Yzabel / December 18, 2013

Words Wound: Delete Cyberbullying and Make Kindness Go Viral by Justin W. Patchin

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

Cyberbullying among teens happens every day. Harsh words and damaging photos exchanged through texts, email, or social media can result in humiliation, broken friendships, punishment at school, and even legal prosecution. In some cases, online harassment has contributed to suicide. Faced with this frightening problem, parents, educators, and teens are looking for information and advice. But few cyberbullying resources speak to teens themselves.

Written by experts in cyberbullying prevention and reviewed by teens, this book provides strategies for dealing with teenage bullying happening online—such as saving a screenshot of hostile Facebook posts as evidence—as well as for those who have taken part in bullying others. It also presents ways for teens to make their schools and their communities kinder places that are free from online cruelty. This book gives teens the tools they need to keep themselves and others safe.

Review:

(I was given a digital copy of this book through NetGalley, in axchange for an honest review.)

“Words Wound” was a fairly interesting read. As it delves into the topic of cyberbullying (with some forays into what bullying itself is), it offers a lot of insights about what might drive some people to cause such problems to others, and about what one can do to stop such behaviours. The authors clearly speak to a teenage audience, with words easy to understand, yet never taking this audience for idiots either. They encourage readers to take a stand, to show kindness to those who’re in trouble, and/or to voice out their issues to friends and adults if they’re the ones being bullied.

An excellent thing about this book is that it gives some really good advice on technology- and internet-related behaviours. For instance, it enforces the point that when bullied, one shouldn’t react out of anger, because then the bullies themselves could turn the blame on the victims. On the contrary, the authors hand out several tips and solutions: how to take screenshots and gather evidence, among other things, so that one can then feel more confident to bring the matter to an adult. (After all, one of the biggest fears in such cases is to be called a liar, told that you’re “overreacting”, just because the other person doesn’t really get what’s happening.) They also tell how to protect one’s data and privacy on the internet—something that is actually worth for everybody, not only for younger ones. While this latter part may seem evident to some of us, I bet a lot more people actually are at risk (letting access to their phones or computers to others, forgetting to sign out of an account, etc.).

Overall, the book carries a very positive message, also giving examples of teenagers and young adults who stood up for their friends or even for some pupils they didn’t know, by creating associations within schools, organising awareness campaigns, and using internet tools to spread the word, thus showing that such tools can be used for good, too. It tells you: “you’re not alone, you can do something, and there are actually more wonderful people than idiots out there.”