V. Taybron

How to Identify, Prevent, and Respond to Cyberbullying Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, text, and apps, or online in social media forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behavior. In this presentation we will focus on cyberbullying as it relates to children but these tips are helpful for someone of any age. Understand, recognize, and properly handle bullying on social media. Objectives Share what cyberbullying is The effects of cyberbullying Signs your child is being bullied How you can help as a parent Intervention What is Cyberbullying? the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. Cyberbullying is an ever growing problem in today’s society. Growing up we have all encountered bullies in school. Luckily, for the most part when the school bell rang and we went home the bullying was temporarily over. The bully most likely wasn’t going to call your home and risk your mom picking up the phone. Nowadays however our kids can’t catch a break. They are being bullied on cell phones, laptops, video gaming systems, tablets, social media, and more. Case Study #1 – Adolescent girls are just as likely, if not more likely than boys to experience cyberbullying (as a victim and offender) (Floros et al., 2013; Kowalski et al., 2008; Hinduja & Patchin, 2009; Schneider et al., 2012) – Cyberbullying is related to low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, anger, frustration, and a variety of other emotional and psychological problems (Brighi et al., 2012; Hinduja & Patchin, 2010; Kowalski & Limber, 2013; Patchin & Hinduja, 2010; Wang, Nansel, & Iannotti, 2011) – Cyberbullying is related to other issues in the ‘real world’ including school problems, anti-social behavior, substance use, and delinquency (Hinduja & Patchin, 2007; Hinduja & Patchin, 2008; Kowalski & Limber, 2013) – Traditional bullying is still more common than cyberbullying (Lenhart, 2007; Smith et al., 2008; Wang, Nansel, & Iannotti, 2011) – Traditional bullying and cyberbullying are closely related: those who are bullied at school are bullied online and those who bully at school bully online (Hinduja & Patchin, 2009; Kowalski & Limber, 2013; Ybarra, Diener-West, & Leaf, 2007). How does cyberbullying occur? Cyberbullying occurs when someone uses an electronic device to intimidate, insult, and instill fear into another person via the internet. This is type of contact occurs via text message, email, cell phone contact, instant message, chat, and social media. This also includes breaking into someone else’s email or social media outlet, assuming their identity and wreaking havoc in order to damage their reputation. Teasing vs. Bullying Crushes Wants to be friends Really admires the child Let’s talk about the difference between teasing and bullying. Sometimes you will find with younger children the they will tease one another because they have a crush on the other person. You as the parent can most likely recognize it but the child does not. A young girl may tease another young girl because they really want to be her friend or they admire her. However this can definitely be confusing for a child especially if it is their first time ever experiencing something like this. The difference between teasing versus bullying is that in teasing there normally isn’t any malice, ill intent, or wish to do harm. Safety isn’t normally a concern when teasing is involved but it most certainly needs to be addressed, explained, and stopped as soon as possible. Social Media Sites Where Bullying Occurs Facebook Twitter Instagram Snapchat Youtube + more Bullying occurs virtually on all social media platforms but for the sake of this presentation we will just highlight a few of the most popular social media outlets that bullying occurs on. Let’s talk about Facebook. A lot of teens use Facebook and the way in which bullying occurs on this platform is by leaving very harsh comments on one’s profile wall or on photos the the profile user posts. On Twitter kids sends tweets back and forth bullying one another. They can create unkindly hashtags as well as get their followers involved in it which happens a lot. With the rise of Instagram a lot of teens post photos of themselves with hashtags like #RateMe #HotOrNot with this going on many people leave very negative comments rating them as unattractive or just leaving mean comments. On the popular outlet Snapchat people send disappearing photos back and forth and they post images on their feed that disappear within 24 hours. In regards to bullying groups of kids may be out together and then take inappropriate photos of others with them and send them to others back and forth on Snapchat. Youtube has a ton of videos when people leave a comment on a video others have the ability to comment back and forth to one another and it is not always nice. Sometimes they say very harsh things. Case Study #2 The Internet can be a hostile place, and Twitter is no exception. According to a new study, about 15,000 bullying-related tweets are posted every day, meaning more than 100,000 nasty messages taint the digital world each week. To further understand what happens in the virtual world, researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison trained a computer to analyze Twitter messages using an algorithm created to point out important words or symbols that may indicate bullying. In 2011, during the time of this study, 250 million public tweets were being sent daily — a number almost 10 times the population state of Texas. Effects of Cyberbullying Depression Withdraw Suicidal Thoughts Cyberbullying can have serious effects if left unaddressed such as depression and anxiety. Children begin to feel extremely sad and lose interest in the things they used to enjoy. They tend to withdraw from friends and family. Depending on how bad the cyberbullying is, it begins to effect their self esteem causing them to feel worthless like they don’t matter and when it gets to this stage sometimes they begin to have suicidal thoughts. Signs Your Child is Being Bullied Cyberbullying shows signs if we pay attention. These signs include: Nervousness Pushing or walking away from electronic devices School avoidance Disengaging from friends and family If your child is being cyber bullied there will be signs if you pay attention and knowing the signs will help. First they will probably seem nervous, flush, or even flinch when receiving text messages or alerts. While on their electronic device they may suddenly push the computer away, lightly throw the cell phone away from them, or completely shrink their shoulders as if they are hiding. Although it’s cyber bullying, the person who is bullying them might attend their school or after school activities because of this they may avoid school and pretend to be sick in order to get out of going. Disengagement is another big one. If your child is normally very happy and social around family and then they all of a sudden become quiet and unplugged then this is a sign that something is going on. How can you help as the parent? Praise Comfort Teachers/Authorities As a parent you can help your child by praising them if they come to you about a bully. Let them know how proud you are of them for letting you know and asking for support. Next, you want to comfort them because it is probably a very challenging time in their life and your comfort will help. Lastly, you want to alert a teacher to let them know what’s going on, the other child’s parent if possible, and the authorities if your child has been threatened. How to get your child to talk to you Conversation starters Fears they might have Being bullied even more Your child may not want to talk about this but you have to. The first way is to simply get the conversation started without making any assumptions. Start by asking them how they feel and how you can support them. Some children fear being bullied even more if a parent becomes involved. If they have a classmate who comes over a lot you can talk to them together. Sometimes children are more comfortable when one of their friends is around who is already aware of what’s going on. Let your child lead the conversation while you listen and provide support. This will make them feel safer. Tell them that you’ve noticed a shift in their behavior and want to help and if they don’t feel comfortable talking to you let them know that it’s okay but that you would like to help them find someone that they feel comfortable communicating with. Let the child know that you understand the fears that they might have about self esteem and possibly being bullied even more and remind them that you will assist them with all of these things to ensure their safety and emotional support. Intervention Talking to teachers Communicate with parents Blocking Report it online Contact Police There are numerous ways to intervene. One way is to talk to the teachers about it. Making the teachers aware means you will have support if it is happening at school and there is a record of it. If possible you should also communicate with the parent of the other child. The other parent might not be aware that their child is doing this and can probably get the child to stop this behavior. Another way is to have your child block the cyber bully on all social media as well as their phone and email if they have that contact information. You can also report the bullies page online to Facebook, Instagram, or any other outlet alerting the social media outlet that this person is bullying. If your child ever receives a threat from someone wishing to do them harm, all threats are to be taken seriously and should be reported to the police.