As if I wasn’t anxious enough about baby getting older and leaving our sphere of control, I happened upon this blog post from Steven Parker, MD, WebMD’s pediatrics expert. In it, Dr. Parker shares what he’s learned about the new, technology-enhanced bullying. He lists its most common forms:

• Someone takes a dorky or compromising picture of a child (e.g., in the locker room) on their cell phone and then it gets sent around and around to everyone and his uncle (on their cell phones or email).
• Mean or threatening or humiliating e-mail or cell phone text messages are anonymously sent and distributed to everyone.
• A blog - read by all - posts the question: “Who is the biggest slut in the school” and offers suggestions of whom the winner should be, and why.
• “Text wars” are waged on a hapless victim, inundating him/her with cruel messages, not to mention a horrific cell phone bill.
• Confidential, revealing, embarrassing e-mails are sent all around.
• A fake, horrible e-mail is sent by an impersonator under your child’s name to others.

Reading this stuff breaks my heart. I think sometimes we forget that while children can be innocent and pure, they also can be astonishingly cruel to each other. Just like adults.

This will only become more of a problem in the future, and at some point, I think schools, cell phone companies, law enforcement, etc. will have to do more to curb this kind of behavior. I’m not sure parents can do it alone. In the meantime, I recommend reading the rest of Dr. Parker’s post for ways to prevent this from happening to your child.