Prevent cyberbullying in children and adolescents is one of the most important actions that can be taken to avoid the negative consequences that it can produce on the mental health of children and adolescents.
Communication and Information Technologies (ICT) have experienced great progress in recent decades and, as a consequence, the society in which we live has also been modified.
ICTs have brought many benefits to human knowledge and to the dissemination of information. However, we cannot deny that the internet is exempt from harm, among which we can find the bullying through the network.
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Since Olweus began to study violence between peers - better known as bullying - in 1970, the sensitivity of parents and educators towards violence that occurs among minors began to awaken.
The concept of bulying -or mistreatment between schoolchildren- encompasses not only physical violence, but also psychological violence, which occurs through insults, threats, yelling, etc..
On the other hand, it is understood by “cyberbullying " a specific type of harassment, which occurs among minors in the world of interactive technologies, whose actions can be defined as "blackmail behavior, humiliation or insults from some children to others".
Although it can be thought that bullying and cyberbullying are manifestations of the same type of violence, there are characteristics that make cyberbullying a particularly dangerous type of harassment.
The characteristics that make it a particular phenomenon are:
Therefore, we are talking about a type of harassment whose effects occur in different contexts -including the personal, interpersonal, intragroup and contextual level- and that generates doubts about its approach and treatment, due to ignorance on the part of teachers, family members and students.
In addition, a few years ago, before the rise of Information and Communication Technologies, when a child was a victim of bullying, they could come home and feel “safe”, since their attackers could not invade that space.
However, since these bullying behaviors among schoolchildren are also manifested through the internet, the victims feel unprotected even in their own home.
To adequately address this problem and prevent cyberbullying, it is necessary to carry out a multidisciplinary intervention, in which work is done from the school -with aggressors, victims and passive bystanders-, and from the family itself.
In addition to this work by professionals, there are some specific guidelines to prevent cyberbullying, such as the following:
Many teens trust personal data, intimate photos or other information with people who may use it against them.
Therefore, it is important that children begin to differentiate between the information they should and should not provide, that they keep their privacy safe and that they do not maintain an online relationship with people they do not know in person..
You have to make them see that the more personal information they provide to other people, the more vulnerable they are. Another aspect to take into account is to make them see the importance of acting on social networks as they would in reality.
In this way, they will be able to understand that, just as they do not talk to a stranger on the street, they should not do so through the internet.
The continuation of cyberbullying can be explained by the passive attitude that the victim usually presents, since they do not act to avoid it or do not go to the right people.
In this way, bullies begin to perceive that no one is going to stop their manifestations of violence, so they experience a sense of control over the situation.
It is advisable in these cases that the victim keep the necessary evidence - photos, comments, private messages - and go to teachers or other authority figures to take action on the matter.
In no case do you respond to insults or provocative acts, since this leads to an aggravation of the problem - the aggressor will be satisfied for having provoked you and will not receive any punishment-.
From home, it is important to show an open and understanding attitude, which facilitates communication between the different members of the family.
It is necessary to activate in individuals the willingness to act based on ethical content, in accordance with minimum universal values and against harassment and violence in any of its manifestations.
Therefore, we must work to ensure that minors do not become passive spectators, whether they witness real violence or through the networks, since the aggressors will perceive that no one can stop them.
If you know someone who is in this situation, take action on the matter and inform the competent authority - teachers, family members, etc. - so that they act in the best possible way.
In this way, the victim will receive more attention from the people around him, in those cases in which he is afraid to tell about his situation.
It is important that this problem begins to be conceived as an issue that involves all of us, whether we are victims, friends or relatives of victims or bystanders..
As we have seen previously, a form of cyberbullying occurs when aggressors usurp the social media profiles of their victims.
Therefore, it is necessary for minors to understand the importance of being careful with their passwords.
Some advice that should be given to them are the following:
Otherwise, if these security measures are not taken, the minor is exposed to other people being able to access private information, publish on their behalf, etc..
The first thing you should do, knowing this situation, is to comfort the minor and show your support and understanding. Having felt unprotected for a certain time, the child will need emotional support and a feeling of security.
Then, try to extract more information about the specific case - duration, frequency, type of harassment in the networks - in order to assess its severity.
In the case of long-term harassment, with constant threats and carried out by boys who have personal information about the victim -such as personal address, school he attends, compromised videos or photos-, the most appropriate is to inform the police so that they offer protection and information.
Remember that, at all times, you must be attentive so that the victim of cyberbullying feels protected - and is really protected-.
To prevent the harassment from persisting, it is sometimes advised that the minor stop visiting those pages or social networks in which they are the victim of cyberbullying.
In the case of social networks, the victim can choose to create another profile -with a name that is more difficult to find- and delete the previous one, with the aim of adding only the people they really know and with whom they want to maintain the Contact.
With regard to mobile devices, it is sometimes necessary to change the number, especially if the insults, threats and other manifestations of harassment are carried out through calls or messages.
In this way, by restricting the harassers' access -especially if they are anonymous- to the victim, cyberbullying is prevented from persisting.
Despite the dangers of using the internet, we must not forget its advantages and utilities -acquisition of new knowledge, the possibility of sharing hobbies, among others.-.
If you want your children or students to benefit from the positive part, teach them to use it responsibly, visiting pages of interest and establishing reasonable hours - avoiding its use at night or for long periods of time.-.
It is also important that you control the pages they frequent and the activity they carry out - in order to detect if your child is being a victim or aggressor of cyberbullying-.
Among the causes that explain the emergence of this new type of harassment, we can find the following:
As we have already mentioned, one of the negative aspects of ICTs is that some people misuse them, using them with the aim of harming others..
Another factor that explains this type of abuse is that the aggressors maintain their anonymity, hide behind the computer screen and dehumanize the victim (they take their attacks as a joke, since they do not see the reaction it provokes in the other person).
When the aggressor does not show his true identity, a feeling of helplessness and frustration is created in the victim, so he cannot defend himself or find the aggressors, on many occasions.
Many teaching professionals and relatives of victims of this type of bullying do not know how to act to prevent or stop cyberbullying.
Although it is true that certain content that appears on the internet can be eliminated, this procedure occurs, sometimes, too late.
In addition, removing certain offensive content does not ensure that it will not be produced again (or there may be people who have saved that information or derogatory photos on their mobile devices).
There are different ways in which bullies can carry out cyberbullying, such as the ones listed below:
And you, what other tips would you add to prevent cyberbullying?
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