What you can do about cyberbullying

We all know what bullying at school looks like, but what happens when bullies follow you home and into your own space through the internet? Online bullying happens over devices like mobile phones, computers, and tablets. Bullies might use texts, apps, social media sites, forums, or games.

If you’re being bullied online, this article will help you understand what that means and what you can do about it.

Is online bullying really a problem?

Yes, absolutely. It’s hard to get numbers on how many students experience online bullying because it happens out of school time and often goes unreported, but a 2016 survey showed three out of five women in their late teens have experienced cyber bullying. 14% of teachers have online bullying incidents reported to them at least once a week.

What is online bullying?

Most online bullying involves other people sending, posting, or sharing negative or false content about you online. It often involves sharing personal or private information about you with the goal of inciting others to bully or humiliate you.

Bullies use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share images or comments and incite others to join in the bullying. Many teens are also bullied over text messages on their phones, or over messaging services in social media or gaming platforms. You may go to school with your bullies, or they may be people from anywhere in the world who you don’t know in person.

Other cyberbullying methods include impersonating you or other people online, manipulating images to show false things about you, and sending abusive texts and emails.

Cyberbullying leaves you feeling humiliated, vulnerable, and lonely. Because the bullying follows you everywhere via your devices, it’s hard to escape and feel safe. If bullying posts go viral, you could find yourself being attacked by thousands of people. Personal information shared online by bullies can place you in dangerous situations or harm your ability to get a job or gain entry to university.

What can I do if I’m being bullied online?

If you or someone you know is experiencing online bullying, you should take these steps:
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• Report the bullying to an adult you trust: Schools and parents are often not aware you’re dealing with bullying when it happens on your devices. An adult can help you create a plan of action to combat the bullying and support you through it.
• Report to hosted websites and phone companies: Use ‘report abuse’ and ‘safety’ links to report abuse to the owners of a website. This can result in offensive material being taken down and users banned from these sites. If bullying happens over the phone, a report to your parent’s phone company can have the bully’s number blocked or their account disabled.
• Keep records: Save conversations, posts, and text messages with dates and names whenever possible. Many types of online bullying are illegal in New Zealand. Keeping a record will help you build a case in the future if you need to.
• Don’t respond: As much as it hurts to see what’s being posted about yourself, step away from the computer and don’t engage or respond to bullying. Getting a rise out of you (especially if you’re angry or upset) will often encourage more bullying.
• Step away from the computer: Spend some time with a friend or your family, or read a book or do an activity you enjoy. Turn your phone off and unplug. Getting away from the source of the bullying will help you cope.
• Understand the law: Under NZ law, it’s an offence to send messages or post material online that deliberately cause serious emotional distress. It’s also an offence to incite someone to commit suicide, even if they don’t end up acting on it. District courts can issue take-down notices for offensive material and fines and prison sentences can be issued. If you experience systematic and serious cyber bullying, you should report it to the police. For more information, see the Netsafe website.

Keep yourself safe online

If you’re bullied or targeted online, it’s not your fault! However, you can take precautions to help limit the problem and ensure you aren’t as easy a target for scams, by:
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• Keeping your passwords secret, even from your friends, and using random passwords that can’t be guessed.
• Checking and adjusting the privacy settings on your social media accounts to keep out people you don’t want there.
• Think before you post. Remember that anyone – not just your friends, but anyone in the world – can see an image or post on a public site, and that post can be forwarded on or screenshotted by someone in your private circle. Make sure you don’t post anything you don’t want the world to see.