Despite its widespread nature there is still little recourse available in terms of preventing Cyber bullying, and limited methods of dealing with it after the fact.
Preventative Methods:
The main preventative methods aim at educating those that might participate in cyber bullying, the implications their actions might have, and putting a face on what they might otherwise see as a faceless crime. Preventative methods focus on cautioning teenagers to think before they forward on an offensive video, or send an offensive message to someone, as it isn’t a faceless crime, and it does have consequences, such as the loss of the IM or
Other means of staying safe is to avoid putting yourself in a position open to ridicule, this can be achieved by:
- Never posting any private information online, no matter how safe and harmless the website appears. (this includes e-mail address, phone number, home address, etc)
- Keep your various accounts (eg: Facebook, LiveJournal, Blogspot) private, as opposed to open to all public viewing.
Putting a Halt to cyber bullies:
Since the reasoning behind cyber bullying is different for each bully there is no single technique to stop cyber bullying once it starts. However some of the most commonly used methods include:
- Talking to a trusted teacher/ parent
- Seeking outside intervention (eg: police/ website admin)
- Blocking their pathways of attack or ignoring them. The reasoning behind this is if you don’t react the bullies are more likely to get bored and move on.
- Know your legal rights and be willing to act on them.
