Cyberbullying

First of all, what is bullying?BULLYING is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen.
BULLYING implies calling people names, saying or writing nasty things, leaving people out, hitting or kicking them, taking or damaging their things, not talking to someone, making people do things they don’t want to, threatening them, ...
Why do people bully?Bullies are often motivated by anger, revenge or frustration. So, people may bully to be popular, to look tough or in charge, to get attention or things or to make other people afraid of them. Sometimes it is just because they are jealous of the bullied person or because they are being bullied themselves.
Why are some people bullied?These people are different in some way (the colour of their skin, the way they walk, their size, their name, their outstanding marks at school ...) but mainly because they look like they won’t stand up for themselves.
Why is bullying harmful?Bullied people feel frightened, unsafe, unhappy and lonely. Their self-confidence and their self-esteem are harmed, because they feel that there is something wrong with them. Furthermore, they can get sick and, in extreme situations, they may commit suicide.

What is cyberbullying?
CYBERBULLYING involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, which is intended to harm others. School bullies say hurtful things and post photos on Websites, e-mails, cell phone text messages and photos to torment their classmates. In short terms, bullying occurs in the real world and CYBERBULLYING in the virtual/interactive world (e-mail, chatrooms, instant messaging, SMS, Web sites, blogs…).
How can you stop cyberbullying?Don’t be a victim or a Cyberbully!
Stop, block and tell someone! Don’t respond to the bully, block the person sending it to you and tell a trusted adult.
ThinkB4UClick! Check what you are sending before you do it… think about it from other teens’ point of view.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Use good netiquette and respect the feelings and bandwidth of others.
Keep personal information private! The more information someone has about you, the more easily they can bully you.
Google yourself! Conduct frequent searches for your own personal information online and set alerts… to spot cyberbullying early.
Take 5! Walk away from the computer for 5 minutes when something upsets you, so you don’t do something you will later regret.

What about you?
Have you ever bullied someone? Have you ever been bullied? Have you ever seen someone being bullied?

For further information, visit the site

http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/

Don’t stick it, stop it! Make the difference!