Cyberbullying

A Few Statistics on Cyberbullying

• About half of young people have experienced some form of cyber bullying, and 10 to 20 percent experience it regularly*

• Only 1 in 10 teens tells a parent if they have been a cyber bully victim*

You would have to agree that the above stats on cyberbullying are worrying.

Would you be able to recognise the signs of your child being cyberbullied?   

Cyberbullying is a current and important topic that requires ongoing exposure.  That is why I have decided to do a 3 part series to cover the subject.  I don’t want to flood you with too much information at once, so I’ll keep each part to the point and easy to refer back to.  For today, an explanation of what Cyberbullying is.

Cyberbullying is when others:

• Torment
• Name call
• Be-little
• Intimidate
• Co-erce
• In general, make people feel bad about themselves

By using electronic communications such as:

• Sending messages via text or to an email account
• Using Social media in mean and offensive ways
• Sexting (“sex texting” eg.nude or nearly nude photos, selfies)
• Circulating pictures that one would like to keep private
• Creating rumours
• Making someone believe that they are someone else (eg. pretending to be your best friend but is actually someone else in the class)
• Stealing someone’s account details and sending mean texts etc to others from their account

Next Week – Part 2:  Recognise The Signs of Cyberbullying

*Statistics

1. Cyberbullying Research Center, “Summary of our cyberbullying research from 2004-2010” [online]
2. Richard Webster, Harford County Examiner, “From cyber bullying to sexting: What on your kids’ cell?” [online]