How to Prevent Cyber Bullying

Computers and the internet have brought a lot of wonderful things to our civilization, but as with any technological advancement, there are those who would exploit it and use it to hurt others. One of the worst examples of this is the phenomenon known as cyber bullying. If you are a teenager, you may be all too familiar with cyber bullying. If you are an adult with children who use computers and the internet, you need to know about cyber bullying.

What Is Cyber Bullying? Are You at Risk?

If you are an adult, you are not considered to be a candidate for cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is something that happens between young people, just as live bullying often takes place between young people when adults are not around to supervise them. Cyber bullying is a phenomenon where one young person is picked on by another digitally. It can take the form of harassing texts, taunts on social networks, or other threats, humiliation or harassment over the internet, such as in chat rooms or through instant messaging. Cyber bullying is not to be confused with adults preying on children over the internet, which is at its least offensive considered cyber harassment or cyber stalking and at its worst sexual predation.

The Dangers of Cyber Bullying

Like actual bullying, cyber bullying can have both immediate and long term damaging effects on the victim. More than one victim of cyber bullying has committed homicide or suicide as a result of a cyber bullying campaign. What makes cyber bullying particularly dangerous is the lack of adult supervision. When kids are bullied in real life, there is usually an adult somewhere around to step in, if not sooner, than later. With cyber bullying, adult intervention may not come until it is far too late.

Victims of Cyber Bullying

Any child can become the victim of cyber bullying, and sometimes the cyber bully has the tables turned on him or her and becomes the victim of cyber bullying him or herself. Common victims, as with live bullying, can be kids who are different, ones who are confused about their sexual identity, who belong to a minority group, who are less advanced socially or physically, who are too fat, too thin, too short, too tall, or noticeably different from the pack in any way. Some victims are able to shrug off the bullying, find allies to help defend them, or even fight back, but many others are not, and the results for these children can be devastating.

Preventing Cyber Bullying

One of the best things you can do about cyber bullying is to make sure that your kids know it is okay to talk to you about this subject. Once you find out cyber bullying is taking place, you can petition the Internet Service Provider to restrict or remove the bully’s access. You can also meet with a representative of the child’s school to find out what they are doing about this very real problem.