Times Reading Log

"As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up"

Before I read this article I was engaged by the picture of a pretty young girl wearing a leg brace sitting at her computer with her father standing over her.  The caption: saying that she was a victim of online bullying because of her leg brace.

This article is definately a trend piece.  Online bullying is huge and almost everyone can relate now.  The people who are too old to have been victims of online bullying growing up have children who are at risk and the young adults today were the first generation of kids who were bullied online.  During their (my) time in junior high, the media didn't discuss online bullying and it was not often brought up in school.  It was, however, an issue.

The article is engaging be cause it has a narrative lead, telling the story of a child who was a victim of online bullying with a twist.

The twist - this kid was framed to be an online bully himself, a phony facebook page was set up in his name, with sneering comments about peers he barely knew.  Someone had used him as an alias to mask their own cyber bullying.

The article is extremely lengthy, but it empathsizes with parents who don't know how to tread the waters of cyber bullying.  Its more crafty and psychologically savage than schoolyard bullying and parents just aren't as well acquainted with it as their children are.  Its hard for parents to babysit their kids in cyberspace when the child is way more advanced in technology than they are. 

This article was compelling and served as a great example of how to incorporate anonymous sources.