Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Cyberbullying prevention tips for parents / educators

This year, the Cybersecurity Awareness Month’s main focal area revolves around the dangers of cyberbullying with tips for parents, educators, teens and kids.  Cyberbullying threats can run the gamut from embarrassing or cruel online posts, or digital pictures, to online threats, harassment, and negative comments, to stalking through emails, websites, social media platforms and text messages.

Every age group is vulnerable to cyberbullying, but teenagers and young adults are common victims. Cyberbullying is a growing problem in schools and has become an issue because the internet is fairly anonymous, which is appealing to bullies because their intimidation is difficult to trace. Unfortunately, rumors, threats and photos can be disseminated online very quickly.

What is Cyberbullying?

Have you ever texted or posted something online that you would never say to someone in person? If so, you’ve experienced how the internet's anonymous nature can sometimes bring out the worst in people. For bullies, the web’s faceless environment appeals to their desire to intimidate, and this creates unsafe situations for their victims. Unfortunately, technology has enabled bullying on a scale today that didn't exist generations ago.

So bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. This power imbalance can be physical, but it can also revolve around popularity or the bully having access to embarrassing information about the victim. Generally, bullying is a repeated behavior, or it has the potential to be repeated.

So cyberbullying is when bullying happens online or through digital channels like text messaging. Cyberbullies have a big toolbox – they use social media platforms, image-sharing sites, memes, email, and even phone calls.

And today, even more than a few years ago, children today are online more, and they start their online lives earlier and earlier. Cyberbullying is a growing problem across the world – the internet's anonymous nature is appealing to bullies' desire to intimidate. There is also a speed factor – rumors, threats and photos can move around the digital world in an instant.

All of us, parents, teachers, and school administrators, need to work together to identify, prevent, and stop cyberbullying. Here are some tips for working toward making the internet a kinder place for kids.

• Block and report cyberbullies
  f the bullying occurs on social media, block the person on all online platforms and email. Report the incident to the social media platform.
• Avoid escalation. 
  Bullies thrive on getting a reaction.  Have a strong blocking game.
• Report cyberbullying to the school.
  If you’ve taken reasonable measures to stop the bully and, despite that, it’s continuing or even escalating, it might be time to report it to the authorities. Reach out to the victim’s school or whoever heads the organization where the victim interacts with the cyberbullies, which might be a club, sports team, place of worship, or extracurricular group. Nowadays, many school districts have online reporting options for cyberbullying where you can make an anonymous complaint.
• Know when it's a crime. 
  Listen to your gut if the bullying become more frequent, severe, or dangerous.  Contact law enforcement.
• Document everything. 
  Keep a record of any bullying activity, like emails, webpages, or social media posts.
• Keep some secrets. 
  Be careful who can access contact information or details about your children's interests, habits, and location.

While cyberbullying is often framed as an issue for children, it can be an issue for anyone.  Cyberbullies can be found in workplaces or higher ed. Even celebrities and politicians can be cyberbullied.  Cyberbullying is a serious issue that causes real harm in people’s lives, affecting victims’ mental and physical health. But we can work together to stop it in its tracks, and we can refuse to be bystanders.

Additional Resources

Cyberbullying.org: Cyberbullying Resource Center

RAINN: How to Filter, Block, and Report Harmful Content on Social Media

Onlineschools.org: Understanding Bullying and Cyberbullying

StopBullying.gov 

What is Cyberbullying?

The Effects of Cyberbullying

Cybersecurity Awareness Month continues to build momentum and impact with the ultimate goal of providing everyone with the information they need to stay safer and more secure online.   Ewing Township is proud to support this far-reaching online safety awareness and education initiative.