Valley parents and educators learn about cyberbullying during special presentation at Burchell High School

WASILLA — Richard Crisostomo, A Valley resident and University of Nevada-Reno doctorate student, gave a special presentation about cyberbullying at Burchell High School on Tuesday.

Crisostomo offered parents, guardians and educators an informative glimpse at the very real issue that’s perhaps more common than traditional bullying for this current generation and next, who never have nor ever will know life without the internet.

Burchell High School principal Shelli Lincoln said this presentation offered useful information for parents and educators alike to know what to keep an eye out for when it comes to cyberbullying amongst their children and students.

“Because, cyberbullying is probably the most prevalent form of bullying for kids nowadays, you know? Old school bullying, it’s tangible, right? You can see it, you can feel it if it’s physical. You hear it. But, it’s a silent predator, cyber bullying,” Lincoln said.

Lincoln said that students in this current generation have never known a world without the internet and social media interactions. She said people can have two personas now, one is their public face and the other is their internet personality. This can come in the form of an avatar for gaming or tag names for social media accounts.

A majority of cyberbullies create all new names and personas unrelated to their real life counterparts when they spend a couple hours trolling the net.

This isn’t to say all cyberbullying is done with an alter ego, since countless individuals have a tendency to be bolder and more quick to judgement when they post their outrage comments on their friends’ and public feeds.

From angry crime victims to overzealous keyboard warriors, there’s no short supply to cyber harassment and flame wars in this day of age, acting with or without a real name. It’s the fact that there’s a disconnect, a physical separation that makes people more likely to act differently and perhaps more aggressive than they would in everyday life, according to Lincoln.

“We tend to be more brave online which means we can be more mean right?” Lincoln said. “I know at our school, a lot of the bullying issues we deal with come across in social media.”

The main thing that stood out from Crisostomo’s presentation to Lioncoln was the fact that the symptoms of both the “bully” and victim were vastly similar. There is hesitance to talk about their social media life, social withdrawal, and issues with emotions.

“Some of the symptoms can umbrella,” Crisostomo said.

Lincoln said that while the times have changed, the cause for a kid to become a “bully” often stems from significant abuse prior to their own abusive actions, much like the more time tested notion of traditional bullying, a vicious cycle.

“We always say that the biggest bully has probably been bullied pretty hard,“ Lincoln said.

This presentation is part of Crisostomo’s doctorate project and his overall goal was to address and educate the various forms of cyber bullying that includes both the victim and perpetrator’s symptoms for parents and educators to recognize in everyday life.

His goal was also to provide helpful information for local and national resources to offer tools to combat the prevalent problem in today’s ever growing technological/social media driven society. He said that active parenting with a watchful eye on their children’s internet habits are the most important ways to address the issue.

“Don’t be afraid to bring it up with your children… Try to be as involved as you can,” Crisostomo said.

One of Crisostomo’s main goals for the presentation was to show local Valley residents resources they can use to address cyber bullying- for both victims and perpetrators.

Contact Mat-Su Valley reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com

Local resources:

Matanuska Susitna Borough School District Tip Line: matsuk12.us/domain/6944

MSBSD app

Alaska Internet Circles of Safety: akla.org/safety/parents/cyberBullying.html