Monday, August 26, 2019

Who can help with cyberbullying?

Image result for cyberbullying

Parents
Parents should be involved in their child's life. They should know who their child's best friend is, who's the kid they have a crush on, who's the mean kid, etc. Sometimes, though, parents don't know anything because they don't think to ask about their child's day or their child doesn't approach them. Establishing that relationship where a parent is always available to a child for help and support could alter how they react to things they see on the internet. My sister was cyberbullied and my mother knew exactly who to get involved in the situation (police and school board in this case) and knew how to help her stop the bullying; and this is due to the fact that my mother has established that sort of relationship between her and my sister.

Schools
Schools do "as much as they can" to raise awareness of cyberbullying and how to approach it, seek help, and stop it. The thing is, schools don't have the authority to monitor social media because it is not their responsibility. But, what schools can do is provide a way for students to tell someone about cyberbullying anonymously. The fear that comes with reporting any sort of bullying is that the bullying will get worse, and that'll never go away. But making the school notified about the situation will allow them to get in the middle of the bullying and involve whoever needs to be involved in the situation.

Kids
The real obvious answer here is to just not do it to begin with, but that'll never happen. What kids can do is report it or stand up to the bullying when they see it happening. Like I said before, there will always be that fear that the bullying will get worse, but it could go away if someone is told about it. Most of the time, the bullying will stop if someone stands up to the bully, and I can say this with full confidence because I've done it myself.

Social Media Platforms
Most, if not all, social media platforms provide a means to block people so you don't have to see or be contacted by someone. I'm not sure if this is already in affect, but monitoring what is said could reduce the bullying as well. Looking for key words or phrases like "...is so stupid" could reduce the amount of cyberbullying.

Police/Government
The government could make programs to help instead of just punishing a bully. There could be counseling groups or individual counseling provided to establish why they may be bullying and help the bully see why it is wrong and harmful to others.

Internet Service Providers
ISPs tend to have a large influence and could raise awareness and make campaigns against cyberbullying. AT&T has their "It Can Wait" campaign that is associated with texting and driving, so these companies are capable of putting it out there, they just have to do it.

Here is a link about a case of cyberbullying where the bullies were arrested because the victim committed suicide.

No comments:

Post a Comment