Bullying on the web media or through other
electronic means is referred to as cyberbullying. Children, especially
should be taught the protective mechanisms to counter cyberbullying.
Keep reading this article for more information on the same.
A
majority of us are avid Internet users; aware of its widespread use and
the huge impact it has had on our lives. The Internet is the preferred
means of communication for many of us, thanks to the innumerable social
networking and chat websites! However, the medium also has many
drawbacks, the chief one being the lack of privacy and security. The
Internet is also prone to attacks like cyberbullying which is the most
proliferate attack on the web media.
Understanding Cyberbullying
Bullying
is abusing, and cyberbullying implies abusing on the web. A bully can
nag his victims through many ways, it can be a regular sending of
abusive emails or messages, use of filthy language while chatting, or
pretension to be someone else. Mailing the victim vulgar photographs or
hateful remarks is also a form of abuse. Most of us today use blogs with
an unsuspecting intention of sharing our thoughts with others. However,
bullies have corrupted this platform too, by posting comments that
embarrass the victims and others around. Moreover, it being an abuse in
public, tends to be more disturbing for the affected person. Constant
harassment and bullying on the web leaves a person mentally troubled.
People
with destructive minds who derive pleasure abusing others, or those
with a revengeful mind often resort to cyberbullying. Children, as I had
said earlier, are the soft targets for bullies. It is thus the duty of
parents, to themselves be aware of the various protective measures, and
to teach their wards the significance of the safe use of the Internet.
The simple protective measures have been discussed below...
Ways to Protect Yourself From Cyberbullying
Maintain
Privacy: For a safe experience on the web you should effectively make
use of the privacy features that many websites offer. This holds
specially on the social networking websites, where a person has to
obligatorily provide some of his personal details. But a major chunk of
these websites also offer privacy features through which they offer the
choice to determine how much information you wish to reveal to
strangers. As a way to protect yourself from cyberbullying, you should
share your personal data only with your friends.
This was for the
social networking websites. Besides, you should always ensure you do
not share your information on sites that look doubtful, especially
pop-up websites that appear while browsing through the web. This is
because bullies, if intelligent, can hack into the website and retrieve
the data of your personal information. They then harass the personal
details of victims for their ulterior motives. The summarization is that
you should not reveal your web life (personal details and photos) to
strangers and should keep it protected. Similar should be taught to
children.
The Significance of a Screen Name and Password: The
significance of this holds in the instant messaging (IM) chatting
websites. People often look to chatting as a means of overcoming boredom
or for meeting new people. Unsuspecting people reveal their true names
to people they have been chatting with. This being fine, people while
communicating with strangers also reveal their contact details. This can
cause the person a lot of harm if the other person turns out to be a
bully. Thus you should avoid giving your personal details to strangers.
Screen names and email addresses that reveal your age and gender should
be avoided.
Your password should only be 'your password' known
only to you, and you should not even reveal it to people who are
trustworthy. The password should be intelligently designed and should
not be a common phrase that can be easily hacked. Explain it to your
ward the importance of password privacy and ask him/her to not reveal it
to anyone.
Never Retaliate to a Bully: Another way to protect
yourself from a particular bully is not retaliating to his comments. If
someone bullies you on the Internet you should immediately block that
person from accessing your web profile. It is the motive of the bully to
trouble you and he will derive more fun if you show that the bullying
is troubling you. Thus, ideally you should leave the chat room
immediately and should never respond to the messages. Your tormentor
will get tired of your lack of response and subsequently will stop
troubling you.
Report it: If you are constantly being harassed on
the web, the best way to deal with cyberbullying is by saving all the
offensive messages. You can then report these messages to the concerned
authorities. There are many laws that work against cyberbullying. But it
is often impossible to catch the person who was bullying on you. An
intelligent way is by changing your email address or phone number. This
will end all the trouble. In cases of bullying through chat rooms, you
can report the IDs of the bullies to the site moderators.
A Few Important Tips
If you are a social networking site user, ensure that you have set your security features in the way it is desired.
Never add a person as a friend if you do not know him/her. If you
are chatting with a stranger make sure you do not reveal any of your
personal details, until you are sure that the person is trustworthy.
The privacy of photographs demand special attention, as sometimes,
the photographs can also be downloaded and misused for bad motives.
Never open emails that you feel are suspicious and spammy. Sending
useless spam emails with derogatory language and photos is also
bullying.
When children are using the Internet, parental controls
should be installed to prevent the opening of porn and adult sites.
Exposure to these websites can have a devastating impact on young minds.
These
were the essential tips that you should follow for a safe experience on
the web. Bullying is a very serious issue, and as I had mentioned
earlier, each of us is prone to bullying, if we do not keep ourselves
protected. So, keep yourself protected from cyberbullying and at the
same time please do not indulge in it.
