Cyber-bullying

What can WE do to prevent cyber-bullying?

Social Media causes cyber-bullying. Verbal harassment is the most common form of bullying amongst young people and cyber-bullying is included as part of the criteria of verbal harassment.

Cyber bullying can happen to anyone. Cyber bullying is deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about or to another person. There are 8 main types of cyber bullying:

Gossip: Posting or sending cruel gossip to damage a person’s reputation and relationships with friends and family.

Exclusion: Deliberately excluding someone from an online group.

Impersonation: Breaking into someone’s online account and sending messages that will cause embarrassment or damage to the person’s reputation and affect his or her relationship with others.

Harassment: Repeatedly posting or sending offensive, rude, and insulting messages.

Cyber stalking: Posting or sending unwanted or intimidating messages, which may include threats.

Flaming: Online fights where scornful and offensive messages are posted on websites, forums, or blogs.

Outing and Trickery: Tricking someone into revealing secrets or embarrassing information, which is then shared online.

Cyber threats: Remarks on the Internet threatening or implying violent behavior, displaying suicidal tendencies.

https://internetsafety101.org/tactics

What can we do to prevent it?

Honestly, it is almost impossible to stop bullying but there is a lot we can do to try and prevent it from happening and decrease the number of victims.

Don't respond. If someone bullies you, remember that your reaction is usually exactly what the bully wants. It makes them feel power over you and in control. Who wants to empower a bully?

Don't retaliate. Trying to get back at the bully makes YOU a bully and reinforces the bully’s behavior. Don’t create a cycle of aggression.

Save the evidence. By saving the harassing messages, you now have evidence that you were being bullied and it is easier to get help and make it stop. Even if it is just minor nasty messages now and then, still capture it because things can escalate.

Talk to a trusted adult. You deserve backup. Its always a good idea to involve an adult who is close to you, and a school councilor usually knows how to help. If your nervous about speaking up, you can always report the incident anonymously at school.

Block the bully. If the harassment is coming from texts, profile comments or messages, use the privacy setting on the social networking site and block the bully. 

Be civil. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Even if you dislike someone, don’t sink to their level. Also, research shows that people who gossip about others are more likely to be a target for bullying.

Don't be a bully. How would you feel if someone harassed you? Put yourself in the other persons shoes and think before you act. Even just thinking about how the other person would feel puts a big stop to bullying. No one deserves to be harassed. 

Be a friend, not a bystander. Watching or forwarding mean messages empowers bullies and hurts victims even more. If you can, tell bullies to stop or let them know harassment makes people look stupid and mean. It’s time to let bullies know their behavior is unacceptable – cruel abuse of fellow human beings. If you can’t stop the bully, at least try to help the victim and report the behavior.

Cyber-bullying is not okay. We need to work together and do whatever we can to stop this from happening to innocent people. It's not a nice things and because it is so easy to do we need to make a change. If you see any harsh things being said online, or anything nasty is said to you or about you, report it because it is not okay and needs to be stopped. 

http://www.safeteens.com/tips-to-stop-cyberbullying/