stop cyberbullying

Stop cyberbullying from harming your children by creating open communication about their time online.

Social network sites leave some kids vulnerable to online bullying.

RODALE NEWS, LENOX, MA—If you have a teenager, chances are your child spends a significant amount of time on Facebook or MySpace. About 60 to 70 percent of U.S. seventh graders have accounts on one or both sites, and among older teens, the number is even higher. But the truth is, online social networking poses serious dangers for young teens. And cyberbullying—the relentless posting of negative, threatening, and disparaging comments about a targeted child—is among the most pernicious. Because most kids aren't well equipped to defend themselves from these kinds of attacks, efforts to stop cyberbullying have to start with parents.

THE DETAILS: To stop cyberbullying, you first have to understand its significance. Every day, thousands of kids say nasty and hurtful things to one another online. In the unsupervised, accountability-free environment, harassing language is normalized, the sexualization of girls and women is commonplace, and the lack of supervision creates an "anything goes" social atmosphere. These consequences are especially damaging for tweens, whose identities are not yet formed, and who are often fragile. The public exposure of being bullied on Facebook can be devastating. Two weeks ago, a 15-year-old girl at a high school here in western Massachusetts committed suicide after being bullied by classmates at school, on Facebook, and via text message. A newcomer to the school, she had moved here with her family from Ireland last year. She apparently became the target of harassment by older girls after she dated an older boy at the school. Tragically, this child is but one of a growing number of teenagers who have committed suicide after being the target of online bullying. Millions of other children don't take their own lives, but do suffer serious emotional harm in response to cyberbullying.

Of course, bullying existed long before the Internet, and it goes on outside of social-networking sites. However, many parents don't realize that these sites create a public environment in which bullying is easier and more acceptable. According to research conducted by the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, 25 percent of kids say they have been the target of in-person bullying, while 70 percent report they have been bullied online. The public and persistent nature of material posted on the Internet also magnifies the impact of cyberbullying. When something is on the Web, everyone in the world can see it, 24/7, forever. Even if the source material is removed or blocked, multiple copies forwarded ad infinitum ensure that nothing online really goes away.

Read on for advice on defending against online bullying.