Try to imagine a modern child without a mobile phone, computer, laptop or tablet. This is no longer possible. They are happy with the presence of such gadgets, because it gives the opportunity to communicate with friends, relatives, classmates. However, problems also arise along with this. Today we will not talk about the fact that this impairs vision, reduces social activity, and so on. There is an equally important problem - cyberbullying. This is a relatively new concept that we borrowed from the West along with social networks and chat rooms. What is cyberbullying, how to prevent it, how to resist, we will consider in this article.
What kind of attack is this?
This is a form of harassment, harassment, intimidation, abuse of teenagers and young children through information and communication technologies, namely the Internet and mobile phones.
To better understand what iscyber-bullying, let's look at the origin of the term. If its first part is clear and without explanation, then the second part of the name of this virtual terror comes from the English word bull (“bull”). All related meanings come from here - to find fault, to attack aggressively, to provoke, to terrorize, to pester, to stir up, poison, and so on.
Main problem
The biggest disadvantage of the virtual space is that we communicate in the absence of interpersonal contact as such. That is, we do not see a person, respectively, we cannot say with 100% certainty who he really is.
It turns out that each person can come up with a new life, a new "role", a new behavior. After all, it is extremely unlikely that the truth will sooner or later become clear. Thus, a person is not afraid that someday he will have to be responsible for his actions, statements, actions, so he behaves as he pleases, as a rule, very badly, incorrectly.
This is a detailed answer to the question of what cyberbullying is. Adolescents often take advantage of this opportunity, "try on" other roles, and do it with pleasure. There are also adults who are aware of what cyberbullying is, they use it for fun or because of psychological illness.
What could be the consequences?
Unfortunately, the saddest. Although the word is relatively new, cases of suicide attempts, injuries, tragic deaths are already known, and all this is due toattacks on a teenager through chats, social networks, email.
The goal of virtual terror is to inflict psychological harm. Invisible, but very scary is cyberbullying. How dangerous it is, what consequences it threatens, unfortunately, many parents and teenagers already know. Study all the information to protect your child from lovers of evil jokes and provocations. Internet trolling and cyberbullying are somewhat similar, but the latter type has more serious consequences.
Types of bullying
Terror in the virtual space has many forms of manifestation. The most harmless - jokes, jokes. On the opposite side, there is a powerful psychological impact, leading to suicides and deaths. Cyberbullying is an innovative way of child abuse, which not every parent can notice in time and in any way respond correctly. Learn the types of terror and be fully equipped.
Type 1: skirmishes (flaming)
Meaning the exchange of small, but very emotional remarks. As a rule, two people participate in this, although the presence of several people is not excluded. This skirmish unfolds in the "public" places of the Internet. It can end quickly and without consequences, or it can escalate into a long-term conflict. On the one hand, this is a confrontation between equal participants, on the other hand, under certain conditions, it can turn into far from equal psychological pressure, which entails strong emotional experiences of the victim.
Type 2: attacks (constant attacks)
These are regular offensive statements against the victim (a lot of SMS messages, constant calls) up to the overload of private channels. There are such attacks in forums and chat rooms, online games.
Type 3: slander
As the name implies, this is the dissemination of false, offensive information. It can be songs, text messages, photos, which are often sexual in nature.
Type 4: imposture
Cyberbullying is a dangerous virtual "bullying", which also involves reincarnation into a certain personality. The stalker uses the victim's data (logins, passwords to accounts in networks, blogs) in order to carry out negative communication on her behalf. That is, the person (victim) does not suspect that he is sending out offensive messages or is in correspondence.
Type 5: Swindle
This is the extortion by the pursuer of any confidential information of the victim and its use for their own purposes (publication on the Internet, transfer to third parties).
Type 6: Alienation
Everyone sooner or later wants to be included in a group. Exclusion from it is perceived very sharply, painfully. The child's self-esteem falls, his normal emotional background is destroyed.
Type 7: cyberstalking
This is one of the most terrible forms. The victim is surreptitiously hunted down for assault, beating, rape.
Type 8: happy slapping (intranslated as "happy clapping")
The name comes from a series of cases in the English subway, when teenagers beat random passers-by, and other people recorded videos on mobile phones. Such violent behavior is used in order to make a video, post it on the Internet and get a large number of views. This is such a terrible reality.
Prevention and prevention of cyberbullying
What should adults do, how to protect their child from the evil reality, because the phone or computer is becoming more and more integral to life?
First of all, you need to be very attentive to your child, his hobbies, especially virtual ones. Adults and children have different preferences in films, music, the Internet. In the latter, as in the case of the rules of the road, everything cannot be left to chance, it is necessary to explain to the younger generation the “rules of the game” what can be done and what is strictly prohibited in the virtual world.
Internet access should be regulated, clearly explained what behavior can be bad and dangerous. Where is your computer located in your house? If in the farthest corner of the apartment, where no one sees what exactly the son (daughter) is doing, it is recommended to move him to a place where there are almost always people (living room, kitchen). Going about your business, you can not only "accidentally" follow the pages you visit, but also see the mood of your child.
Follow his interests not only in the virtual space, but also in real life,this will help to find out how he lives, what interests him, what emotions this or that fact causes. Start sounding the alarm and “break” all gadgets at home if the child does not feel well after working at the computer, does not make contact, avoids communicating with peers, categorically refuses to go to school, and so on. Cyberbullying has a lot of problems and consequences. How to resist him? How to avoid it? We have outlined the basic rules for preventing terror on the Web. The main thing is to be very attentive to children.
How to overcome the problem if this happens?
If suddenly your child nevertheless became a victim of persecutors, try to save all available evidence, evidence of terror. Messages have been received - make copies, this includes videos, and SMS, and everything else.
Don't panic, be calm, especially if the child himself told you about the problem, otherwise the next time he will not come for help. Support the teenager emotionally, explain that nothing terrible has happened, in your face he should see and feel only a friend who sincerely wishes for good. Talk to your teenager about the whole situation, let him tell you how it was, from the very beginning. Explain to him the rules of behavior - how to or not to respond to any kind of persecution, what to do in order to avoid this if possible.
Among other things, tell your child that it is very important to have your own good reputation, and not to "try on" roles. He must know that ifan offensive or incomprehensible message, a picture, you must immediately seek help from your parents so as not to start the situation. As a last resort (if nothing helps), you should go to law enforcement.
Be attentive to your children, then nothing bad will happen!
