Tips to arm yourself against cyber bullies
WITH lives being lived on social media and the internet, it can be a dangerous place when it comes to bullying.
Beyondblue lists cyber bullying as:
Hurting someone using technology, via email, chat rooms, text messages, discussion groups, online social media, instant messaging or websites.
For example, being teased or made fun of online, having unpleasant comments, pictures or videos about you sent or posted on social media or websites, having someone use your screen name or password and pretending to be you to hurt someone else.
Bullying is behaviour that is meant to be hurtful, targets a person or group of people, happens more than once and embarrasses, threatens or intimidates the person being bullied.
Bullies don't always work alone.
The impact of bullying can be even greater when a group of people begin to act together.
Cyber bullying happens at least every few weeks to about one in 10 young people.
Here are some tips for dealing with cyber bullying:
- Use caution when giving out mobile phone numbers or email addresses, or other social media contact information.
- Do not reply to threatening or disturbing emails, as this will only encourage the bully. If others in a chat or online discussion become unpleasant, leave the conversation.
- Make use of the privacy and security settings on social networking sites, as this will prevent bullies from seeing information they can use against their victims.
- If a child is being cyberbullied they should tell someone they trust, whether it is a friend, parent, teacher, or other person who works with youth.
- Keep any emails, messages, or texts as evidence of the bullying and block email addresses or specific users on certain social networks, so messages are no longer received.
- If you need to speak with someone about cyberbullying, depression or anxiety, contact beyondblue on firstname.lastname@example.org or 1300 224 636.