What is Cyberbullying and How Can We Prevent Our Children from Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is one of the most common online threats having horrible consequences on the victim. This online danger is not only influencing lives of adults but it has also disturbed younger children. It is very common to have a humiliating comment on your social media post or to receive annoying phone calls from anonymous contacts. These all are examples of cyberbullying. Though, the online bullying is harmless in some scenarios, but the consistent humiliation and harassment can put severe impact on the mental and psychological health of the victim. Parents are needed to play key role in protecting their children from the online harassment. Also, they are responsible to spy on kids from bullying others. Read on to know how you can supervise a cyber-bully kid and keep him/her restricted from such wrongdoing.
What is Cyberbullying?
To detect a bully in your home, it is important that you completely understand what cyberbullying is. The online bullying is not quite different than the traditional face-to-face harassment. To frequently tease, offend, harass or humiliate someone using electronic means such as mobile phones and computers is termed as cyberbullying. You might have noticed negative comments on social media posts of celebrities; it is an example of online bullying.
How to Prevent Kids from Cyberbullying?
If your kid is bullying someone, it is your obligation that you keep him from this misconduct. Usually, kids harass other children who are weaker in physical health or academic record. However, the online bullying is a bit different. The victims of cyberbullying are those kids who are good is study and get praise for their behavior. The envious bully kids use social media platforms to tease the target by keeping their identities hidden.
For kids, making fun of someone with a negative comment on social media posts of the target is the easiest revenge. However, a negative comment or a threatening message can have horrible consequence on the victim’s mental and psychological health. The consistent cyberbullying has made many kid victims to commit suicide. If you do not want your kid to get involved in such misconduct, follow the give guidelines to prevent them from cyberbullying.
Let’s Talk
Majority of young bullies harass other children without knowing enough about bullying. They remain unaware that what they do for the sake of fun can take someone’s life. This is because it is important that you educate your kids about face-to-face and online bullying. Your kid must know what cyberbullying is and what its forms are. Even name calling is considered bullying. Let your kids know that what type of behavior is unacceptable on social media, online platforms and even in the real life. If your kid is bullying someone unintentionally, let him know that his/her act is objectionable and he/she may have to face serious consequences for this misconduct.
Supervise Social Media Activities
Social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram provide safe haven to bullies. It is important that you supervise the social media activities of your children to protect them from the potential dangers of the socializing platforms and to prevent bullies from cyberbullying. There is social media monitoring app that allows supervising activities performed on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, WhatsApp and many commonly used social and instant messengers. Using OgyMogy monitoring app, you can stay updated about your kids’ posts, chats, friend-list, media file sharing and more. If you find your kids bullying someone, you can take necessary steps to prevent him/her from such unlawful activity.
Set Rules
Rules can be helpful in learning and practicing certain actions. You can protect your children from online bullying by setting some rules. For example, do not allow them to communicate with strangers in both real and cyber world. You never know if that stranger is a bully or a predator. Also, do not allow using mobile phones, internet and going online late at night. This is the time when your kid is most likely to get involved in wrongdoings such as harassments for the sake of fun. Restricting or limiting the mobile phone and computer use will not only safeguard your kids from the scoundrels but also help in minimizing their screen time.
The Bottom Line
Using the above mentioned guidelines, you can keep your children from cyberbullying and also safeguard them from the online dangers. Educate your kids about the potential threats of the online world and supervise their digital lives to keep them protected and prevented.