How to Help Kids in the Digital Age: Part 2

Apr 30, 2014, 10:16 PM

The Social Network Show welcomes back Dr. Elizabeth Englander for the April 30, 2014 episode.

This is the second part to the show that was posted on April 28, 2014 and Dr. Englander continues to give needed advice to parents and other adults on how to teach kids online safety and safer behavior in the digital age. Dr. Englander points out that although the technological solutions offered to stop cyber abuse are important, prevention of these behaviors are even more important. She stresses that the resources should be put toward educating young people in this digital age. Listen to the show to hear what she thinks about the "zero tolerance" idea for schools; what she thinks of peer pressure and its role in online behavior; hear how she responds to a child that says, "but everyone is doing it"; listen to what she says about how to teach kids to interpret other people's behavior; and her comments on kids who are worried about their reputation.

Dr. Elizabeth Englander, is a professor of psychology and the director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University. The Center offers anti-violence and anti-bullying programs, resources and research for those in Massachusetts. Dr. Englander is also the author of Bullying and Cyberbullying: What Every Educator Needs to Know (Harvard Education Press; October 2013).

Dr. Elizabeth Kandel Englander graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with Phi Beta Kappa and High Honors, and completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Southern California as an All‑University Merit Fellow.  After being awarded a National Institute of Mental Health Research Service Award to study at the University of New Hampshire, she started teaching in the State University system in Massachusetts and is now a professor of Psychology. She was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to found and direct the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, which delivers free anti-violence and anti-bullying programs, resources, and research to K-12 Education. Dr. Englander’s research and publications are nationally recognized and she was named Most Valuable Educator of 2013 by the Boston Red Sox because of her work in technological aggression and how it interacts with peer abusiveness in general. She was the Special Editor for the Cyberbullying issue of the Journal of Social Sciences, and has authored about a hundred articles in academic journals and books.  She is the author of Understanding Violence, and of Bullying and Cyberbullying: A Guide for Educators, recently released by Harvard Press. She has written three research-based curricula and many educational handouts for communities and professionals. Reflecting her interest in educating laypeople, Dr. Englander has answered questions in a column for the New York Times (online edition), and she writes the column Bullying Bulletin Board, which is syndicated by Gatehouse Media in hundreds of newspapers nationwide.