What If You’re Being Cyberbullied?

According to the accreditedschoolsonline.org/

“Students who are victims of cyberbullying may feel so overwhelmed that they don’t know what they can do about it. Following are some steps they can take to handle these situations and get the help they need.”

Ignore the Bully

Oftentimes, cyberbullies will stop their behavior if their victim just ignores them. Bullies thrive on getting reactions, so students should keep in mind that trying to retaliate with similar behaviors in order to make bullies stop will not work. In fact, responding will most likely escalate the situation and make it worse.

Tell a Trusted Adult

Students should remember that they don’t have to suffer through cyberbullying in silence. When they experience it, they should let their parents know what’s going on so they can get help and emotional support. In addition, telling someone at the school, like a teacher, coach or counselor, can go a long way toward making the abuse stop.

Block the Bully

“The student should immediately block the bully on the platform and any other social media sites with which they are able to contact the victim. Every social media site has a method to block other users. Chances are your kids know how, even if the parents don’t,” Arsenault says. “This prevents the cyberbully from sending any more messages, pictures or videos to the child. In most cases, blocking someone prevents them from being able to locate your profile on the service altogether.”

Change e mail address or phone number

Another way that students can cut off a cyberbully is by changing his or her email address and phone number. This way, the person has no way to get in contact to continue the behavior.

Collect evidence

“Some social media platforms use temporary posts, such as Snapchat, and virtually all platforms allow users to delete their own images and messages, sometimes even those sent privately. Taking a screenshot of the offending post is a record that can be used to substantiate a complaint, even if the bully later deletes the posts in question,” Arsenault says.

Contact Authorities if necessary
In some cases, such as with photos that are considered child pornography, the evidence of cyberbullying is not legal to have, so documenting it will get the student, or his or her parents, into legal trouble. When this happens, parents should contact the authorities in order to document the instances of cyberbullying and take legal action against the person committing it. Also, victims of cyberbullying can contact the police if threats of violence have been made.
Report to the website

If someone is being bullied through a website or social media platform, that person should contact the site and let the administrators know what’s going on. Since bullying behaviors are against the terms of service, getting the person kicked off the site can make the bully stop harassing the victim.

What is Cyberbullying?

Thanks for joining me!

Cyberbullying is the use of digital technologies with an intent to offend, humiliate, threaten, harass or abuse somebody.

-ditchthelabel.org

Image result for cyber bullying

According to a survey by the Cyberbullying Research Center, almost 34 percent of students in middle and high school had been cyberbullied in 2016 — the largest percentage reported since the organization began tracking cyberbullying 10 years ago. As this problem grows, it’s important for students, parents and educators to understand the effects of cyberbullying and what can be done to prevent it. This guide takes a holistic look at the issue and includes information on the types of cyberbullying, how students can protect themselves and what actions can be taken to address it after it happens.

Image result for cyber bullying

The following are some common examples of what cyberbullying looks like.

Flaming.

Flaming is when people post derogatory comments on someone’s web or social media page or through instant messages, emails or chat rooms. This generally occurs during an online fight, and the communication is usually filled with angry and foul language.

Outing.

This type of cyberbullying involves sharing someone’s private information in order to publicly humiliate him or her. Outing can include posting photos, emails, text messages or videos on the internet or forwarding them to other people.

Cyberstalking.

Cyberstalking is when someone uses technology to repeatedly harass, intimidate and threaten someone. Cyberstalkers may keep tabs on their victims and make attempts to meet them. Many cases of cyberstalking involve adults grooming teenagers to have sexual relationships with them.

Harassment.

Harassment involves the constant sending of malicious, abusive or threatening messages to an individual or group online. This can be done to the victims in public or private.

Trickery.

Like outing, trickery involves revealing private information about another person. When someone engages in this type of cyberbullying, the person befriends someone and gains his or her trust with the specific intention of sharing that person’s embarrassing information online.

Image result for cyber bullying

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behavior.

Image result for cyber bullying

With the prevalence of social media and digital forums, comments, photos, posts, and content shared by individuals can often be viewed by strangers as well as acquaintances. The content an individual shares online – both their personal content as well as any negative, mean, or hurtful content – creates a kind of permanent public record of their views, activities, and behavior. This public record can be thought of as an online reputation, which may be accessible to schools, employers, colleges, clubs, and others who may be researching an individual now or in the future. Cyberbullying can harm the online reputations of everyone involved – not just the person being bullied, but those doing the bullying or participating in it. It has a very bad effect to people especially to the victim that could lead into depression, they are much ashamed to face the crowed because they are afraid to the person who is/are bulling. This may also lead into suicide because they cant take the shame and the only way they see is to end their life which is not true. Examples of cyberbullying include: nasty messages online or on the phone, comments on your posts or posts about you, being excluded from online groups or forums, embarrassing photos being put online without your permission, rumours and lies about you on a website, offensive chat on online gaming, fake online profiles being created with an intent to defame you