bullying cases go unreported, 77% of kids face bullying of some sort and a child is being bullied every 7 minutes. In the UK 85% of kids have witnessed bullying of some sort. 

On the world scale 200 million young people 

are bullied every year. 

That means every year a population of Croatia,
4 290 612 people*
individually go through either 
hitting,
threatening,
taunting,
malicious teasing,
name-calling,
receiving unsolicited sexual remarks,
being maliciously gossiped about, 
having their belongings destroyed, 
OR
being excluded or rejected by their community
46.61 times. 
That's once every 7.83 days.

Here's a great post by Ana Cristina Pratas on how to keep "being kept young" an asset. If you're a teacher or a parent, you'll have to deal with it sooner or later.  

And remember: Read blogs. Read lots of them, because there's an ocean of knowledge out there that might take you to places you've never even dreamed of.

All my love,

Do

*According to the the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings of 2011 first results by settlements by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, as retrieved on 3 November 2012.

Wield your words wisely

I'm very happy to report another anti-cyberbullying campaign has begun in Croatia. There has been some word about cyberbullying here with the UNICEF's Prekini lanac campaign, but for some unfortunate reason http://www.prekinilanac.org/ is down. I believe cyberbullying is one of those never ending issues with the increasing importance the world wide web has in everyday lives and education.

So, dear ex-Yu-languages speaking colleagues you can read all about the new campaign started by and association of young people called Medijska Tvornica here and here. And there are also two videos available, one of which will start if you click play in one, two, three...



Speak about it, spread the word and raise awareness. It's important kids learn that posting/revealing something online is no less real than a slap in the face.

Shine everyone!
Dora