Cyber Bully Beat Down

Nancy Anderson
Posted by in Education & Training



As a kid, I was never really bullied. In fact, I used to be scared I would get a random call from Maury to appear on his show about bullying and how I ruined someone’s life. I was not a horrible bully, but I did intimidate a few people.

I feel horrible about it now. Sorry to all those people I ever hurt.

It wasn’t until recently that I experienced bullying on a level that was life changing. At my old job, the people were manipulative, condescending and outright mean. There was nothing I could do about it. Everyone saw what was going on and no one could do a thing. Worst yet, they did all this bullying in the name of what was good and right – based on the Bible. It was ridiculous.

Now that I know how horrible it feels, it makes me glad to see when cyber sites like Facebook do what they can to thwart bullying, especially to school-aged people.

Recently, Facebook announced two new safety features in conjunction with a White House summit on bullying. The reporting tool will let Facebook users, including teens and younger users, to privately report troubling content not just to the site itself but to parents, teachers and others in their support system.

In addition, an improved Safety Center provides educational videos, articles and other content created by bullying experts to help address the problem.

The goal of "social reporting" is to get reports of bullying to the people with the best chance of stopping it. Under the new system, a user could identify a photo, status update or other item as bullying them, then privately send a message to someone in their friend network about it.

Other ways to stave off school bullying according to www.kidpower.org include:

1. Be calm, aware and confident – you will be less likely to get picked on if you put on the image of being calm and confident

2. Be powerful and positive – the best self-defense if not to become a target. Remain positive in your attitude and project a powerful presence

3. Set boundaries early – do not let things slide in the beginning because it will only make things worse. Stand up for yourself immediately when something happens you don’t like

4. Use your voice – when a situation occurs, one of the best defensive tactics is to yell, speak up and tell the other person “no”

5. Protect your feelings – mentally throw away all the negative things people say. Don’t store them up and relive them or tell yourself the lies over and over

6. Speak up for inclusion – part of bullying is leaving out others. If you want to participate in an event, speak up and ask to join, get involved and make friends with others besides the bully

7. Be persistent in getting help – seek help from every source available, which includes parents, teachers, other adults, police or trusted friends. Don’t stop until action is taken and you feel there is a resolve to the issues

 

Staci Dennis lives in Norfolk, VA, is married to Eric, who is awesome, and has a fat cat and two cute Puggles. She has been published in various newspapers and magazines across the nation, and worked as a reporter for 12 years. She is a contributor for Nexxt, realestatejobsite.com and

Comment

Become a member to take advantage of more features, like commenting and voting.

Jobs to Watch