Socia Media Heckling in Games

[NCASAUmp]

I'm going to preface this with the following: I work in IT, and I'm very familiar with being online and all that goes with it. I also used to work for one of the local school districts, and before I graduated, I worked part-time at a private school. In college, I also majored in psychology. So I know a few things about this.

Cyber-bullying is, by its very nature, VERY different from face-to-face bullying. We teach children to walk away from bullies, but an online bully is almost impossible to walk away from. It's VERY easy to find someone online, and once a bully finds you, it's difficult to shake them off.

Yes, words are just words. To us. But to a child who can't process their environment like we can, words can be much more. You and I can dismiss someone else's comments and not let them get to us (otherwise we wouldn't last long in this business). Kids don't have the same abilities we have. That's why they're children: they're growing both physically and psychologically, and we can't expect them to handle things the way we can.

Dismissing any form of bullying, whether cyber or face-to-face, as "BS" is just as dangerous as condoning it.