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:

-          Stolen identity

-          Threats

-          Blackmail

-          Rumours / gossip

-          Abusive Comments

-          Nasty pictures

-          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:

-          Low self-esteem

-          Withdrawal from family and spending a lot of time alone

-          Reluctance to let parents or other family members anywhere near their mobiles, laptops etc.

-          Finding excuses to stay away from school or work including school refusal

-          Friends disappearing or being excluded from social events

-          Losing weight or changing appearance to try and fit in

-          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

-          A change in personality i.e. anger, depression, crying, withdrawn

-          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;

-          20% of children and young people indicate fear of cyber bullies made them reluctant to go to school

-          5% reported self-harm

-          3% reported an attempt of suicide as a direct result of cyber bullying

-          Young people are found to be twice as likely to be bullied on FB as any other social networking site.

-          28% of young people have reported incidents of cyber bullying on Twitter

-          26% of young people have reported incidents of cyber bullying on Ask.fm