How to Deal With Cyber-Bullying

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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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Keeping Track of Your Kids With SafeSocial

With technology becoming an increasingly large part of everyone’s busy lives, many people are turning to social networking sites to keep in touch with friends and family. To the chagrin of many worried parents all over the country, this also includes kids. Like it or not, your child will be exposed to the Internet and social networking, whether it be at home, at school, or at a friend’s house.

Because it’s becoming increasingly more common for kids to be surfing the Internet and participating on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, many parents are wondering how to monitor what their child does while on those sites. Most just check computer history, but there’s a new tool from AOL that will help keep track of what happens on your child’s social networking profile pages.

SafeSocial, released by AOL in November 2010, can monitor your child’s pages on social sites, including Facebook and Twitter. The program will let you know if anyone posts anything harassing, lewd, or other inappropriate on those pages. As a parent, you will also be able to see any photos uploaded to those profiles—another great way to make sure your children are acting responsible when they’re not at home. One final feature that SafeSocial offers is the opportunity for parents to receive a “progress report” of sorts that will show you what’s been happening on all of social profiles your child has. It’s an easy way to monitor everything in one place, rather than having to search.

While the program will help you keep up with what your children are doing when online, it should not take the place of talking to them about Internet safety. AOL encourages you to tak with your children, in fact, and have made it so the only way SafeSocial can begin any monitoring is if your child approves of it.

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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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Using Social Netowkrs to Connect with Your Kids

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Despite a world that’s becoming increasingly dominated by technology, it can be difficult to stay connected to your kids, especially if they happen to be teenagers. Numerous studies have shown that teens spend the most time on the Internet, particularly on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. If you’re a parent of a teenager, you’re probably wondering how to stay connected to him or her while he or she spends so much time on the Internet.

The answer? Use social media. Register on one or two of the sites that your teen is using. Doing so can present one of the biggest ways to connect with your child—ask him or her to explain the site and help you set up your own profile. If your teen is interested in the site and spends time on it, he or she could be very interested in helping you out, too.

A good way to get started is by simply asking questions. Ask how to search for friends and family members on Facebook. Ask for help with following celebrities or people of interest in Twitter (and even ask how to tweet). When it comes to YouTube, ask for help with locating someone’s video stream or ask how to register and leave comments. The more questions you ask, the more your teen will see how interested you are in learning about these new technologies. This can increase your lines of communication, especially if your teen shares new pieces of information with you.

There are other ways of connecting with your teen on the Internet. Start a project. A family blog is a great idea. So is a photo project on Flickr. You can even start a family video stream on YouTube. It’s easy to find projects through a simple Internet search. Ask your teen what he or she is interested in. Where communication is concerned, his or her opinion should always matter.

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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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Social Networking And Kids – Parental Supervision Is Unavoidable

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Do you feel that your child can be permitted to visit each and every social networking website because he or she does not know any private information like credit card number or other such details to disclose? Well, who says that people will try to attack your bank account only by trying to lure information from your kids?

There are many persons who may befriend your child online and may encourage them to meet in the real world. This is particularly common with young boys and girls. Would you allow your child to meet and interact with a complete stranger on a friendly basis? You probably would have spent hours instructing your child not to talk to strangers in the real world.

Well, the same rule applies to social networking websites as well. You should instruct your child to ignore such messages and bring them to your notice immediately. If at all any strangers interested in talking to your kids, it is imperative that you should be contacted and should be kept in the loop.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that it is a harmless prank by an immature adult. Just as you would not believe a stranger not to be a kidnapper, you should not presume that an individual cannot do harm just because he or she is interacting in the virtual level.

All it takes is a single bad experience to spoil the mind of the child for life. To hide your child from social networking websites does not make sense. However, to give them complete independence does not make sense either. You should establish the ground rules and make sure that the kids in your house follow it to the letter. You should also encourage your kids to rely on each other and guide each other in making smart use of social networking websites.

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Beware – Kids Often Make Stupid Mistakes On Social Networking Sites

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Many parents end up feeling surprised that their kids were stupid enough to hand over private and confidential financial information or details of one’s residential address and other such information to complete strangers on social networking websites.

Well, you must understand how kids feel when they access social networking websites. For them, it is as if a door has been opened and they have been given an opportunity to check out the beautiful world outside. As far as kids are concerned, the world is filled with two kinds of people-either good or bad. Good people are fair, pretty and are polite and courteous.

On the other hand, bad people are smelly, dark and they can be identified very easily. Adults are mature enough and understand that the world is not divided equally into black and white. Color, smell, appearance are irrelevant factors and you should ensure kids do not learn this the hard way.

The simplest option is to regulate computer usage habits of your kids. Do you allow your kid to play on the road without any supervision? Well, you will encourage your kids to play at home, then play in the yard, then play with other friends under the supervision of an adult and then under supervised environment when playing outside.

In the same way, you will have to introduce your kids to the world of social networking in a faced manner. More often than not, parents wait until the kids have friends who have social networking profiles. Once peer pressure begins, the kid will become very impatient.

Hence, you should introduce your child to the world of social networking as early as possible. This phenomenon is not going to go away tomorrow. Hence, it is best to tell your child that he or she will get his first Facebook profile or social networking profile on his or her 10th or 12th birthday. Or, you can ask your kid to earn it instead.

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