Cyberbullying — A Silent Killer
The effects of bullying can be devastating. The victim feels humiliated, helpless, depressed, angry and even suicidal sometimes. And ever since technology has arrived and made a mass penetration into our lives, child harassment is no longer limited to street corners and schoolyards. Cyberbullying can take place anywhere and anytime. School bullies can now get online and abuse your kid through social media, instant messaging apps, text messages, emails, etc.
Experts are of the view that schools are on the verge of crisis as latest statistics have divulged one in four kids is left traumatized by online abuse. Consequently, victims fail to sleep. Another study has found that the term cyberbullying is searched eight times more in Google during September and October (a period when kids go back to school) than in summers.
According to Jeremy Todd of Bullying, UK, everyday kids spend roughly four to five hours online without any supervision, which is quite alarming. However, that’s not the case when kids go down the park. Their parents ask them who they saw. What did they do? Did they have a good time at the park? Unfortunately, this level of inquiry isn’t happening when that kid goes online.
This is a real worry because negligence has left a lot of kids open to all sorts of problems and abuse. Gone are the days when bullying comes to an end when the child leaves school for home. Now cell phones, tablets, and even PC games have made it really hard for them to escape abuse online even when they are in their room. Due to this very reason, Jeremy believes cyberbullying is on the brink of becoming a silent epidemic.
In spite of it, 45 percent of the children said that online abuse was not taken seriously by their school. And the worst part is only half of the kids would tell their parents if they were distressed by something on the web, according to a study conducted by Internet Matters after talking to 10,000 children between the ages of six to 18 years.
Cyberbullying is Claiming Lives
In the past year alone, cyberbullying claimed several lives, including Megan Evans from Milford Haven. The 14-year-old took her life in February 2017 after she was bullied on Snapchat. Distressingly, the last message she received read, “Why don’t you hang yourself?” And she typed “OK” in response to it. Her mother Nicola Harteveld said they all are distressed and angry because none of them observed anything different with her.
Another teenager, Felix Alexander stepped in front of the train in April last year as he was dubbed the most hated child in school by bullies. The 17-year-old Felix was cruelly abused on social media since he was 10, which eventually became unbearable for him.
His mother Lucy Alexander said at the time that his son’s self-esteem and confidence was shattered by the abusive behavior he experienced over the time. People who had never even met Felix in their life were battering him over the social network. Resultantly, he failed to make and keep friends and eventually end up taking his life.
Why Are Children Bullied?
There are countless reasons for bullies to target someone, but normally they pick on children who are different or don’t fully fit into any social group. While their individualism is something they will cherish in later life, it becomes a curse when they are young and trying to fit in with the mainstream. It could be their dress, act, or maybe sexual orientation, religion or race that sets them apart and makes them a target.
In some instances, it may simply be that a child is new to the neighborhood or school and they don’t have any friends there. But, no matter the circumstances, its parents’ jobs to tell their kids that they shouldn’t put up with bullying. Because no type of bullying can be tolerated and they should talk to them right away whenever they experience harassment. So parents or guardians can aid them to overcome the problem and preserve their sense of self by retaining their dignity.
Here’s what parents should know in order to deal with this menace — at school and online.
You are Fortunate If Your Kid Asks for Help. Typically, most young ones don’t tell their parents about the online or offline abuse. So if your kid is losing sleep, doesn’t like to go to school or seems tense or nervous when they are using their phone or computer, ask why as coolly and open heartedly as possible.
You also have the liberty to ask them if it has anything to do with social issues or mean behaviors. If it does, don’t jump to any conclusions in haste. Get the full story before taking any action, starting with your kid’s perspective.
Work Out a Solution by Getting Your Child Onboard. There are two major reasons why you should work with your child. Firstly, cyberbullying and bullying involve a loss of control over situation or dignity. Involving your child in finding a solution will allow them to regain that. The second reason is understanding the context.
Since harassment is almost always related to school life, so the kids understand the gravity of the situation and context better than you ever can, so hearing their perspective is the way to get to the bottom of the situation and come up with a practical solution.
Feel free to have private conversations with others, but do let your kid know about it by reporting back. Because this is about their life and it is important that they should be a part of the solution.
Don’t Act Rashly. What a lot of parents don’t know is that when they act rashly they only make things worse for their broods. Cyberbullying often involves somebody getting relegated as it makes the bully think it increases their status or power.
So when you respond publically or your child’s peers even get the slight sense about a discreet meeting with school authorities, the relegation gets worse. This is why it’s important to respond thoughtfully, and not fast.
Make Use of Available Tech Tools. Whether the harassment is taking place via instant messaging apps, comments or tagged photos on social media sites, do yourself a favor and make use of the available monitoring apps. A tracking software will instantly tell you if your child is being bullied or something else is wrong with them.
Since monitoring apps can extract their IM chats, SMS, emails, multimedia files, internet history and much more. In fact, you can even define keywords like a names, places, words, or numbers using an advanced monitoring app like xnspy to receive quick notification whenever they appear in your child’s communications or searches.
