Our Top Tips if you are being Cyberbullied
We all spend a lot of time online doing things like chatting with friends, watching videos, playing games, sharing photos. The internet is a great place to stay connected with people, learn about anything we can think of and let's be honest, we would find life very hard without it! As we spend so much time online it's important that we know what to do if someone is nasty to us online or shares something on the internet that upsets us or makes us feel uncomfortable. Follow our tips below which are quick and easy to make sure you stay safe online.
1. Block the person bullying you
There is always a way to stop the bully from contacting you on social networks, mobile phones, instant messaging and even games consoles. Check out the privacy or safety settings of the service you are using to find out how, or even try searching ‘block’ or ‘abuse’ in the help section. You can also ring up your service provider or network provider who can help you block the abuse.
2. Strong passwords
Make sure for any account you have, you have a strong password that you don’t share with anyone. The best passwords contain numbers and capital letters. This will mean people can’t access your account and steal any information, pictures or personal data or pretend to be you. Change your password regularly and don't have the same one for every account.
3. Keep the evidence
Make sure you save or copy any cyber bullying such as texts or conversations you receive so the necessary people can investigate the bullying. A good way to do this is to press the ‘PrtScrn’ button on the right hand side of the keyboard which prints the screen and you then copy and paste this into a word document or try using Window’s ‘snipping tool’.
4. Choose your online friends carefully
Remember when you accept someone as your friend on instant messaging or social networks, they can access information and pictures you have posted so make sure you are happy for them to see this.
5. Tell someone your trust
Cyber bullying can make you make you feel very alone and humiliated. It is really important that you tell someone you trust if you are being cyber bullied so they can support and help you.
6. Report it
Any cyber bullying you suffer should be reported. Whether it is nasty comments, a text message, online chats or group bullying, it is still bullying and is not ok. Make sure you report it to an adult you trust. It is important you feel supported and someone else knows what is happening. If you have blocked the person but it is still continuing, all social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, ask.fm etc have report abuse buttons, as do most mobile phone networks who have teams to deal with abuse. Games consoles also have advice on their websites.
7. Don’t reply or answer back
Don’t become a cyber bully yourself, deal with the bully by blocking and reporting the abuse. It is sometimes hard not to write back, but it is always best to ignore, block and monitor the situation. Sometimes the people bullying you are looking to get a reaction out of you.
8. What do you want people to know about you?
Check out the privacy settings which will allow you to choose the information you share with people, for example you can set your profile or data to private or only allow certain people to contact you and view particular information. Don’t ever share where you live, your telephone number or email address with cyber-friends.
9. Google your name
Even if we don't admit we've all Googled our name at some point to see what comes up! Typing your social media usernames is a really good way to check your privacy settings and check that strangers online can't view any of your personal information.
10. Stay positive
Stay positive, things will get better. Do activities which make you feel happy with people who love and appreciate you.
Advice for Parents/Guardians
It’s important to have regular conversations with your child about the online world, including issues like cyberbullying. This will help you to understand if they have ever experienced or witnessed online bullying for themselves, and give you an opportunity to support them and reassure them that you are always there to help.
Some questions which you could ask your child are:
- How can you be kind online?
- What would you do if someone was being unkind online?
- What do you think cyberbullying is?
- How is it different to physical bullying?
General tips and advice
- Make sure you know which websites your child is using.
- Download the app NetAware and read reviews and guidance on apps.
- Talk to them about how they can stay safe whilst using technology. Make sure they know that they can speak to you if they are ever being bullied.
- Sit down together and look at ways they could report abuse or block certain individuals on different devices.
- Ask them to teach you about social networks, instant messaging etc so that you are more aware about what they are doing online.
- Encourage them to act responsibly when using the technology and talk to them about the dangers of the internet and to be careful about the information they post online.
How to Stay Safe in Cyberspace...click on the following to find out how you can stay safe on......
