As reported inThe Sun-Herald, including Nazi salutes,pro-Hitler graffiti and bullying of Jewish students both online and in person.
This follows revelations last week about Knox Grammar students using chat rooms to share violent misogyny,racism and homophobia and material that bordered on child pornography.
Teenagers need explicit advice on how to deal with racism,sexism and homophobia when it occurs.Getty Images
Psychologist Jocelyn Brewer said the behaviour was shaped by peer groups and many young people found it hard to speak up because they feared being ostracised and she teaches parents specific skills to counter this.
“Parents can support young people to avoid being implicated in these behaviours by having regular,clear and unambiguous conversations about racism,sexism and homophobia etc and discussing how to respond to certain situations like the ones mentioned,” Brewer said.
“We need a menu of actions or responses to follow in certain situations to help us act according to our values and what’s right - just like a pilot or paramedic might have a checklist or guide for certain situations.”
Susy Lee,the author ofRaising Kids Who Care,said the process starts with parents role-modelling empathy by ensuring children feel cared for.
She suggests parents should consider whether their children know people from other cultures,and perhaps rectify that by inviting more diverse friends over for dinner. She also advises parents not to discount the role of good fiction in helping children understand the world from new perspectives.
Lee said children of any age need to be involved in setting boundaries around technology use,but the approach needed to change as children grew older.
“We expect our primary-aged kids to follow family rules,but teenagers increasingly become responsible for their own behaviour,” she said. “This means having good conversations to help them become empowered about their technology use.”
Brewer said humans behave differently in groups and technology facilitates communication that is less inhibited,because of the lack of eye contact,the sense of anonymity,and the removal from reality.
She said the question of what technology boundaries should be in place depended on the young person’s capacity - such as their impulsivity and self esteem - but parents also needed to be able to hold tough conversations,model effective communication and demonstrate their own healthy tech-use habits.
Brewer suggested parents could use a similar approach to a driver’s licence system,where there is a clear progression from back-seat driver to learners to red provisional,then green provisional to full licence,and ways to remove privileges if the rules are not followed.
When parents discover their children are involved in this behaviour,both experts said it was best to be transparent and open with the school,which would have established procedures.
Brewer added that the eSafety office had best-practice toolkits for how to respond,while sometimes the child,whether victim or perpetrator,might need a psychologist to help them deal with the fallout.
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