Responding to Online Bullying

In recent years, kids have found another way to pick on each other: the Internet. It is natural to get upset when kids write or distribute terrible things about a child, either to them or about them. This is called “cyberbullying”.

Cyberbullying or online bullying is any harassment, threatening, or bullying that uses the Internet or any other electronic device including, but not limited to email, text messaging, instant messaging, chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites and profiles.

Wide spread access to easy-to-use Internet technology combined with the false perception of anonymity makes the Internet a convenient tool for bullying behaviors. Now anyone can be mean to others with whom they are mad, upset or have a grievance in ways that they normally wouldn’t behave if they were limited to face-to-face interactions.

There are many ways we can protect ourselves and others from online bullying.

• Never provide any information or images in electronic form that could be used against you or someone else.
• Examine how you are communicating. If you find that people are attacking you, look closely at how you are communicating with them. Your messages might be irritating or hurtful to others.

• Think twice before writing or posting anything on the Internet about someone else.

How can you teach students in your classroom about cyberbullying?

From Professional Learning Board’s online continuing education course for teachers: Bullying: The Golden Rule Solution