CYBER BULLYING
Cyber bullying is any form of
bullying which takes place online or through mobile phones. Websites like
Facebook, Bebo, YouTube, MySpace, instant messaging, MSN, gaming forums are the
few of the many places where cyber bullying can take place. Cyber bullying is something
many people have or could experience.
Problems include:
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Stolen identity
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Threats
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Blackmail
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Rumours / gossip
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Abusive Comments
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Nasty pictures
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Something inappropriate
Cyber bulling can be where
people are making suggestions to others where they feel uncomfortable or upset.
CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) investigates cases
of sex abuse and grooming on the internet. Grooming is where people make
friends with you and try to involve you in inappropriate activities. In the UK
this behaviour is a criminal offence.
There have been cases where
people have been cyber bullied and deleted the evidence that they ever where,
lowering the chance of solving the problem of the bullying. There are lots of
complaints about stolen identity. This happens when someone either hacks into
an account or pretends to be someone else.
Cyber bullying on social
networking websites can have inappropriate posts that can be seen by lots of
people because it's so public. Anyone who makes threats on the internet could
be committing a criminal offence. It's against the law in the UK to use the
phone system - which includes the internet - to cause alarm or distress. It
could also be against the 1997 Harassment Act.
To prove threats have been
sent to someone "print screen" is used to take a snapshot of the
computer screen that can then be imported or pasted into a word processing
package or in a draft email folder. Young people have been in situations where
their new friends" they made on the internet have pressured them into
taking their clothes off and filming themselves. Threats have been made that
their parent will be told embarrassing things if they don't take part. This is
an offence called "grooming" in the UK and men who have been found
guilty of "grooming" have been jailed. People normal upset others by taking a picture
of them and then upload their pictures for other people to have a laugh. That
could be harassment.
If someone posts abuse about
anyone else on the internet, whether it's in places like Facebook or Ask.fm, in
games forums or message boards, or threats in chatrooms or on IM like MSN, it
can be traced by the police. Every time people visit a website or make a posting,
their internet service provider; AOL, BT or Virgin, has an electronic note of
their activity. Even if they create an anonymous email address like Hotmail or
yahoo, they can still be traced.
Cyber bullying affects people
from any age, including children, teens and adults can all feel very distressed
and alone when being bullied online.
Cyber bullying can make people feel totally overwhelmed which can result
in many feeling embarrassed that they are going through such a devastating
time, and not knowing what support is available to them. Many children feel unable to confide in an
adult because they feel ashamed and wonder whether they will be judged, told to
ignore it or close their account which they might not want to do.
For many cyber bullying
affects their everyday lives and is a constant source of distress and
worry. With mobile technology being so
freely available it is an ongoing issue and one that is relentless. Not only does it go on after school, college
or work has finished, but it then carries through into the next day and the
cycle continues. It has been well
documented that cyber bullying has resulted in tragic events including suicide,
and self-harm and clearly, more needs to be done in order to protect vulnerable
children and adults from online bullying.
Signs of cyber bullying:
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Low self-esteem
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Withdrawal from family and
spending a lot of time alone
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Reluctance to let parents or
other family members anywhere near their mobiles, laptops etc.
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Finding excuses to stay away
from school or work including school refusal
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Friends disappearing or being
excluded from social events
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Losing weight or changing
appearance to try and fit in
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Fresh marks on the skin that
could indicate self-harm and dressing differently such as wearing long sleeved
clothes in the summer to hide any marks
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A change in personality i.e.
anger, depression, crying, withdrawn
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What can you do to support
someone who is being bullied online?
Screen shots can be taken pf
the cyber bullying so that people have proof this is happening. Report all
abuse to the relevant social media networks by clicking on the “report abuse”
button.
Recent statistics show that;
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20% of children and young
people indicate fear of cyber bullies made them reluctant to go to school
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5% reported self-harm
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3% reported an attempt of
suicide as a direct result of cyber bullying
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Young people are found to be
twice as likely to be bullied on FB as any other social networking site.
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28% of young people have
reported incidents of cyber bullying on Twitter
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26% of young people have
reported incidents of cyber bullying on Ask.fm
