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Warning Signs: Is Your Child Having Cyber Issues?

by Elizabeth Wasserman

After Mary Clark watched a recent episode of the Dr. Phil show about teens using the Internet to bully or threaten other kids, the Fairfax, Va., mother sat down with her 14-year-old daughter, Katie, for a heart-to-heart. They discussed the dangers that lurk online. Her daughter even told her about being invited to join a social networking group that was set up to ostracize a more awkward, less popular student -- something Katie had refused to do.

"Kids always get picked on," Clark says. "This is just a more blatant way to do it -- and it's a worse way to do it because everyone else knows."

So-called cyber bullying has become the new version of beating someone up at the bus stop, but online, it's more under the radar. The Internet is now akin to a bathroom wall, where teens can write graffiti about one another -- often anonymously. Teens use social networking sites to marshal forces against other students. Though cyber bullying is one hot-button issue kids could face online, there are others. For example, teens break up with each other by changing the relationship status on their personal page, so all their friends can see. Or they discover they weren't invited to parties when they see a video of the party on the Web featuring friends who made the cut.

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