Prevent Cyber Bullying by Monitoring Your Children’s Online Activities

Almost the entire population of the US uses the internet actively. Internet is now mostly used for socializing, even more than for research or educational purposes. Emailing, chatting and using social media sites are the top most engagements of today’s youth. And like most other social situations, bullying happens in the internet world as well.

Cyber bullying is like any other type of bullying, except it happens online or through text messaging. Your child could get cyber bullied by classmates, online acquaintances and even through anonymous messages. Most of the time, your child will be well aware of who is bullying them.

What Counts As Cyber Bullying
The parents of the current generation of teenagers didn’t use the internet when they were growing up. Since they didn’t grow up in an internet environment, it becomes difficult for them to understand cyber bullying. So, here is a short guide to what constitutes as cyber bullying:

• Receiving threats through emails, instant messages or text messages is cyber bullying. Other than threats, mockery, insults and hate speech is also considered cyber bullying.
• Not including someone in a group conversation or blocking their email for no reason is also cyber bullying.
• Pretending to be someone’s friend on a social media platform, only to trick them into revealing embarrassing or confidential information and sharing it on the internet is cyber bullying. 
• Hacking into someone’s account and posting cruel and fake messages on their behalf is cyber bullying.
• Creating websites to ridicule another person, such as a teacher or other classmates, is cyber bullying.
• Creating a website to rank and comment on who is the prettiest or the ugliest, is cyber bullying.

Cyber bullying comes easy to people because it takes more guts to bully people in person. Behind the screen, even the most disciplined ones are comfortable with cyber bullying. Boys tend to bully others through threatening messages to fight or hurt someone, or by sending sexual messages. Girls bully others by spreading rumors through messages or by making fun of others by posting their secrets online.

How Cyber Bullying Can Affect Your Child
Cyber bullying can really affect your child’s performance in school, such as low grades, low self-esteem, disinterest in everything, or even signs of depression. Cyber bullying is a lot worse than in-person bullying because it’s not limited to school timings. Cyber bullying can happen anytime and the constant fear of what kind of ridicule will be posted next can drive your kid insane.

As said before, it’s easier to bully online because people can say and do things they wouldn’t normally do in person. Also, the online audience is a lot larger and anything can go viral in a matter of few minutes. A single post that targets someone can reach hundreds of people. The worst part is that cyber bullying can also be anonymous, so even if someone were to take action, they wouldn’t know whom to approach.

How to Protect Your Kids from Cyber Bullying
The best way to protect your kids from cyber bullying is by keeping open communication with your children, so they feel comfortable enough sharing everything with you. Talk to them about the issue and encourage them to speak up even when others are being bullied.

Set a few guidelines for your kids and explain to them that it’s for their own protection. Make sure your children never give out personal information online, such as on social media sites, blogs or other websites. Encourage your child to share all threatening messages or other incidences of cyber bullying. As a parent, you can take appropriate action by either informing the school or the police. Investing in spy ware for cell phones can help you keep tab on your children and you can protect your child from these dangers.