Yesterday, I spent a good part of my day writing updates for an outdated Internet Safety brochure for parents. My plan is to add a few paragraphs on social networking sites and a little overview of cyberbullying. I certainly don’t claim expertise in those areas so I started fact finding. To summarize what I found, most every article and website said kids who experience cyberbullying should disengage from the activity, distance him/herself from the bully, and tell an adult.
Sounds good. Until it happens at the public library and I am the adult they tell. Then what? Empathize? Ignore? Call the police? I don’t know. I am unprepared for the day an upset child comes to my desk and tells me, in some way, that he/she is being bullied online. Based on my research yesterday, my advice will be to disengage from the activity, distance yourself from the bully, and tell your parents. Certainly your parents will know what to do. But why don’t I?
What would you do?
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Teresa
Thanks, Bradley. It is something to think about in case we do have the situation in front of us. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to comment.
I would approach the incident the same way I would if it were in-person bullying. I picture myself empathizing while I walk over with the child to his/her computer terminal, asking if the person is known, if it is someone from school, if a parent/guardian is with them in the building. Then I would view and print (if it is still there), what transpired online. I would also talk with them about how we all should be nice with our words and actions (just in case, there has been some back-and-forth in the exchange).
At that point, I believe the type of bullying that took place would determine whether I would call in the police. If the parents are available, I would include them in the discussion. If not, I would print out the message and ask for their phone number so we can involve them in what has happened and discuss setting up new accounts and new user name for their child. If the child is 13-years-old or older, they can create their own new account. If not, the parents will need to do it. If the bullying is done on a school account, then I would contact school officials, too.
Now that I’ve prattled on about what I would probably do, it might be more helpful to check out the What Adults Can Do page of Stop Bullying Now dot org, a site sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.