What you should know about Cyber bullying

    The world is now a global village, where almost everything is done via the internet including bullying. The bullying done on the internet is referred to as cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is the use of emails, Facebook, blogs, text messages etc. to deliberately post harmful messages about someone. I have had the experience of seeing someone been bullied in a chat room by some group of persons posting her nude pictures and the girl in question had to change her id for her to have her sanity. Cyber bullying is getting very rampant in our society especially among youths.

   Cyber bullies, like any bully, want to feel power and control over their victim and they make use of the internet as their playing field. Cyber bullies have created various websites that are dedicated to insulting, mocking and humiliating their prey in the most vicious way possible including the use of you-tube in rare cases. Cyber bullies are especially cowardly and like to hide behind the anonymity that the internet gives to them.

   The target victim becomes the laughing stock of the group as word is spread at the speed of light over broadband connections about the latest humiliating website update, blog post or video upload. On the Internet, anyone can be a bully. Cyber bullying is a serious issue, but you can protect yourself against all the drama.

Effects of Cyber bullying

1)      Depression

2)      public humiliation

3)      Social isolation

4)      Insomnia

Dealing with Cyber bullying

1)      At first be calm; do not respond immediately to a cyber-bully’s attack because the bully wants to manipulate you into engaging in a war of words with them. Let them be confused as to whether you saw the bully mail sent to you or not.

2)      When you do respond, don’t respond angrily because then the bully would know they can control your emotions. Bullies are hoping to get you upset so you slip up and make a mistake.

3)      Never delete Information related to the Cyber Bullying. Save all evidence, this is because Messages sent on the internet are traceable. If you want the law to be involved, make sure to keep all messages as security personnel will be able to use this information to track down the culprit.

4)      After you have saved copies of all the information, you can block the bully.

5)      In extreme cases report the issue to your service provider so they will be able to retrieve the bully’s IP (Internet Protocol) address, and trace the bully right to their houses.

Note to Parents

1)      Keep open communication lines with your children so they will feel comfortable enough to tell you when they are been bullied.

2)      Pay close attention to your children, so you would know when they are acting strange.

3)      Parents should create time to regularly check what their children do on the internet.

 

Always remember that bullies often suffer from low self-esteem and they want to feel better about themselves that’s why they bully others.