Cyber Bullying - The New Epidemic
According to BeatBullying.org, the UK's leading bullying prevention charity, “28% of all teens have been deliberately targeted, threatened or humiliated by an individual or a group through the use of mobile phones or the internet.” Other independent studies report that this number could be as high as 60%. Beatbullying.org also reported that “In the UK, 44% of all young people who take their own lives do so as a result of bullying.” The problem is not just isolated to the United Kingdom however; The United States, Canada, and several other countries are experiencing the growing problem of Cyber Bullying.
There are some strategies that I have gathered from cyberangels.org, BeatBullying.org, and Internetsafety101.org that can help families better deal with cyber-bullying.
1. Encourage your children to talk to you if they feel uncomfortable or threatened online. Keep the lines of communication open and don’ be judgmental.
2. It is ok to snoop. Be aware of your children’s online activity.
3. Watch out for warnings signs, such as reluctance to use the computer, a change in your child's behavior.
4. Tell your family to guard their contact information and not to post anything online that they wouldn't want their worst enemy to find out about.
5. Remind your family that the bullies are the real problem and that there is nothing wrong with the person being bullied.
6. Set your family’s profiles to private and keep track of your online “friends”.
7. Tell the bully, "Stop harassing me. Do not contact me again." After that do not reply to harasser’s taunts online or in person.
8. Save, document and print everything in case the police need to be involved. Some types of bullying are illegal.
True Brad. I think #2 is something parents are hesitant to do, but we forget that one of our first responsibilities as parents is to protect our children - and that includes protection from mental harm.
ReplyDeleteVery good suggestions. Two points: before cyber bullying, there was just plain bullying. The "cyber" medium seems to have more serious consequences than the non-cyber counterpart. What in the cyber medium makes it so? Second, is there a similar set of guidelines when a parent may suspect their child is the cyber bully?
ReplyDeleteDave, I believe what makes it so dangerous is the fact that the cyber medium can carry the humiliation to so many sources at once and that it seeks to take away a child's one safe haven from bullying. They cannot escape the bullying even at home. To answer your 2nd question, that would be a great idea for a follow up article, but in the meantime I found a good article at this URL: http://bullying.about.com/od/Cyberbullying/a/What-To-Do-When-Your-Child-Is-A-Cyberbully.htm
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