A new report by cybersecurity firm McAfee found that an alarming 85% of Indian children have been bullied online
With more than 1 in 3 kids facing cyber racism, sexual harassment, and threats of physical harm as early as at the age of 10, India has become the #1 nation for cyberbullying in the world. Even more concerning is the fact a striking 45% of them hide their cyberbullying experiences from their parents.
How to Find if Your Child is Among the 85%?
Since it’s not always easy to distinguish between common teenage issues and potential signals that your child is being cyberbullied and because your child may not tell you about it, it’s important for you to be aware of possible signs that he/she is being bullied online.
Here is a list of warning signs to know if your child is a victim of cyberbullying:
- Watch out for sudden changes in device usage
- Noticeable physical changes such as loss of appetite or sudden weight loss or sleeping difficulty.
- Nervousness, sudden mood swings and snappy answers to your questions.
- Loss of interest in social activities
- Going Off social media
While these may or may not be sure-fire signs of cyberbullying, it is worth having a conversation with your child and knowing whether or not everything is okay.
If you suspect that he’s being bullied online, it’s important to have an open conversation; start by describing a bullying incident you or your friend faced when you were children, or quote a case of cyber bullying that you heard about in the news.
How to Communicate?
- If your child opens up and tells you they’ve been cyberbullied, listen without over-reacting or being judgmental. Listen patiently and learn about the extent of the bullying.
- Communicate clearly and reassure your child that they’re not alone and that they’re ways to set things right and you’ll get through this together.
- Rather than blaming your child for being bullied or judging how they’ve handled the situation, build up his/her self-confidence.
Cyber bullying is a form of bullying, however, since it happens online, responding to it requires a different approach as compared to traditional bullying.
While bullying in the real world is limited to the duration of face-to-face interaction between the bully and the victim, the trauma of cyber bullying is 24×7. The Internet offers unlimited access to immediately and continuously communicate 24 hours a day.
However, there are steps you can take if you think he/she may be the target of online bullying. But before enlisting those steps, let’s first list out what not to do if your child is being cyberbullied-
- Don’t ask your child to “just ignore it” – A good way to avoid future attacks is to not respond to the bully and block them. However, by asking your child to simply ignore the bullying may not be the right thing to do. Rather, you should sit together and work out an anti-bullying strategy because you want to give your child the impression that together you’re going to do something about this.
- No Blame game – The first thing you should tell your child “It’s not your fault”. Even if something in your child’s behaviour may have triggered the bullying, do not blame your child for being cyber bullied; no child deserves to be bullied, no matter what they’ve done.
- Do not advise your child to retaliate– If you ask your child to fight back, it may not only escalate the situation, but also give your child the message that hurtful behaviour is acceptable. Responding to bullying will only make it worse.
- If your child opens up and tells you they’ve been cyberbullied, listen without over-reacting. Be your child’s advocate but ensure that you don’t make matters worse by overreacting or being judgemental.
The BEST Solution:
Block the bully
The first thing is your child should not respond to or forward any of the messages received from the bully. Immediately block the bully/bullies.
Evidence
Make sure that you collect evidence and take screen shots of nasty comments/social media posts/ text messages/ photos/offensive emails and instant messaging history.
Seek Professional Help
If the child seems to be depressed/anxious, isn’t eating or sleeping, seems to be feeling lonely, or is having thoughts of self-harm or is experiencing other issues because of bullying – seek professional help, immediately.
Turn in & Report
If none of the above listed strategies work, you may need to report the matter to the cybercrime cell at https://cybercrime.gov.in/.
I sincerely hope that these simple solutions help you to ‘BULLYPROOF’ your child!
Be Safe,
