Cyber Bullying and Internet Safety

  As young people embrace the Internet and other mobile communication technologies, bullying has manifested itself in a new and potentially more dangerous way – through cyber bullying.  Cyber bullying can generally be defined as sending or posting harmful or malicious messages or images through e-mail, instant messages, cell phones and websites.   Examples of cyber bullying include: sending cruel, vicious and sometimes, threatening messages, posting pictures of classmates online with intent to embarrass them, engaging in IM (instant messaging) to trick another person into revealing sensitive or personal information and forwarding that information to others and taking a picture of a person using a digital phone camera and sending that picture electronically to others without consent.

   Suggestions for Parents:

Make sure your children understand how vast and public the Internet is.

• Remind them that anything they post or send in a message is virtually available to be seen or read by anyone in the world.
• Talk to your children about cyber bullying.  Make sure they understand what it is.
• Let then know that cyber bullying is no less serious and unacceptable than other forms of bullying.  
• Set up the family computer in an open, common area so that you can monitor what your child is sending and receiving.
• Inform your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or cell phone service provider of any abuse. Although it can take a lot of time and effort to get Providers to respond and deal with your complaints about cyber bullying, it is necessary in order to try to stop it from re-occurring.
• Purchase software that can help track activity. There are parental controls that filter both IM and chat rooms.

For more information on Internet Safety, please check out www.bewebaware.ca .                                                                                         media-awareness.ca

 

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