Cyberbullying: why is it dangerous and how to counter it?

With the development of modern information technologies, means of communication and the involvement of children and adolescents in the world of the Internet, such a type of school violence as cyberbullying has appeared — humiliation or harassment using mobile phones and other electronic devices. Sometimes it is even more painful than beatings after school, according to child protection experts Marina Egorova and Marina Akulova.

Through social networks and communities on the Internet, the dissemination of any information occurs at lightning speed. One click — and humiliating and defamatory photos, videos, parody images, rumors reach a huge number of addressees. Using mobile phones, the Internet, cyber aggressors around the clock can intimidate their victims, giving them the illusion of complete control of their lives.

Internet technologies make it possible to preserve their anonymity, so children, not being able to identify the author of messages, are afraid of revenge for involving parents and teachers in the problem. Children are often hesitant to talk about the cyber violence used against them, as they are afraid that they will be punished for “denunciation”.

Anonymity and the resulting impunity lead to the «disinhibition» of the aggressor: the process captivates the teenager, and his methods become more cruel and cause more and more harm to the victim.

For a cyberaggressor, it is not necessary to have physical strength, authority and influence over peers in order to feel superior. Through the Internet, the ability to humiliate, insult, terrorize is realized only with the help of a computer or mobile phone.

Once on the Web, information stays there for a long time, circulating and appearing in various Internet information resources. This causes a long-term traumatic effect on the psyche of the child, who becomes the object of ridicule and humiliation, forms his low self-esteem, often leads to depressive states, not excluding suicidal consequences.

Cyberbullying can go beyond the boundaries of the Internet into real life in the form of other manifestations of bullying, when the aggressor and the target of bullying are in the same school, in the same district or city. Children and adolescents, not assessing the consequences of their actions, post a large amount of personal information on the Internet on their pages on social networks. Photos, posts — everything can be used by the aggressor for the purpose of intimidation.

Parents often do not have enough information about cyberbullying and online safety practices. Less than 25% of parents impose at least some kind of restrictions, while 70% of Russian children go online every day (about a third have their own profiles), and 10% suffer from severe Internet addiction.

How to protect your child from cyberbullying?

Be attentive to how he uses the Internet, set the time frame for being on the Web. Maintain a trusting relationship with your child in order to notice in time if someone begins to show aggression or threats against him. Watch his mood during and after interacting with someone online.

Teach your kids the rules of internet communication. Explain that anonymity should not lead to permissiveness, that Internet communication should be friendly, aggression towards other people is unacceptable in it. In no case should you write harsh and offensive words — reading rudeness is as unpleasant as hearing.

On the other hand, children should be able to properly respond to offensive words or actions of other users. You should not communicate with the aggressor, and even more so try to answer him in the same way. It may be worth leaving this resource altogether and deleting your personal information from there if you cannot solve the problem peacefully. The best way to stop a bully is to respond with complete disregard.

Be sure to tell us what personal information should never be posted online (for example, address and phone number). Discuss how this or that information can be used by Internet bullies. Be interested in the success of the child in mastering the Web, show him what opportunities it contains and how to use them. Try to arouse interest in developing resources.

If you find out that one of your child’s friends or acquaintances is being cyberbullied, then inform the class teacher or school psychologist about this — measures must be taken to protect the child.

How to help a child if he has already encountered an Internet threat?

1. If your child has experienced cyberbullying, you may notice changes in their mood during and after online interactions.

Establish contact with the child, try to position him for a conversation, ask what happened. He must trust you and understand that you want to understand the situation and help him, but in no case punish him.

2. If the child is upset about something he sees (for example, someone hacked his profile on a social network) or he got into an unpleasant situation (he spent money as a result of an Internet fraud), try to calm him down. Find out what led to this result — directly the actions of the child himself, the lack of your control, or the child’s ignorance of the rules of safe behavior on the Internet.

3. If the situation is related to violence on the Internet against a child, it is necessary to find out information about the offender, the history of their relationship, find out if there is an agreement to meet in real life and whether such incidents have happened before. Specify what the offender knows about the child: real name, surname, address, phone number, school number.

Offer your help — discuss how you can neutralize, block the aggressor. Explain the dangers a child may be exposed to when meeting strangers, especially without witnesses. If the cyber aggression is serious and there is a risk to the health of the child, then there may be grounds for the involvement of law enforcement agencies.

4. Collect the most complete information about the incident both from the words of the child and with the help of technical means. Go to the pages of the site where he was, look at the list of his friends, read the messages. If necessary, copy and save this information.

5. If you are not sure of your assessment of how serious the incident is, or if the child is not frank enough with you and is not ready to make contact, contact a specialist (helpline, hotline). Employees of special services will tell you what needs to be done first of all, where and in what form to apply.

If the incoming threats are serious enough, concerning the life or health of the child, as well as family members, then you have the right to protection from law enforcement agencies.