The Cyber Safety Tech Mum

The Cyber Safety Expert teaching parents how to keep their kids safe on the internet.

7 Tips to Help Parents Reduce Cyberbullying

7 Tips to Reduce Cyberbullying

To begin to reduce cyberbullying we must start at home by teaching our kids about digital etiquette.  Just as we set out to start teaching our children their manners and socially acceptable behaviour at a young age, we should also be setting them up to be courteous when online.

7 Tips to reduce cyberbullying

1 Privacy settings

Review each social media account and access the settings area.  Most apps will allow you to place some restrictions on things like reporting current locations and having only ‘friends’ see shared information.

2 ‘Friend’ your child

By being your child’s friend on social media, you can do spot checks on what they and their friends are posting.

 Constant discussion around what is suitable is advised but this way you can catch and chat about anything that falls outside the agreed boundaries.

 You can also assess who they are friends with to ensure that these are people that they actually know and not ‘a friend of a friend of a friend’.

This idea isn’t alway going to float with kids so if you don’t feel comfortable friending them on social media then perhaps a trusted older cousin or family friends could be your eyes for you and give you a heads up if necessary.

3 Think before you post

Before they post something online, help them learn to take the time to consider whether it is appropriate.

 Teach them to do things like checking their language, asking themselves how someone else might feel when they read or see their post/picture and whether it is something that they will look back on and not be embarrassed about.

 Encourage them to ask for your opinion first if they are feeling unsure and ask themselves if they would be happy for ‘Nana’ to see what they are posting.

4 Don’t share personal information

Sharing personal information gives cyberbullies ammunition.  If they know specific things about you they are able to target you more effectively.  

5 Don’t give out your passwords

Kids can be tempted at times to share their passwords with their friends so that they can both have access to the same account.  Help them to understand that they are ultimately responsible for their own accounts and that sometimes passwords can fall into the wrong hands even if you only gave them to your best friend.

6 Educate yourself, your children & others

You don’t have to be an expert, but you can keep your eyes and ears out and stay abreast of the current cyberbullying issues.

7 Speak out

Don’t stay quiet if you see occurences of Cyberbullying.  Speak out and follow the steps you can can take if you recognise the signs of cyberbullying.

These tips not only help to keep our kids just a little bit safer from cyberbullying, but by understanding social media etiquette, it may also help prevent them from being the bully.

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Welcome! I’m Nicolle Embra.

Nicolle Embra - The Tech Mum

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