- Lucy Armitage
- Leeds
- United Kingdom
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How do we stop cyber bullying?
Every so often, there is a story on the news about a teen or adult commiting suicide due to cyber bullying. This story on the BBC News website has caught my eye and many others as well; http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/19960162
I know it is a very big problem today and I would like it to be a minimal problem in the future.
I was hoping we could all join together, concentrate and present as many ideas as possible to tackle this problem. I know we probably won't be able to solve it in this one conversation but we could start talking to combat the issue.
What are your ideas to prevent/stop cyber bullying?
Do you reckon we should put a minimum age of using social networking sites or uploading images onto social networking sites?
Ready for all suggestions!
Linda Taylor 50+
We have to give our kids the tools to deal with the haters in the world. You can turn off the computer, block the phone. If the kid is internalizing the bullying they need to get some assistance on putting it into perspective.
Almost everyone I know was bullied at some point in their life. It's like a pack of hyenas out in the bigger world. Isolating and protecting ONLY online is an exercise in futility. I do understand the media is new but bullying is not.
James Zhang 30+
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
What can be done is that parents should teach their children the importance of not taking the words and perceptions of other people too seriously; and as Josh S has wisely suggested, social media presence is not a must. If the cyber exposes you to disempowering thoughts and attitude, then you gotta leave it.
There is always a difference between the real state of things and what a few vindictive individuals say or think.
No doubt my suggestions are not easy, but sadly it is a more practical solution than waiting for the day when everybody on the cyber will be lovey-dovey. It's not going to happen.
James Zhang 30+
One way to stop cyber bullying is to just not take them seriously.
I think a lot of people who commit suicide due to cyber bullying are people who have low self-esteem and low self-respect, probably because they don't get enough love in their life to where they themselves can love themselves.
Josh S
Maybe my response will sound cold or mean, but i have to get it out there. The entire concept of cyber bullying doesn't make sense. If you don't want to get cyber bullied, don't go onto social media sites... I mean honestly, if its that big a deal dont use it. But another huge factor that everyone seems to ignore, is that students dont make fun of other students online publicly unless they're provoked ( in 99.999999% of the situations). I'm sorry, but they really don't.
Second, if a student can't handle what others say online yet continually go online, there are other problems worse then online bullying. If its that bad, their home life must be awful and torn, and that should be fixed before cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying is attributed to way more deaths then it actually causes. The underlying causes, a torn home, nonexistant parenting, are what causes the suicides, not other students.
Fritzie Reisner 100+
I worked at two different schools in which kids targeted high-functioning autistic students in this way. In one case a student put up a website under the name of his target and posted lots of neo-nazi material- as if the target was the site host.
Kids start rumors about other kids sometimes whom they resent. Unless something like being a quiet A student, having bad acne, or wearing a turban are considered provocations, I do not think your evaluation of what leads to bullying is correct.
Josh S
Maybe you worked in schools years ago, or maybe my school is just an anomoly,
but we also have autistic chilrden in our school, and if someone were to make fun of them behind their backs, they are immediately reprimended by not teachers, but fellow classmates. And never have they made fun of them to their face. If someone in our school was to do what that student did, they would be scorned by the student body.
Yes, kids do start rumors, but not on the innocent. I have seen only 2 cases of rumors being spread online, and neither case was their a true 'victim'. In both situations, both parties did something to antagonize. Again, maybe it is a difference in my school, but kids respect religious differences. They also dont make fun of people for the reasons you described.
I could definately see your situations being carried out 20 years ago (from what i see in movies, of course i could be wrong because i dont have first hand knoweldge) but it is not what happens nowadays.
And its not like i go to some small private school, i go to a very large public high school which is just about average with the rest of the country in socio-economic and ethnic diversity differences.
Fritzie Reisner 100+
But I am glad your school has bullying under control.
Gail . 50+
peter lindsay 30+
Question to Bully;." Why are you scared of Victim?"
Answer; " I'm not scared of Victim I bully him all the time".
But Bully, you only bully people because your scared of them. What are you scared of Bully?
Fritzie Reisner 100+
There are, fortunately, many websites now with inventories of effective strategies to counter cyberbullying. No one needs to start from scratch to generate ideas.
Here is one such resource: http://www.ncpc.org/topics/cyberbullying . What do you think of what they propose?