In brief – Schools must work to reduce risk of
both cyberbullying and litigation
Schools need to respond to advances in technology and be
vigilant to minimise cyberbullying. They also need strategies to
guard against cyberbullying litigation.
Cyberbullying evolves with children's use of
Facebook, YouTube, mobile phones and laptops
Facebook has 483 million daily users. An hour of video is
uploaded onto YouTube every second. Seventy five per cent of 12-17
year olds have mobile phones. Smart phones - phones with internet
capacity - account for nearly 50% of all mobile phones in
Australia. Wi-Fi is everywhere - often free.
Increasingly, school children are issued laptops by their
schools. Ninety six per cent of 12-14 year olds use the internet at
home or school. (See Parental
involvement in preventing and responding to cyber bullying, Child
Family Community Australia (CFCA) Paper No 4, 2012, p2.)
