Arizona State trying to make a positive impact by creating an app to keep children safe from Cyberbullies!

Despite an unfortunate and embarrassing incident involving an ASU fraternity last week, I decided to redirect the negative and introduce you to the greatness that comes out of the university. ASU students have come together to create an app that can help parents monitor cyber bullying on Facebook. According to the website, BullyBlocker is a app designed to prevent cases of adolescents being cyberbullied on Facebook, BullyBlocker alerts parents of potential cases where their child may be a victim of this form of online aggression. Indeed, over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and well over half of the victims do not tell their parents when cyberbullying occurs. Addressing this epidemic, BullyBlocker gauges at-risk adolescents who are most emotionally vulnerable by using a combination of computer science coupled with psychology research. After being granted various permissions, BullyBlocker extracts information from the child’s Facebook data to be analyzed for signs of cyberbullying. (excerpt from website)
The students raised some funds to execute the project through crowdfunding sites which have since ceased but you can still contribute to their cause by visiting http://asufoundation.org/bullyblocker.
For more information on BullyBlocker visit https://asu.useed.net/projects/99/home

It is important as parents to monitor your child's social media activity to avoid problems. Every parent that allows their children to possess cell phones, iPads, computers etc. needs to be proactive and know pass codes for these devices and actively check and monitor activity. There is no such thing as invasion of privacy if you are paying the bill and a responsible parent of a minor. In addition to monitoring, education on appropriate use and reporting crimes or misuse is necessary. My child knows I check her phone and internet activity and she accepts it if she wants to stay online.

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