By Michael Cronin
Both Nancy Frates and Judith Cronin encountered situations where adults were bullying others online.
Frates, a real estate manager, patrols facebook too see what her employees may say about the company.
“I decided to create a Facebook page after one incident involving rude and unnecessary comments written online by one of my former employees,” she said. “I was shocked when I was shown what was posted. It was completely inappropriate. He was saying very nasty things about the company.”
The employee was fired.
Business owner and managers such as Frates are turning to social media sites to check on what workers say outside office hours.
“After that incident, I made a page, just in case we have another incident like this,” Frates said.
Pew Internet reports that only about five present of adults on social networking sites say they see hateful things posted, but according to few, the percentage is much greater.
Cronin, the executive director of the Beverly Sterling Center YMCA and recent Facebook user, said her organization got rid of a worker off of an incident through e-mail.
“We had to let go of an employee that was not particularly holding the standards of our company,” Cronin said.
The employee sent three e-mails to parents of the children in her gymnastics program. making negative comments on the parents overall attitudes during their gymnastics’ meets.
“She sent one during the morning, one during the afternoon and one around closing,” said Cronin. “Once we got wind of the first email, we were going sit her down and talk to her, but she kept sending more and more progressively angry e-mails throughout the day.”
After the third e-mail, Cronin fired the gymnastics instructor.
“She was quite angry about being let go,” Cronin said.
It didn’t stop there. The woman ranted about the YMCA on Facebook, and wrote on the young gymnasts’ pages about employees and how the organization was run.
Overall, Cronin and Frates said most people are respectful online.
“I am treated very well, said Frates “My generation uses Facebook to catch up with old friends, reconnect and talk about each other’s families. I also use Facebook for my business by advertising people and products.”
In another study by Pew Internet, 88 percent of teenagers 12-17 have seen people saying hurtful things and bullying on social networking sites.
Alex D’Alfonso, a sophomore at Beverly High School, recalls fellow students making a Facebook page to say mean and hurtful things about another student.
“The school shut it down very quickly,” said D’Alfonso.
Morgan Turnbull, a senior at Needham High School, has also seen some online bullying in her school. Unlike D’Alfonso, they were just passing comments and not a group singling out one person.
“They would just call each other names on Facebook,” said Turnbull.
Why do so many people choose online sites in order to express outrage?
“Bullying is common when parents raise their children with very little boundaries or limits. They feel like they can do whatever they want without permission. They could also learn it from parents if they grow up in that environment, or to do it for a sense of power and control in their lives.” said Matthew A. Portadin a Doctor of Psychology at North Easton Psychological Associates. “People choose to bully online because it’s just easier. So many young people are good at technology and it is a way to boost your own social status amongst peers. It is also safe, because you can do it without saying it to their face. Someone could make a fake account so it can’t be traced back to the person. ”
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