What is Cyber Bullying?
Cyber Bullying involves someone repeatedly and purposefully saying or doing mean or hurtful things to another person using technology such as the internet or cell phones.
This occurs using instant messages, e-mail, text messages, social networking sites (i.e. MySpace or Facebook), chat rooms, and BLOGS.
Types of Cyber Bullying
- Flaming: a brief heated exchange between two people usually in a chat room.
- Harassment
- Denigration / “Dissing”: information that is not true being posted on the internet (i.e. online slam books).
- Impersonation: pretending to be someone else while being mean to others.
- Outage & Trickery: tricking someone into revealing personal information and then sharing that personal information with multiple people.
- Exclusion or Ostracism: being “in” or “out” on someone's social networking site.
- Cyberstalking: repetitive harassment or threats online.
- Happyslapping: slapping an unsuspecting person and getting it on video tape to post on the internet.
Warning Signs
- Your child appears upset after being online.
- Your child appears upset after viewing a text message.
- Your child withdraws from social interaction with peers.
- You see a drop in your child’s academic performance.
Suggestions for Addressing Cyber Bullying
- Save the evidence. Make sure that you save all text messages and screen print any posts on social networking sites
- If you can—contact the parents of the cyber bully.
- Share the information with the school.
- Look at your legal options—whether you would like to press charges or not.
- Monitor your child’s reputation online. You can Google your child’s name to monitor this.
- Make sure that a parent responds to the cyber bullying not the child.
- Send one message stating clearly “Do not communicate with my child again or I will contact the appropriate authorities.”
- Contact the ISP (Internet Service Provider), forward the messages and request the account be terminated.
- If on a website, notify the site and request the messages be removed.
- If these messages are through cell phone/text messages contact the phone company.
If Your Child Engages in Cyber Bullying
- Be open to listening.
- If your child is truly remorseful, encourage them to apologize (do not force them).
- Communicate your values to your child.
- Discuss bullying behavior and bystander strategies to prepare your child for these situations.
Make Sure…
- To teach your child to always protect their passwords.
- To monitor your child’s reputation online.
- To set guidelines about safe profiles and then monitor them.
- To talk about cyber bullying before it happens.
Additional Resources
www.campusimpact.com
www.cyberbullyhelp.com
www.netsmartz.org
www.isafe.org
www.ikeepsafe.org
www.wiredsafety.org
www.stopbullyingnow.com
www.cyberbullying.us
www.haltabuse.org
www.bullying.org
www.leaveoutviolence.com
www.transl8it.com
www.netlingo.com
https://www.callersmart.com/guides/49/What-Is-Cyberbullying-and-How-to-Stop-It