What do you do if your child is bullied online? Cyberbullying is the tactic of the cowardly. According to a 2008 University of Toronto study, 75 percent of young people who had admitted to cyberbullying had never done so face to face. What this means is that the shy quiet types, hiding behind their computers, are acting aggressively because they think they are immune from discovery.
The best thing to do is to ensure the bully hiding behind the computer will be found out and made to suffer the consequences of his or her actions.
How should kids react to an online bully?
1. Leave the webpage be it the chat room, online game, instant messaging or social networking site.
2. Block the sender's messages. Do not respond to bullying messages.
3. Talk to an adult.
4. Forward threatening messages to your Internet Service Provider (i.e. Hotmail or gmail) or Cell Phone Service Providers who can track down perpetrators who have violated Acceptable Use Policies guidelines
5. If the situation involves online or physical threats, contact the police.In Canada, it is against the law to make repeated physical threats against the safety of others.
6. It is also a a crime to write or publish something that hurts a person's reputation or makes him or her vulnerable to harrasing by others.
Source: Be Web Aware.
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