Effective Ways to Stop Cyberbullying – What Parents Need to Know!

Cyberbullying is the act of harassing and threatening someone over the internet. It can occur via social sites, posts, emails, chats etc. Cyberbullies or rather cybercriminals can get misunderstood information spread across thousands of people. And it is just a matter of minutes when this information is circulated.

Understanding What is Cyberbullying

Kids could believe everything and anything that they read. But nowadays cyberbullying is not just limited to kids but teens and adults are also falling into its trap. It is possible that the bully won’t be caught when they cyberbully the victim if the latter remains quite regarding the harassment. It is also possible that bully can call other people to join in harassing the victim leading to dire consequences.

Effects of Cyberbullying

Consequences of bullying depend upon the nature of the bullying. Some common consequences are depression, unwillingness to go to school, insomnia and even suicidal tendencies in extreme cases. Cyberbullying can cause disaster in the life of the victim. Research presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting revealed the number of children admitted to hospitals for attempted suicide or expressing suicidal thoughts doubled between 2008 and 2015. Much of the rise is linked to an increase in cyberbullying.

One of the famous cases that appeared in a famous online bullying forum- A 15-year-old immigrant, Phoebe Prince committed suicide by hanging herself as she was cyberbullied. The sources reported that she could not handle the harassment and took this severe step of ending her life.

How to Stop Cyberbullying?

Parents and teachers play a crucial role in the upbringing of a child. Therefore, the first need is to educate yourself. If parents and teachers have up-to-date information about what cyberbullying is, how and where it occurs, and what type of experiences people have.

When it comes to children, both parents and teachers at school must educate them regarding cyberbullying & the ill effects. Some of the tactics to stop cyberbullying are:

• Children should not respond to the bully. Whenever such an incident happens, they should inform a trustable adult such as their parents and school teachers. They should be taught that they should always report such happenings rather than hiding them out of fear and embarrassment.
• Never leave your social media accounts, email accounts, etc. open while browsing on public computers. Your information can be misused by others operating those systems.
• It is a good practice to “Google Yourself” after every few weeks in order to see which all profiles and accounts are associated with your name. You might come to know that some of your personal information such as photos are visible on the internet and you might like to take them down from your accounts or set them private. It is better not to share personal information on the internet as it can be misused by cyberbullies.
• It is the responsibility of the parents and teachers to immediately contact legal authorities whenever they come to know about such incidents.
• Parents and teachers shall create open communication lines with children. Make them comfortable to talk to you, so that they do not hesitate to share.
• Never click on links or open files that are sent by unknown users. They might be cyberbullies trying to install spy software on your device in order to steal your personal information and track your online activities.
• Install parental control software, which allows the parents to monitor online activities of their kids. Parents can see which type of websites their child is browsing, how much time is being spent on the internet, etc.

With these effective ways to stop cyberbullying, you can prevent your children from cyberbullies.

This blog has been updated with latest stats and facts.