Yes+to+Regulate+Online+Behavior

The Importance of Off-Site Internet School Regulations

 * Introduction **

Social-networking has changed the way that the world communicates with one another. Adults and teens alike are caught up in instant messaging, texting, tweeting, and posting messages on social-networking sites. The June 2009 Nielsen report, //How Teens Use Media//, reported that 50% of American teens use the social-networking site, Facebook (Neilson, 2009). Most teens use social-networking for posting pictures and communicating with friends, however, this is not always the case. There are teens that use this media as a forum for bullying, slandering, and threatening other teens, school faculty, and/or school administration. By the same token, there are also reports of school faculty exhibiting inappropriate behavior via photographs or comments.

Allowing schools to regulate internet behavior of students and faculty that occurs off-site is critical. Not only does this type of behavior create a disruption in the school environment but in the home environments of those involved, as well.


 * Supporters of Off Site Internet School Regulation**

**Schools and Parents Working Together** If schools encourage or use technology in the classroom, they should be allowed to regulate students off site online activity. For example, my daughter was provided a school email account (Gaggle). Because the school issued my child this account, I expected them to monitor and control the internet behavior. While using Gaggle, if a student uses profanity or abuse words, they will be instantly blocked. The school computer technician will be notified and an investigation will be conducted. If the student is found innocent they will regain access but if they are found guilty they will be punished. It does not matter where the incident occurred, the student is still punished.

Those who argue against off site regulation will state that schools should not be involved with students after they leave school grounds. They will also state that students become the sole responsibility of the parents. Sadly, this is not the case. Too often parents are too lenient or misinformed about what their child's involvement is within social networking media. Remember, most offenders of harmful internet behavior, do so outside of school. We must find a way to control this misuse because parents can't do it alone. Ask yourself, if a child is abused at home, should the school get involved even though the abuse is done away from school? If a school becomes aware of an incident regardless of the location, they should have the authority to intervene. A regulation of offsite internet activity is just another tool which sends the message to parents that we are here to assist them.

**Teens and Social-Networking** 

A child's safety should be society's primary concern. With unregulated internet access, children are not being protected. With the increased usage of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, a new kind of threat is emerging. This threat is called cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is defined as, "An aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself" (Cyber bullying, 2010). Children are experiencing bullying from the privacy of their own homes. A 2009 study of students aged 13-18 found that 15% of student had experienced cyber bullying online (Cyber bullying, 2010). Furthermore, cyber bullying is not limited to teenagers. "A study by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids (2006) investigated how often children (6-11 year-old) and teens (12-17-year-olds) had been cyber bullied during the previous year. One-third of teens and one-sixth of the children reported that someone said threatening or embarrassing things about them online" (Cyber bullying, 2010). An alarming number of children are being harassed, taunted, and emotionally abused because the internet is unregulated. Young children are abusing social networking tools because they are accessing them before they are ready to handle them. A harmless comment made in person may be taken as a joke, but put the same words online, and misinterpretations lead to unintended, sometimes deadly consequences. Children don't think about consequences. They are too young to handle unlimited, unregulated online activities. (For more information about cyber bullying and tips on prevention, visit [|Stop the Bullying!])

**Faculty and Social-Networking** With more and more people getting onto social networking sites, it is inevitable that students and faculty will be on the same social sites. These interactions are mostly unknown and unregulated by the school districts. As most school districts are updating their policies on student / teacher interactions online, there have been numerous incidents in which students and teachers have used these social networking sites to have inappropriate relationships (Dakss, 2005). Pamela Turner, a teacher from Tennessee that was incarcerated for having sex with a 13 year old student, set up a MySpace page and made contact with her victim's sister (Dakss, 2005). She was ordered not to use the internet or contact her victim as a condition of her probation. While interactions between teachers and students online can be beneficial and appropriate, without regulating these interactions our students may be placed in unsafe situations. It is important for schools to regulate the internet to protect both the teachers and the students in these situations.

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There have also been many instances of teachers posting information about their personal life, provocative pictures, or inappropriate remarks about teaching on their facebook page. School districts nationwide are beginning to take action. A teacher in Wake County Schools, Greensboro North Carolina was suspended after posting derogatory remarks about her students, the south, and Christianity (Ewig, 2010). Two teachers in Charlotte, North Carolina will possibly be terminated for making remarks about the school district and students (Roldan, 2009). Whether teachers like it or not, they are role models and are under the scrutiny of the public eye. It is part of the job. Some teachers feel that what they do on their own time has nothing to do with how well they perform their professional responsibilities. While this is true to some degree, when students and parents become aware of a teacher’s indiscretions, that teacher loses some of the respect of those students and parents and her teaching may become less effective. "That's why school districts have taken to regulating what teachers do in their free time. A Massachusetts district recently forbade its teachers outright to friend students on Facebook." (Von Lunen, 2010) Whether one feels this is fair or not, the argument can always resort back to the fact that teachers are in a position that is always in the public eye and should be acting in an appropriate manor even when not in school.

**Legal Issues** Although schools can monitor student/staff behavior on social-networking sites, taking action when inappropriate behavior is found is another story. "For school districts to succeed in defending censorship actions, administrators must prove to the court that the behavior in question led to a "substantial disruption" in the school even if it initially occurred off school property" (Shvartsman, 2010). The First Amendment protects both students and teachers, giving them the right to express themselves.

Just because students under the age of 18 are considered minors does not mean that extreme legal ramifications do not apply when social networking media is utilized in an inappropriate manner. Nor does being a minor excuse children from being naive about the legal ramifications with regards to the misuse of social networking sites. For example, sexting, the act of sending a nude or partially nude photograph via a text message (ConnectSafely, 2009) has lead to teenagers (ages 13-19) facing child pornography charges in at least ten different states (Sexting Teens, 2009). In March of 2009, ABC News reported four Alabama middle school boys were arrested for exchanging nude photos of themselves while in New York, a 16-year old is facing 17 years in prison for forwarding a nude picture of his 15-year old girlfriend. Teenagers do not realize that they can be charged for the production, distribution and possession of child pornography just by taking a picture of themselves or another minor, sending it and/or storing the image on their phone, in their email or in other web-based applications. Furthermore, if a pornographic picture of a minor crosses state lines, it could then become a federal felony. (ConnectSafely, 2009).

According to a survey commissioned by The National Campaign in 2008, of 653 teenagers surveyed, 20% of them admitted to either sending or posting a nude of semi-nude photograph or video of themselves. That is equivalent to 131 teenagers! Additionally, this survey found that this number increases as the teenagers hit the young adult group of 20-26 years of age. Thirty-three percent of young adults were found to have been involved in the generating or sending of nude or partially nude images. Out of the 627 young adults surveyed, that is equivalent to 207 young adults. These are alarming numbers! (ConnectSafely, 2009).

**Conclusion** The internet, technology and social networking are not passing fads, they are here to stay. They have become an integrate part of the way we learn, work and communicate. It is clear that children are learning to navigate through it at a faster pace than most parents. As a result, the children are at an even greater risk of exposure to cyber bullying, sexting, cyber sex, pornography and abuse (to name a few). Safe guards must be put in place, to assist the parents and protect the children. Educating the parents along with the children is only the first step. By establishing clear off site internet school regulations: students, teachers and parents will be aware of clear consequences for their actions. Without these regulations, teens and children will be tempted to 'follow the pack' and look to their peers in an attempt 'to try to fit in'. Regulations that are clearly spelled out (with specific educational programs and support through the school) will reinforce their importance and instill in our youth good internet practices that they will have more success in continuing in throughout their lives and careers.

**References:**

1. Associated Press. "MySpace page puts teacher back to jail." Published April 12, 2006. Retrieved November 11, 2010 from [] 2. ConnectSafely. "Online Safety 3.0: On and Off the Fixed and Mobile Internet." October 2009. Retrieved November 11, 2010 from []http://cmuedu653.wikispaces.com/Yes+to+Regulate+Online+Behavior 3. "Cyberbullying." //Stop Bullying Now!// 9 Nov. 2010. []. 4. Dakss, Brian. "Teacher-Student Sex: Another Case?" Published February 9, 2005. Retrieved November 11, 2010 from [] 5. Ewing, B. (2010, February 22). Teachers: use care on social websites. Retrieved on November 12, 2010 from [] 6. Jetshing. "Discourage your child from responding to cyberbullying" picture. Retrieved November 14, 2010 from @http://www.171english.com/?p=1770 7. Nielsen. (2009, June). How teens use media: A nielsen report on the myths and realities of teen media trends [Web blog post]. Retrieved from [] 8. Roldan, M. (2009, August 15). Another CMS teacher faces terminaiton over facebook post. Retrieived November 12, 2010 from []. 9. Shvartsman, S. "Off-campus student speech: Be careful what you post". Retrieved November 13, 2010 from [] 10. The National Campaign. October 2008. "Sex and Tech". Retrieved November 11, 2010 from [] 11. Von Lunen, Jacques. (Oct. 27, 2010). " Schools walk fine line on teachers' use of social media". The Seattle Times. Retrieved Nov 12, 2010 from []