Are your children being bullied on the Internet and you don't know what to do about it? You are not alone. One in four children in the United Kingdom was the victim of online bullying in 2001.1 And in the United States a popular site, www.schoolrumors.com, had to be closed down for technical reasons after receiving 70,000 visits in just a few weeks.2 Visitors to this site could "click on a particular high school and post their own insults of real students using a false name."3 Cyberbullying is yet another problem that parents and children are facing in this new Internet era.
Cyberbullying involves the use of information and technology such as e-mail, instant messaging, the publishing of defamatory personal web sites, and online personal polling web sites that are used to support conscious, willful, deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by one or more people with the intent to harm others.4
According to one victim, the difference between being bullied at school and being bullied on the Internet is that you cannot get away from cyberbullying as easily. Cyberbullying follows you, even after you get home from school.5
There is hope. Here are some tips to help you protect your children against cyberbullying.
- Make sure your children do not respond to rude and harassing e-mails, messages, and postings. Keep a record of them in case you need proof. Call law enforcement and inform your Internet Service Provider (ISP) if necessary.6
- Use web sites that translate the lingo your children are sending or receiving so that you can understand the words that are being used in e-mails and chatrooms.7
- If your children continue to receive harassing e-mails, have them delete their current accounts and open a new one. This new e-mail address should only be given to a few people they can trust with it.8
- If your children are receiving harassing messages through instant messaging, help them make use of the "block" or "ban" feature. This feature can be used to block certain individuals from being able to reach your child.9
- If you have found that a cyberbully has set up a web site that is defaming or mocking your child, contact your ISP and, if necessary, also inform law enforcement to try to get that web site removed.10
- Get your child's school involved. Learn what the school's policy on cyberbullying is, and urge the administrators to take a stance against all forms of bullying.11
1"1 in 4 Children Are the Victims of 'On-Line Bullying' Says Children's Charity." NCH Children's Charities. http://www.nch.org.uk/news/news5.asp?auto=194, Accessed September 9, 2003.
2Karen Peterson. "Kids spread hateful rumors online." USA TODAY. February 6, 2002, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/2001-04-30-web-bully.htm.
3Ibid.
4Sarah Crosbie. "When Bullying Reaches Into Cyberspace." The Kingston Whig-Standard. March 29, 2003, http://www.cyberbullying.ca/whig_standard.
5Ibid.
6Http://www.cyberbullying.ca. Accessed September 9, 2003.
7Sarah Crosbie. "When Bullying Reaches Into Cyberspace." The Kingston Whig-Standard. March 29, 2003, http://www.cyberbullying.ca/whig_standard.
8Http://www.cyberbullying.ca. Accessed September 9, 2003.
9Ibid.
10Ibid.
11"1 in 4 Children Are the Victims of 'On-Line Bullying' Says Children's Charity." NCH Children's Charities. http://www.nch.org.uk/news/news5.asp?auto=194, Accessed September 9, 2003.
Christine Loftus is a research assistant/editor for the Parents & Educators component of the NetSmartz Workshop® at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children®.
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Reprinted with the permission of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. © 2008 National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. All rights reserved.
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