Let’s first start with, what is bullying? To simply define bullying, it is unwanted aggressive and abusive power from another individual. It can take multiple different forms physical, emotional, verbal, manipulative, and even cyber bullying. The pain experienced from emotional, verbal and cyber bullying have just as much impact as physical bullying.
Cyber bullying is probably the least understood form of bullying yet probably the most prevalent in this generation. Cyber bullying is a form of bullying that takes place through the Internet. It can occur on social media sites such as Facebook, snap chat, Instagram and Tik Tok. This form of bullying can spread farther and faster, “going viral” making the impact of the damage to the victim that much greater. It involves things such as posting harmful, mean and often false statements about others, posting photos of events that are taking place that are embarrassing or humiliating and even sharing personal or private information about someone else.
All forms of bullying, can lead to health concerns such as anxiety and depression. Bullying is something that should be taken seriously. If you are a victim or you know someone who is a victim of bullying here are some guidelines on what to do:
- Respond calmly but assertively- tell the bully to stop be very clear and confident
- Walk away if possible and do not engage, if it is cyber bullying do not respond
- When possible, always go places with another person, bullies are less likely to bully when there are others around, for cyber bullying block and report on the social media platform that was used
- Report, make sure you tell an adult, a police officer a counselor immediately
- Make sure that you save the evidence- take pictures, save data etc.
For Parents, Teachers and Counselors (any adult) in the child’s life:
- Educate your children on the different forms of bullying, how to handle bullying and safe places to report and get help
- Educate your children on proper ways to handle their own feelings and emotions so that they do not become bullies
- And if a child comes to you that has been bullied, listen to them and validate their feelings and assist them in getting help
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