Strategies for Fighting Cyberbullying

• Both schools and homes should create an online agreement or contract for computer use, with input from students or children. Make sure your agreement contains clear rules about ethical online behaviour.  Research has shown that bullying rates drop when kids know that it is against the rules and how to report it. ^[1]
• With younger children who visit games sites, rules should deal with online interaction: never provide personal information and don’t share passwords with friends.
• For teenagers, online social activity is intense. This is the time to discuss the nature of your teen’s online interaction and, more specifically, his or her responsible use of the Internet. Sexting can easily lead to cyberbullying, particularly if the relationship sours.

Whether your child is a tween or a teen, talk to them about responsible Internet use:

• Teach them to never post or say anything on the Internet that they wouldn’t want the whole world – including you – to read.
• Talk to them about reaching out to an adult at the first sign of a threat. Don’t take for granted that your child will: only 8 per cent of teens who have been bullied online have told their parents. ^[2]
• Chill! Kids refuse to confide in their parents because they fear that once they find out about the cyberbullying, they will take away their Internet or cell phone. ^[3]
• Teach your children that what goes on online is everyone’s business. Let them know that action must be taken when faced with cyberbullying. Not reporting it is tantamount to approving it.
• Encourage kids to speak out against bullying when they encounter it. Popular sites like Facebook and YouTube provide tools to report inappropriate content, and the “comments” features associated with individual pages can provide opportunities for witnesses to speak out.

Take action if a child is being bullied online:

• Watch out for signs that a child is being bullied online – a reluctance to use the computer or go to school may be an indication.
• Report online bullying to your Internet or cell phone service provider. Most companies have Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) that clearly define privileges and guidelines for those using their services, and the actions that can be taken if those guidelines are violated. They should be able to respond to reports of cyberbullying over their networks, or help you track down the appropriate service provider to respond to.
• Report incidents of online harassment and physical threats to your local police. Some forms of online bullying are considered criminal acts. For example: under the Criminal Code of Canada, it is a crime to communicate repeatedly with someone if your communication causes them to fear for their own safety or the safety of others.

We also need to teach kids how to react to an online bully:

• Stop: leave the area or stop the activity (i.e. chat room, online game, instant messaging, social networking site, etc.).
• Block the sender's messages. Never reply to harassing messages.
• Talk to an adult. If the bullying includes physical threats, tell the police as well.
• Save any harassing messages and forward them to your Internet Service Provider (i.e. Hotmail or Gmail). Most service providers have Appropriate Use Policies that restrict users from harassing others over the Internet – and that includes kids!

Finally, in order to fight cyberbullying effectively we need to make an effort to change the culture in which it happens. Both at school and at home, we can help kids understand that what may seem like "just a joke" may have a powerful effect on someone else. It's also important to teach kids that cyberbullying may be less common than they think it is: youth often overestimate how common bullying actually is, even though most report their own experiences as being positive. ^[4] This is significant because research indicates that when youth believe that bullying behaviour is the norm, they are more likely to exhibit and tolerate this sort of behaviour – and that when youth are made aware of how uncommon bullying actually is, bullying rates drop. ^[5]

Schools have started to become more proactive about confronting bullying, but too often these efforts fall into stereotypes, emphasize unrealistic worst-case scenarios, and are presented as one-time-only interventions. [Youth participants in MediaSmarts's study Young Canadians in a Wired World repeatedly said that they had experienced anti-cyberbullying programs – usually one-time assemblies – that not only failed to resonate with them but made them take the issue less seriously. They were also often reluctant to report bullying because they felt that teachers were likely to escalate a situation into more than what it was, possibly as a result of teachers being bound by zero-tolerance policies. ^[6]

Effective intervention programs, on the other hand, have a number of characteristics in common: they include the whole school; they provide support both for targets and perpetrators after an incident; and they work at multiple levels – in the classroom, school-wide, and in connection with parents and the surrounding community. ^[7] By teaching young people to make wise online decisions and to use technology ethically and responsibly; by helping adolescents to think before they act when they are communicating online; and by supporting them in becoming active citizens in creating the online communities we all would like to live in, we can empower youth to speak out and challenge bullying behaviour – wherever it is encountered.

[1] Tannenbaum, Barbara. “Bullying: How Educators Can Make Schools Safer,” Edutopia, September 19 2010.
[2] Mishna, Faye, Alan McLuckie, and Michael Saini. Real-World Dangers in an Online Reality: A Qualitative Study Examining Online Relationships and Cyber Abuse, 2009.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites. Pew Research Institute, November 9, 2011.
[5] Craig, David W. and H. Wesley Perkins, Assessing Bullying in New Jersey Secondary Schools: Applying the Social Norms Model to Adolescent Violence, Presented at the 2008 National Conference on the Social Norms Approach, July 22, 2008. http://www.youthhealthsafety.org/BullyNJweb.pdf
[6] Steeves, Valerie. Young Canadians in a Wired World, Phase III: Talking to Youth and Parents. MediaSmarts, 2012.
[7] Craig, Wendy. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Human Rights, December 12, 2011.