KATV Channel 7 - The Spirit of Arkansas: Kids and Formspring.Me

The old fashioned game of truth or dare is being modernized in a new website that's attracting a lot of attention from teenagers.  The website is called Formspring.Me.  It generates nearly 10 million posts a day and attracts more than 23 million users... a third of whom are kids ages 13 to 17.  School administrators say the site is taking bullying, online, to a different level.  According to an article published in Education Week, Formspring is one of the latest challenges for school counselors and administrators because kids can post taunts and jabs anonymously.  One pediatrician describes bullying as power without compassion.  When one kids perceives himself or herself to be more powerful than another kid and they use that power in a way that is harmful to others.  Recently at the White House Conference on Bullying, a partnership between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Formspring was announced to develop rules and responses for students using social networks.  They say parents shouldn't prohibit their kids from interacting online, but they do need to monitor their behavior and set up ground rules.  They say you need to set up a family, online guideline for behavior.  Then, you need to make sure your children are following those rules on a daily basis.