Cyberbullying: A New Way to Bully

Remember the bullies in high school when we were young? Cyberbullying is a new way to bully and crops up out of our teens’ ability to connect with each other through internet social websites, email and cell phones. While the ability to talk with friends in these different ways is fun, it has given bullies a new way of doing what they want to do - hurt people. And that is the main point I want to make here: Using the internet to bully is new, but bullying isn’t. Therefore, if your teen is dealing with cyberbullying, you treat it just as you would if your teen is being bullied in the school yard. Here are some tips on what you can do if your teen is dealing with cyberbulling.

Prevent Cyberbullying

Set the rules. Make it a part of the your computer rules or parenting contract that your teen will show you any threats or any type of hateful words made to them. You will also want to stress to your teen that you will not tolerate them saying things that are hurtful to others.

Teach your teen to be savvy with their social networking. Show your teen how to delete offending messages and block cyberbullies from being able to leave messages on their social websites.

Tell your teen it is okay not to friend everyone who asks on Facebook or other social network sites.

Deal with Cyberbullying When It Happens

Don’t ignore cyberbullying. Ever.

Explain to your teen that it is not their fault they were targeted by a cyberbully. Often teens turn these problems inward and start to feel down on themselves. Verbally affirm that they are not at fault and they will be less likely to take a hit to their self-esteem.

Don’t get involved in the cyberbulling and don’t let your teen prolong it. The more you or your teen try to talk to whomever is doing the bullying, the more it will escalate and you could be found at fault for not reporting the problem in the first place.

If your teen is cyberbullied at school, report the incident to the school. Include a screen shot or copy of the email where the cyberbullying took place. If the school is unable to do anything, report the incident to the police.

Report it to your internet service. If the cyber-bullying incident takes place while your teen is at home, report the incident to the ISP of the offender by forwarding the email or reporting it to the site it occurred on.

If the cyber-bullying includes threats of physical violence, report them to your local police. It may seem harsh, because it is an email and the person is not right there at the moment, but a physical threat of violence is nothing to take lightly. Protect your teen. You should also report it to the police if it continues for any length in time and is not just a one time incident.

If the cyber-bullying is happening anonymously, it is even more important to report it. While it may not ever turn into something violent, many times it does. The police can track down who is sending the emails, so let them handle it.