British Government Starts Campaign To Stop Cyber Bullying

The British government is fed up with all the complaints it’s gotten from school kids and their parents about the persistent bullying going on inside the halls of the nation’s educational institutions. Mind you, it’s not the traditional threat of the wedgie that’s got Downing Street on the offense. It’s the kind now done en mass by kid tyrants across the land thanks to the now ubiquitous technological conveniences of Internet-connected PCs and cellular phones.

Yes, the cyber wedgie is what’s got Brown & Co on a new campaign to clean up the digital nonsense perpetrated by the generation of youth which pretty much since birth has learned to live inside a wireless and virtual world.

Interested to know just how prevalent this “high-tech harassment” has become for British schoolchildren? According to research done by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, 34 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds had experienced at least one form or another of cyber bullying.

But it hasn’t remained an issue solely of the concern of only students and parents. Britain’s Association of Teachers and Lecturers has revealed to the government that “nearly one in five of its members had complained of cyber bullying in the last 12 months.”

Not to downplay the importance and even severity of the situation in Britain – bullying, both physical and verbal, can indeed be very damaging – I just can’t help but think this moment ripe for a bit of memorialization of Revenge of the Nerds. If anyone can make the most of this issue and have it’s results turn well into their favor, it is the most technologically adept of the nation’s youth. And who knows, we may see a few Steve Jobs (or at least Steve Wozniak) clones or Sergeys and Larrys emerge from this mess when all’s said and done.

Of course, I don’t in any way seriously option even the thought of anyone maintaining these types of threats and intimidating messages, all of which have grown into such ridiculous abundance in recent years, be they the geeks or the jocks or anyone in between which deliver terrible texts to their peers.

In ways, cyber bullying can be more harmful than the face-to-face variety, as it can quickly and easy stretch far past school grounds and involve a great many “innocent bystanders” very quickly.

Some advice to those using their text messaging thumbs and the powers availed to them by the world of social networks on the Web to taunt others: Yes, it’s easy for you to say those mean, nasty things, but it’s also easy for service providers and database keepers to find out who says those mean and nasty things. (Discounting the use of proxy servers and public terminals, of course. Which most kids, like most adults, don’t bother to use.)

If you want to send terrible messages, do it via more old-school methods that allow you to guarantee yourself some anonymity. Besides, what you’re doing now just makes you look lazy and a probably a tad more pansy-ish than you might like portray yourself to the world at large.