Much of the work done to prevent cyberbully includes the involvement of police officers and other law enforcement officials. Like others, police officers often find themselves in a difficult situation when confronted with a cyberbulling incident because they are unfamiliar with the technology itself--and the lack of clarity in current laws about cyberbullying makes addressing such behaviors difficult. To learn more about cyberbullying from a law enforcement perspective, click the link below:
When parents hear that their child is bullying others, it is a normal reaction for them to deny or defend the bullying, especially if the person telling them is accusatory, angry, or aggressive. Click any of the links below to learn more about the parents of bullies.
By making a connection between students and staff, the students can help reduce bullying by allowing the adults to help the students deal with these situations. To learn more about how schools are getting involved, go to any of the below links:
Victims of bullying include girls and boys of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds. But some children are more likely than others to be victimized because they appear small, weak, insecure, sensitive, or “different” from their peers. Click on the links below to learn more about the victims of cyberbullying.
What Parents Can Do About Cyberbullying
Megan Meier was an American teenager from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, who committed suicide by hanging three weeks before her fourteenth birthday. Below is an interview with Megan's parents following her tragic death.
Bullying is about the abuse of power. Children who bully abuse their power to hurt others, deliberately and repeatedly. They are often hot-tempered, inflexible, overly confident, and don’t like to follow rules. They often lack empathy and may even enjoy inflicting pain on others. They often desire to dominate and control others, perceive hostile intent where none exists, overreact aggressively to ambiguous situations, and hold beliefs that support violence. Click the links below to learn more about bullies.
Bystanders are those who stand by and watch bullying take place or hear about bullying when it occurs. Below are several reasons why bystanders choose not to get involved. Click the links below to learn more about the bystanders included in cyberbullying.
- They think, “It’s none of my business.”
- They fear getting hurt or becoming another victim.
- They feel powerless to stop the bully.
- They don’t like the victim or believe the victim “deserves” it.
- They don’t want to draw attention to themselves.
- They fear retribution.
- They think that telling adults won’t help or it may make things worse.
- They don’t know what to do.