How to Deal With Cyber-Bullying

Bullying on IRFE in March 5, 2007, the first c... 

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Tips for Dealing With Cyber-Bullying

Cyber-bullying is an unfortunate, common complaint these days especially among younger internet users including pre-teens and teenagers. With such a large amount of internet users, some are finding themselves the victim of bullying whether it be through harassing emails, instant messages or through the use of social networking sites. There are ways to stop cyber-bullying and help prevent it from happening again. Here are some helpful tips.

Block the User

One of the first steps to ending cyber-bullying is to ignore the actions and block the user. When the bully is given attention it only encourages their actions. Start by blocking the user in all ways. Block all known email addresses, instant messengers and if necessary, through social networking sites. For parents who are trying to help their kids against cyber-bullying, if they find the bully has gone to extreme lengths such as making a website mocking the child or using forums to discuss the child in a negative manner or even going on to physically threaten the child, it is a good idea to contact the forum moderator or site owner and request the posts and information be taken down.

Contact the Authorities

In extreme cases where there are major threats being taken or the internet user is being stalked through the internet it is then a good idea to turn to the authorities. Be sure to save all emails, instant messages or posts the user has made. There are specific laws that deal with cyber-bullying and it is taken very seriously these days. Contacting the authorities can help end it quickly.

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What Teachers Can Do About Cyber-Bullying

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Many kids are experiencing cyber-bullying now that there is more access to the internet. In some areas, there are even technology classrooms, that allow for students to get online while they are in class and they can visit various websites as well as email each other. When it comes to being safe online, there are many things that need to be considered. Most people think about the inappropriate media that children should not see, and protect them from contacting strangers online, but often, many forget that there are ways that those that you know can also cause emotional and sometimes even result in physical harm.

Cyber-bullying is common online. As a teacher, you can be aware of what is happening in the classroom and create an atmosphere where your students feel that they can come and talk to you about anything that they are experiencing. Talking openly about cyber bullying and why it is not OK would also be helpful to many students. When the standard is clearly set, it is much easier for students to know that is expected as well as for those experiencing bullying to feel that they can come forward and talk about it.

Cyber-bullying is very serious. There has been an increase in the number of children who have taken their own lives because they felt that there was no way out, no way to avoid the bullying that they were experiencing.

As a teacher you have great influence on your students, and by simply talking to them about it, you can make a difference.

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Personal Finance: Achieving Success Through Planning

Sample budget

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Strategies are attempted. Preparations are made. And yet you still find yourself struggling to maintain your finances. The dollar is elusive, unable to provide the value you need, unable to offer any form of relief. It instead causes complications.

Too often personal finances prove to be the undoing of individuals. Money is fickle and savings seem impossible to generate. Help can be found, however, if the following precautions are taken.

Assess Goals

Personal financial planning cannot be utilized without an understanding of its intentions. Note short term and long term goals. Recognize how you wish to apply your dollars, determining which investments will yield the greatest results. Understand mortgages, debt and any major costs that may arise in the future.

Budget Funds

Finance is defined as more than merely earning interest. You must be aware of all costs and how you are dividing your dollars among necessities, indulgences and savings. Learn to budget every penny. Chart out all expenses and eliminate what isn’t needed. Find ways to consolidate totals. Create limitations for each month, being sure never to exceed them.

Seek Support

Wisdom isn’t always a certainty. Goals can falter, budgets can fail, and personal finance can become a wealth of complications (but not dollars). It’s imperative therefore to seek help. Consider payday loans. These can provide relief, enabling you to receive the money you need precisely when you need it. Funds can be gained within 24 hours of requesting them and no credit checks are needed.

Use these suggestions to create financial plan that will survive the many obligations (and worries) of your days.

 

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Tips for Avoiding a Cyberbully

With technology being such a dominant force in the lives of just about everybody these days, there’s no surprise that bullying has taken on a technological form as well—cyberbullying. There’s really no difference between this and regular bullying, other than the fact that cyberbullying is committed via the Internet or other electronic device such as through a mobile phone via text message.

While cyberbullying seems to be more common and much easier these days, both forms of bullying are dangerous and can have very negative effects if the situation isn’t handled in a timely manner. It may be difficult to avoid being a victim of bullying, whether it’s face-to-face or on the Internet, but there are some simple steps your child can follow to avoid getting mixed up with a cyberbully.

  • One of the best ways to avoid someone who is bullying you via the Internet or other technological means, is to ignore them. Delete the email, text message or wall post.  Block his or her email address, phone number, and block them in any other way possible.
  • Never respond to any harassing messages you may receive. Replying may just give the bully more reasons to attack you. A reply also shows the bully that he or she has affected you. Don’t give him or her that satisfaction.
  • If any of the messages are particularly threatening (if they’re threatening your life or the lives of loved ones, for example), don’t be afraid to save and/or print these communications and take them to the local authorities. Harassment charges can be brought against the cyberbully if you want them to be.
  • Remember that bullies thrive on your responses, emotional or physical, to what they’ve said or done to you. Ignore them at all costs and never give them the satisfaction of seeing you hurt or rattled.
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Tips for Safe Social Networking

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When it comes to social networking, it’s everywhere. It’s everywhere and it’s not going away. Over the past ten years, social networking sites have been popping up left and right and the practice as a whole had become tremendously popular, thanks to web sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and even professional sites like LinkedIn. With nearly everyone taking part in at least one of these sites, it’s no wonder why many children want in on the action as well.

As a parent, that idea can seem a bit daunting. You want your children to have freedom, but you want to keep them safe, too. The good news is that you have plenty of options when it comes to keeping your kids safe on social networking sites. Below is a list of tips for you to keep in mind as your children dive into the world of social networking.

  • Talk with your child and find out what information they plan to share on the sites. Tell him or her what’s allowable and what isn’t. If possible, be with them when they register on the sites and set up profiles.
  • Teach your child about the privacy settings available on the sites he or she plans to use. Discuss how they can keep your child safe.
  • Make sure your child knows what you expect from him or her regarding the use of social networking sites. Have a consequence in mind, just in case you ever need it.
  • Look over the parental controls on your computer. You can restrict access to some sites and/or limit your child’s usage and time on the Internet. This may be a good option if you want your kids staying away from certain sites entirely.
  • Look into “outside” monitoring tools, such as SafeSocial, a relatively new program from AOL.
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Ills of Social networking on children

Internet has become one of the fastest medium of communication in today’s world. It has formed a web of networks and is far reaching. Social networking is a product of this virtual world of internet. The popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo etc has increased greatly. The access to these social networking sites is free. One sign-up on social networking sites without any kind of restriction. The use of abusive words and circulation of illicit pictures and videos have become common on these sites. Children belonging to the age group of 10-18 are most vulnerable to these. Such illicit content severely affects the mind of children and they become culprit of these social networking sites.
The excessive and wide usage of social networking sites has increased the scams in recent years. The cyber gangs target these social networking sites in order to put in order their criminal activities. The number of such criminal gangs’ activity has increased tremendously. These gangs publish fake links on the networking sites. People unaware of this activity click on such links and become the culprit. Such links contain viruses or malware which affects one’s computer. Children hooked to their computers for long hours are bound to face cyber bullying which is on rise. The activities of bullying children through implicit content on social networking sites have become a common concern in schools. School danger awareness needs to be created in order to combat cyber bullying. Explaining the ill effects of social networking sites due to such activities to children is beneficial. A distinction of what is good or bad should be taught to children in reference to such sites. Cyberethics should be made as a part of study in schools in order to reduce the number of children falling for these scams.

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Being alert on cyber bullying

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Social networks have become an indispensable part of people’s lives these days. It has left no age group untouched from its influence. Be it people of 60 and above or the young school attending teenagers. All at some level are affected from the social networking sites and the internet. People have almost forgotten the difference between the real and the virtual world of relationships. The real relationships have taken a back seat and the virtual one’s having become the reality of lives. The social networking sites are sure bliss to few as it helps in finding long lost friends being in touch with people who we do not meet in daily basis. But this bliss even has brought in a curse with it. Few miscreants gang up on these sites and cause humiliation to other people. The virtual platform provides them with animosity and security from being caught. These people form gangs and bully people they do not like or even bully people just like that for fun. Therefore at certain level monitoring and censorship is required by the parents and the school authorities. Things have changed a lot in this complex world of internet and cyber crimes. Cyber bullying and humiliation have become very common these days on the social networking sites. For instance a group of students who want to bully a class mate upload funny and embarrassing pictures on the web portal which is easily accessible to all the classmates. This causes public embarrassment to the victim. There have been instances of students using abusive language about the teachers they do not like on these public platforms. These miscreants can only be stopped if the parents and school authorities keep a close eye on the networking gangs and cyber bullying. The schools should be aware of the dangers these bullies can cause to the reputation of the school. The awareness of the dangers helps the authorities to fight it.

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How to Handle Social Network Bullying

5 Ways to Cultivate an Active Social Network
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For everyone that’s gone through school, you probably have a clear understanding of what bullying is. However, the current generation has something different to handle. Today’s school kid isn’t just handling bullying on the schoolyard, but also on a social network. This basically means that the children and teenagers of today aren’t just dealing with bullies during school. They’re actually dealing with bullies twenty four hours a day. If you’ve been aware of the news, then you’ll probably understand that online bullying has been the supposed cause toward the suicides of numerous school-aged children. This is particularly devastating for everyone around them, even for the bully once he or she grows up and deals with the ramifications of his or her own actions. That’s why it’s important, whether you’re a school kid or a parent, to learn how to handle social network bullying.

1. Limit you or your child’s friends. Begin with prevention and limit you or your child’s friends to the only supportive people in his or her life. As a parent, it may be important to monitor your child. As a child, it’s important to limit your friends to those who make a positive impact on your life.

2. Block the bullies. If you already have contact with your bully online, you have the option to block the bully. If your bully notices, he or she may bother you about this in “real life”, but it may be worth it.

3. Limit your social networking time. As a parent, you may want to limit your child’s social networking time. This is a great opportunity for your child to get involved in other activities. If you’re a kid in school, consider doing something fun outside the computer, like playing sports, dancing or learning a new hobby. These are great skills to get your endorphins pumping, make genuine friends and better your life as a whole.

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Bullying 101

Bullying can be harmful for a child’s self esteem, self confidence and self worth. When one child inflicts pain upon another, it is destructive for both. That’s why it’s important to support your child in dealing with bullying.

Recognize Bullying
Ask your child how his or her day was at school. Listen to your child talk. If he or she talks about experiencing bullying, do your best to find a helpful solution. If your child doesn’t talk about his or her day, ask if there are any bullies in class. Some children are actually embarrassed to discuss bullying. This is a great way to gauge your child’s social situation. Another way to notice bullying is if your child has bruises, cuts or any type of mysterious injuries.

Solution
Focus on comforting and supporting your child, no matter how mad you become as a parent. Let your child know that he or she isn’t alone. One of the worst ideas that children get are that this is an isolated incident and no one else can understand. Let your child know that many other children experience bullying. Tell your child that you will both find a solution to this problem together. You may want to discuss the problem with a school counselor on how to handle bullying. If you are close to the bully’s parents or feel comfortable speaking with then, you may want to discuss the problem with them. Depending on their age, you can actually set up a play date with the bully. Some states actually have laws against bullying. You may want to discover what these laws are. If you fear that your child is unsafe, you can even contact the local authorities to step in.

Advice for kids
There are a few ways to handle bullying. Use the buddy system and avoid the bully. Hold the anger and put it into other activities, such as sports. Tell an adult and talk about it.

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Deal with Cyber Bullying

You are on Facebook. You receive a menacing private message. Your wall massacred with threatening messages. When you decide to go on chat, you’re interrupted by a rude message.

This isn’t an example of cyber stalking. In fact, doesn’t the above example sound like a restraining order waiting to happen? Unfortunately, this is an example of cyber bullying, a terrifying trend that a growing number of children deal with. Just a few years ago, bullying was limited to the end of a child’s school day. Today, children are dealing with a new type of bullying that may attack their minds all day and all night. You may have heard the burdening after effects of cyber bullying. At its very worst it can lead to suicide.

How can you help your child deal with cyber bullying?

Talk to Your Child
First, have a sit down talk with your child about bullying. Many children don’t talk about bullying to their parents because they are too embarrassed or they feel like they can handle it all on their own. If your child doesn’t talk about cyber bullying after being asked, there is still a distinct chance that your child is dealing with online bullying at its very worst. So, be open to still talking about the dangers and offering solutions to cyber bullying because it doesn’t hurt to offer advice or have a nice talk with your child.

Offer Solutions
Let your child know that there is a solution to every problem. This will also help your child’s own problem solving skills. Begin by letting your child know that blocking is an available option on social networking sites. Also, you can explain to your child that creating a new profile is an option. You can also tell your child that it may be a healthy start to take a break from social networking sites and support him or her in a fun new activity, such as team sports.

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