Should Parents Be Able For Cyberbullying Summary

Should Parents Be Legally Responsible for Their Children’s Cyberbullying Crimes

According to a recent study as stated on nobullying.com, “ only one out of every six parents of adolescents and teens are even aware of the scope and intensity involved with cyber bullying”(“No Bullying”, 1). In today’s society, cyberbullying has become a more frequent form of harassment than traditional bullying. Due to the surplus of technology and the wide access that young people have to the internet and social networking, cyberbullying has become the preferred form of tormenting others without actually performing the act in front of the person. Thus speaking, cyberbullies are able to get their messages out into the public faster than by word of mouth

She wrote her article based upon O’Mara’s drafting of a bill that would hold parents accountable for their children’s cyberbullying. Eaton states within her article that it is not only ridiculous but also highly unrealistic where parents have to make a distinction to which household items are dangerous and which are not, such as baseball bats or computers. She also points out that though parents tend to be unmindful towards what their children do upon the internet, she feels that their unawareness should not have criminal complications. Eaton feels that by picking out ignorant parents for their obliviousness of their children’s internet activities or cyberbullying, it seems to be more like criminally charging them for bad parenting, which is not a job that the government should be doing (Eaton,

O’Mara feels that parents should become more protective of their children, and if they are not sure how , then perhaps the legislation which will hold them accountable if they refuse to do so will prompt them to take better care of their children and place more attention upon them (O’ Mara, 2). Otherwise, Eaton concludes her article upon a different note; she states that parents should become more informed about the issue of cyberbullying and that legislators should give second thoughts about criminally charging parents for such cases. She mentions that cyberbullying is a relatively new issue which did not exist when the parents were young, so their understanding of the issue is perhaps vague and needs more depth and explanation before fingers should be pointed onto them to take the blame (Eaton,