Putting a Stop to Cyber Bullying
Along with the modern conveniences of communications, some negative developments have also taken place. Cyber bullying is one such development that causes a lot of pain to children who surf the net, use instant messaging, and chat rooms. These facilities are used to frighten, debase and insult victims. If your child has experienced such bullying, please do not treat it lightly. Your child must be taught not to respond to such bullying. Save all material used in the messages sent by the cyber bully and try and trace the source. If laws are broken, the police can take action and if the terms and conditions of the chat room or social networking websites have been violated, they too can be informed and the bully blacklisted.
A number of steps can be taken to block phone numbers and computer aliases from specified receivers thus denying the bully an opportunity to contact a particular number. If this is repeatedly done, cyber bullies normally lose interest. If the cyber bullying takes place at the school where your child studies, you should contact the school’s officials so that they can take appropriate action. Such activities on the school’s premises will be illegal and severe action can be taken against the perpetrators. Off-school cyber bullying however is different and needs to be tackled at different levels, perhaps even the police.
Anonymity is an advantage of using the Internet and many bullies exploit this. If however one is brazen to use his own name, his parents can be contacted in writing and in a non-accusatory tone. The parents of the cyber bully may not be even aware of what their ward is up to, and will most likely come to your assistance quite cheerfully. It will be a good idea to show them proof of bullying communications received to impress on them the seriousness of the issue.
For most children, cyber bullying is a lark and they may not even be aware of the consequences of their action. They will continue till they are stopped. It is also likely that even if they know the consequences of their action, they will continue to bully on cyber space till adults put a stop to it.
If the kind of cyber bullying is of a nature deserving the strongest action, it is also very likely to be illegal. There could instances of harassment, threats or pornography, which all deserves the strongest action and the police should be brought into the picture at the earliest. Cyber bullies often steal passwords and email accounts. This is illegal and the police will take action if informed about it. Prevention is better than cure and so if your child is a victim of cyber bullying, take immediate action. Otherwise, the matter could snow ball into a major emotional and perhaps even physical problem for the child. Cyber space offers scope for a determined bully to access a larger audience than he would in real life and so, the danger is very real and deserves your attention and prompt action when brought to your attention.