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Heralding the Omega Point: pt1-Chardin and the Noosphere
A analysis of the emerging global mind
With the convenience of modern telecommunications and cyber technology, it is now possible to interact and communicate with anyone in the world instantly. The distance gap between people has been closed...
How Tapping The Goodness Within Attracts Positive Change
If your life is difficult--if it's challenging, exasperating, and vexatious-- then it's time to tap the goodness within.
Your life can be another way--if you let it be. At some point, you simply decided that it was impossible to be happy. From...
How To Dance With Life
Fortunate, indeed, is the man who takes exactly the right measure of himself,and holds a just balance between what he can acquire and what he can use.~Peter Latham (1789-1875)
In the Chinese philosophy of Taoism, right action and right living...
It Won't Grow Back Tomorrow
I remember clearly the day that I had my ultrasound, and the technician informed my husband and I that we had a baby girl on her way to join us in this world. That very day, my husband made clear that our daughter would not get a haircut until she...
Paradigmatic Parallels - part 3 - Morphic Resonance
A morphogenetic description of reality
As we move forward into the techno society of the future, it is important to realize that the rights of the individual are paramount. We should not be swept away into the mind dulling sheepish attitude...
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Tech Abuse and Your Child: What You Can Do
New technology brings new ways to stay in touch and guard your child's safety but it also brings new ways to steal, cheat, bully, act irresponsibly, and harm others.
Bullying via camera cell phones and Internet is an international problem and misuse starts younger than you might imagine. BBC reports that one in nine 5-9 year olds has a mobile phone, and over a third of primary school children with mobile phones have received name-calling text messages. 10% have received threats at the level of “bullying”.
CAMERA CELLPHONES
Preteens and teens use cell phone cameras to photograph peers and humiliate them over the Internet, such as photographing a student naked in the locker room. Text messages are also used for harassment and cheating on exams.
Legislation is starting about the privacy aspects of such photography, beginning with restrictions on federally-owned land. The private sector is also swinging into action. The YMCA in Australia has forbidden the use of cellphone cameras in their facilities.
IDENTITY THEFT
You should also be aware that someone standing near you at the checkout counter with a cell phone could photograph your credit card and have access to all the information.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
While we all wait to see if social norms will develop regarding the use of cell phones, what do you think? Personally, I wouldn’t count on it or it would already have happened. Here are some things you can do:
1.Be proactive.
Work with school officials about bullying. Ray Hughes, violence prevention coordinator with the Thames Valley District School says a classroom or seat change can help the bullied, and bullies need consistent non-violent enforcement of consequences for their actions both at home and at
school.
2.Work to establish Emotional Intelligence programs at school and at work that teach respect and social norms.
3.Observe good manners with your tech equipment and teach your children that with privilege comes responsibility.
Pay attention, do your job and supervise. One middle schooler given a cell phone quickly racked up a bill over $1,500.
Establish rules with your child or teenager and enforce them. Don’t allow your children to have computers in their bedrooms, teach them respect for others, and educate them in the use of any potentially harmful object (just as do bikes, microwaves, power tools, electric knives, gas grills, guns and cars).
Go over what bullying is and make direct inquiries of your child. Here is a list of symptoms of both bullied and bully - http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2003/09/02/174030.html . It's considered the preferred bullying method of girls, BTW.
4.Get informed.
Know as much as your child does and monitor. For instance, you can check on cheating and bullying by clicking into the phone’s text messaging history.
5.Speak up and teach your child to.
School officials say 85% of bullying occurs when there is only a peer present. Both school bullying and work bullying ( http://www.webstrategies.cc/mobbing.htm ) rely on the victim remaining silent.
About the Author
©Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc . Coaching, distance learning, and ebooks around emotional intelligence for your continued personal and professional development. I train and certify EQ coaches. Get in this field, dubbed “white hot” by the press, now, before it’s crowded, and offer your clients something of real value. Start tomorrow, no residence requirement. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for free ezine.
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