Who Is Cyberbullying You Or Your Child

“My child is being bullied on FaceBook.” “Girls who used to be friends are now spreading rumors by texting.”  “Someone posted lies about my son on a social media account. How do I find out who did it?” “My boss texted others in the workplace something I shared in private. What do I do.”

Questions From Parents About Cyberbullying

How to stop someone who is cyberbullying you or your child is a question most parents dread having to ever ask. Quite frankly, the internet and cyberspace changes so rapidly that it is hard for parents to keep up.

The definition of cyberbullying is important to understand before attempting to resolve it. Cyber bullying is the malicious act of a person(s) who harasses, stalks or spreads lies about someone else via electronic methods.

Cyberbullying, or online bullying is when someone, either on purpose or as a joke posts intimidating messages. These messages might be embarrassing photos of someone in the school bathroom or a photo of your child taken without permission. This could be through a cell phone or over the Internet.

Cyberbullies use Text Messaging, e-mail, blogs, web sites, and chat rooms as venues to post their intimidating messages.  Tracing them is very hard, but parents should keep records of dates and messages to give to authorities.

National Media Is Focused On The Crime

Cell phones and the internet are very useful tools. However, they can be used for harm as well as good.

Parade Magazine,8-22-2010 focused on the national attention that is surrounding the suicide of Phoebe Prince in Massachusetts.  After her suicide, the Massachusetts state legislature passed a law making cyberbullying a crime.

As more people are on the Internet now more than ever before, it is increasingly becoming a problem. Some methods of this bizarre behavior include gaining trust of someone and then abusing it, impersonating another person, posting derogatory information about a person or posting their information on the Internet.

New Hampshire has expanded its bullying laws to include digital harassment.  Nevada lawmakers have set up criminal penalties for those convicted of bullying others electronically.

How To Be Internet Savvy

Parents and caring adults need to learn all they can about this expanding problem.  Not only to help the children or themselves from cyberbullies, but to make sure their messages are not being misinterpreted. You will find excellent information on this subject at http://cyberbullyinghelp.com/r/101safetytips

The more you know about the Internet and online bullying, the more you can do to protect yourself and those who are looking to you for protection and guidance.

How Bystander Bully Assistance Can Help You Through A Traumatic CyberBullying Situation

If you are the victim of cyber bullying you are not alone. As the prevalence of internet use increases among all age groups there is a greater need for better restrictions and assistance on how both youth and adults communicate online.

Being the target of malicious attacks is a difficult and embarrassing event for anyone. Enlisting the right bystander bully assistance can help educate you and your young one on how to respond when personal attacks are made online.

Targeted Threats

Numerous reports of individuals being overwhelmed by “mean speak”; threats and suicide encouragement have been presented by the news media.  Phoebe Prince from MA is an example of a teen who felt she had no one to turn to for help.

There has been for a long time no real protocol in dealing with these attacks. Schools, churches and organizations are caught in the bind of not knowing who is responsible. The public onslaughts of vicious speak have left many feeling as though there is no way out.

Internet Safety

Teach teens that cybrbullying is a crime. Help them resist the urge to pass along hurtful messages. Learn internet safety.

Having to deal with nasty e-mails, death threat and pranks can be overwhelming, especially if the victim is young, which the case is most often. Many young people are not aware of the consequences that a posted message can have.

Often the response to an unpopular statement or opinion can become terrifying when meted out by the wrong group. It is not like bullying in the old days when your enemy was right in front of you and you could fight it out or tell the principal.

Nowadays, cyberbullying is very anonymous and the venom is passed from cell phone to computer to FaceBook to MySpace and can be global almost instantly.

Teach Teens To Not Pass On Gossip Online

While adults have a better understanding of the resources that may be available to help them deal with a tumultuous situation online, teenagers often do not.

They generally tend to weather the storm alone hoping that it will subside by itself. Unfortunately due to ease of access, these situations generally continue to spiral out of control if unchecked until an awful climax is reached.

Words Have Power for Good and Bad

Teaching your children smart internet skills is one way to avoid the hassle. Make certain that they understand the effects that different forms of online communication have on their privacy.  Help them to pause and think before sending on a message that might hurt or embarrass another.

As a family discussion continue to share with them the less than stellar responses received by teenagers that share too much information. It is also imperative to keep the lines of communication open in order to ensure that your child is not quietly suffering as a victim.

Help them to brainstorm ideas of being brave enough to stand up for someone being cyberbullied or to refuse to pass on hurtful messages. Just one person being kind can make a huge difference in the lives of others.

When they are aware of the consequences of bullying, it is far less likely that they will have to endure or become a part of it in any way.

Questions to ponder

1. Have you ever had someone say something mean about you and played like it didn’t matter?
2. Do you know it is against the law in many areas to harass or threaten someone online?
3. If a friend were being cyberbullied, could you help them?  How?
4. Do you know where to find information on internet safety?