Cyberbullying training held at Taos High
By Olivia Lewis
Dec 11, 2024 Updated Dec 12, 2024
Taos High School students attended a cyberbullying prevention training Friday (Dec. 6) aimed at helping them understand the long-term impacts of online behaviors and ways to seek help.
The event was coordinated by the New Mexico Department of Justice and 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. The session also addressed hazing and is part of a new athletic curriculum headed by Taos Municipal Schools’ Athletic Director Johnny Olguin.
“I wanted to make sure that we jumped up ahead, and I got lucky enough to get District Attorney Montoya and the Department of Justice to be a part of it,” Olguin told the Taos News. “There’s been a lot of hazing incidents at some of the local high schools in the state. A lot of people have lost their jobs, and a lot of kids were hurt. We have to really be ahead of it and make sure we have all of our policies and procedures set in place, so if something does happen, we have guides and a path to follow."
One in five American teens have experienced cyberbullying, according to 2023 data from the Cyberbullying Research Center. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found approximately 41 percent of teens between the ages of 13 and 17 have been harassed or bullied online.
Jenny Bartos, an advocacy and education leader for the New Mexico Department of Justice, discussed different types of cyberbullying with students, including stalking, doxing, sextortion and general online harassment.
“I know it’s scary, but all of this is scary,” Bartos said. “We’re kind of in an age where it’s the worldwide web, but it’s not hopeless. We all play a role in it. We all have a responsibility in it. We all have to be good digital citizens engaged in respectful behavior. Not everybody honors that, so this is just to tell you: Don't lose hope, and there is help available.”
Social media platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, are among those most cited for cyberbullying. In a 2023 survey conducted by the Cyberbullying Research Center, 50 percent of teens said they experienced cyberbullying through social media, as compared to 25 percent reporting harassment through text messages.
According to Bartos, 90 percent of teens post photos of themselves showcasing their daily experiences. Bartos focused on the concept of a digital footprint, a trail of personal information left when someone posts social media posts, photos and tagged GPS locations.
When asked if their accounts are private, almost all students in the room raised their hands. Bartos advised keeping a light digital footprint, be it setting accounts to private or being mindful that nothing deleted from the internet is truly gone.
This becomes critical when it comes to “sextortion,” in which a perpetrator threatens to expose sexual media or information if the victim fails to comply with demands. Bartos recommended a website called Take It Down, a free service that helps remove photos from the internet. The service works by assigning the photo a unique “hash value,” which is shared with participating online platforms that can use it to identify and remove matching images from their sites.
“Because you're growing up in the age of artificial intelligence, images can be created of you,” Bartos said. “Maybe you’ve never shared an explicit image of yourself. If someone has a picture of your face, there’s these ‘nudify’ apps now, right? The app will just remove the clothing and artificial intelligence can create pornographic images of you. When those images get out, remember this resource.”
During the training’s second portion, 8th Judicial District Attorney Marcus Montoya spoke about the role hazing plays on student athletes. While some hazing can encourage camaraderie among sports teammates, Montoya said it’s a "slippery slope."
"Hazing is a form of bullying, and maybe ask yourself those questions,” Montoya said. “Where’s the slippery slope? Where is it? Where does it cross the line, where does it become criminal and where does it become fatal?”
He asked students what hazing means to them.
"It’s when a group of people pressure someone to do something to fit in," one student in the audience answered.
Another student replied, "It’s like a rite of passage to get on the team."
Most students in the room agreed asking underclassmen to fetch water for their teammates didn’t cross the line. Other scenarios, like forcing students to use drugs and alcohol, did.
Lloyd Garcia, a former lieutenant for the Taos Police Department, became an investigator at the district attorney’s office in May.
"It was a big issue," Garcia said of his prior policing experience with hazing and cyberbullying incidents. “It was happening a lot in the schools. We had our school resource officers in the schools trying to prevent that from happening. We had meetings with the administrators to make them aware that this exists, to catch on and try to prevent it.”
He said of the training, “ I think it's good awareness ... They need to know there’s resources to be aware of it and stop it. It does exist, unfortunately; it does exist. It’s happening more and more as social media and technology becomes part of everybody’s life.”
As the training drew to a close, Montoya encouraged students to reach out to those they trust if needed, be it friends, family, teachers or his office.
“You’re not going to be able to entirely eliminate the haters,” Montoya said. “So, maybe try to find mechanisms by how you reinforce and empower yourself and those around you. Because there are ways to be empowered and to be supported, but also to empower and to support. There are ways, so lean on each other for that.”