Bullying is a difficult problem when kids go to school and ride the bus. Bullying online is a literal epidemic. Thanks to the explosion of online capabilities, it is extremely easy to terrorize another student or kid and do so from a distance. When you can hide behind a computer, you will do things you might otherwise never attempt. For this reason, kids are suffering at an alarming rate. Here are some tips to help prevent online bullying and to take control of your digital world:
Limit Visibility
Whether you know it or not there are a lot of places online where everyone can see what you post. For example, what you post on Facebook may not come up in a Google search, but what you post on G+ will. That’s why if you are trying to develop a following on Youtube, for example, G+ is your most effective tool. When you want to talk about personal things that you don’t want everyone else to see, look to your Facebook account with private settings.
Check your profile settings on all of your accounts to make sure what you post is only visible to friends. Your profile itself should only be visible to friends, but this can make it difficult for people to find you. If need be, simply give them the URL to your profile.
Be Careful What You Say
In the heat of the moment, you might feel like putting your most passionate thoughts online. Maybe you are lonely or your feelings just got hurt. Your friends may respond in a supportive manner, but not everyone online is your friend. Always assume that unsavory characters can see what you post and are willing to use it against you. Avoid posting things online that can be fodder for creative bullies. It is sad, but we have to be completely aware of everything we post these days. For this reason, wait five minutes before posting anything and read it several times. This will limit the “mistake” posts that can cause you grief.
Skip the Drama
You might think that drama just comes to you naturally. The truth of the matter is that it only comes at all if you let it. Otherwise, there is no drama. If you have friends who are dramatic, avoid their posts so you don’t get sucked into it. You can also avoid drama by posting positive things and never judging someone else online. Things can easily be taken out of context and used against you at any time. A simple statement can be twisted into something horrible. Be smart about what you post.
When you limit the drama online, you are limiting your chances of getting bullied online.
Use common sense online. With every bit of information you give online, ask yourself if this is something you want your enemies to have access to. This includes your address, activities, and other information that could indicate where you are and what your weak points are.
It must suck to be a teenager in the digital age, everyone’s on facebook and the bullying can just continue at home.
These all sound like common sense. Don’t put anything online that you would want haters to find. But I guess that is usually a lesson learned the hard way
Online bullying is a real problem, hopefully we can find a solution.
This is great advice, something that every teen should memorize.
Good tips for teens and hopefully parents will not let their kids head out onto the WWW completely unsupervised. Set limits!!
Kids need to be supervised, plain and simple!
I feel so bad for kids these days. Bullying is horrible.
Great tips. Cyber bullying is rampant, and I just feel terrible for the kids who face it. At least in the old days the bully had to stand toe to toe with the victim, now they can hide behind the monitor.
Sharing is a young man I know. Thanks great info!
Ugh, I can’t even imagine being a teenager this day in age!
Great tips! Thanks for sharing. It’s appalling how often cyber bullying happens to kids.
These are really great tips, social media makes things so much more complicated for today’s kids.
My granddaughter has taken to posting My page is a drama free zone… She will not allow anyone to mouth another.
The extent to which bullying goes on is mind boggling. Kids need to be better supervised online.
These are really good suggestions on how to limit bullying in your family. I completely agree about the drama part too. It really on takes hold, if you let it!
Great tips! For anyone really! It’s unfortunate that bullying can sometimes happen at any age.
Thanks for this , my daughter is now of the age that this will become an issue and she is so innocent I can see her being targeted.
I feel pretty grateful that I grew up in a time without social media. It’s tough out there for kids!
My kids are still very little but this scares me. I hope I can help them stay away from online bullies
Online bullying is such a big problem now. It’s definitely great to learn to avoid it. Thanks for sharing this post.
I know my kids won’t like it, but I’m going to be all over their social media accounts…if I ever let them have them. 🙂
Great post I’m lucky my kids haven’t had a problem like this yet but one of daughter’s closest friends was been bullied online. Her mom made her close the facebook and twitter accounts and seems it actually got better.
great post, bullying seems to be everywhere these days, it’s so sad. Great tips, prevention and observation is key.
I’ve heard so many cyber bullying stories. It’s so heartbreaking. I’m sharing this article with everyone I know. We truly need to spread the word about this. Thank you!
I worry about this with my son. He is seriously the nicest kid ever and I hate that some kids pray on his niceness. And everyone knows that he doesn’t stand up for himself.
I can’t believe how much we hear about cyber bullying in the news now. There has got to be some better ways to put an end to this for young people.
It’s really sad to know what bullying can do and where it can start nowadays. Now you don’t even have the peace of mind in your own home.
My son just stays away from the drama when it starts.
Really important message here. Great tips.
It’s terrible kids have to put up with bullies online as well as real life. People really are such cowards.
It’s scary what is happening these days, too many lives are lost because of the bullying. It’s really sad. These are great tips, thank you.
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