Concerns have been rising over cyber-bullying in relation to a number of troubling Instagram pages.

Users are invited to send direct messages to these accounts, which are then screenshotted and reposted with the username removed in order to preserve anonymity.

Posts often contain insults, hate speech or accusations directed at specific individuals.

Though these accounts are often directed at a broader Okotoks audience, context given in individual posts suggests they mainly see usage from middle school to high school-aged students.

Amanda Brown, an Okotoks mother who recently made a post on the subject in a local discussion group, says this kind of activity is particularly troubling given the adverse effect COVID-19 has had on the mental health of countless individuals.

"In a time of COVID-19, friendship and solidarity and support from your peers is especially important. Bullying is something that I find intolerable at the best of times, but now it's especially concerning. Kids need to feel a little love right now."

Aside from the anonymous nature of the pages, Brown says there are countless factors preventing parents from being able to track their kids' activity on social media, the first and foremost being the common usage of alt-accounts.

"Kids, they're very savvy these days, they don't necessarily want to put their identity out there, so they'll have alias accounts. That anonymity makes it difficult for parents to know what other accounts their kids have, and then to monitor those accounts."

She says one positive outcome was the response from fellow parents.

"I was encouraged. I wouldn't say they were shocked to see this kind of thing going on, but they were certainly grateful that it had been brought to their attention, and they were immediate in their actions to try and get this stopped because it's perfectly obvious when you visited those pages that there was a lot of damage being done."

The page Brown referred to in her post has since been removed, along with several other similar pages; likely the result of intervention from Instagram following several reports from concerned residents.

The Director of Learning with Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, Cheryl Kuemper, says the Division is aware of the pages, with schools actively looking into them, as well as their impact on students.

For several years now, Christ the Redeemer has been actively aiming to educate students on issues surrounding social media through their "#Relationships in a Digital Age" initiative.

Kuemper says issues such as this are directly integrated into the program.

"We're looking at current issues related to social media content and infusing them as examples and discussion topics. This current issue of these confession pages might be an example teachers would use to provide context to decisions and things students are faced with, and how to navigate that."

She says the initiative also aims to equip parents with the same information.

"We try and provide information for parents so that they can become aware of some of the topics students are discussing in school. Part of our lesson set includes a parent discussion topic, so parents can choose to have those conversations at home."

It's undoubtedly a tough conversation for parents to start with their kids, though Kuemper says it's a critical one that needn't be confrontational in nature.

"Ask them if they've seen it, or they have any questions about it, how can they help, do they know what to do, has it been about them, has it been about a friend, how can they support each other. I think opening a conversation is one of those important pieces. Kids need to know that they can reach out to trusted adults."

For more information on the initiative, click here.

 

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