Cyberbullying is bullying that happens electronically via different forms of electronic communication like texting, messaging online, on websites, social networks, and emails.
It is aggressive behaviour that always seeks to control and harm others. Characterized by the repetition of abuse which happens more than once and can repeat itself for a longer time. Some consider it as electronic posting of negative
Where does Cyberbullying take place?
Cyberbullying takes place across all the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and more. Facebook, for instance, is considered one of the social media platforms with the most cyberbullies. 1n 2017, a lady threw herself on oncoming traffic and died on the spot as a result of being bullied online. Many of the teens are now gravitating towards other social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.
Women have been the most targeted victims of cyberbullying including office harassment and many more cyber attacks.
some of the behaviours that are considered cyberbullying include Exclusion, harassment, an outing that involves sharing someone’s private information for public humiliation.
How can you avoid cyberbullying?
There is no sure way out of cyberbullying but some of the tips we will share here will help you stay away from being cyberbullied. They include:
Keep your profiles set to Private
The first step you can start with is setting your profile to private. This enables only the followers you approve to see what you share including your photos and videos on hashtag and location pages.
Followers can also follow your followers and following lists. This is contrary when your account is public. Your profile and posts can be seen by anyone.
Monitor and Update privacy settings regularly.
It is important for you to remember that privacy settings are not a silver bullet for private protection. The settings can and should help you increase the control you have over how your personal information is handled online. Settings help you indicate whether you give consent for the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information. That is why it is important to choose and set privacy settings that you are comfortable with within all your social media accounts, online services, devices, and browsers. Settings are a way that you can decide what to share and what not to share
Don’t accept requests or messages from users you don’t know.
Accepting requests and messages from people you don’t know can lead to exposure of your life to strangers. Some users may be provoked with the intention of making you say your thoughts concerning a given topic or matters such as politics and economy with this, strangers can mishandle or harass you especially in the cases where you give a contrary opinion to what they had expected.
Educate yourself and others on the negative effects of cyberbullying.
Public awareness concerning cyberbullying enables the members of society to take precautionary measures while using social media. It also enables them to be enlightened on the social media use protocols
You should engage in teaching people what cyberbullying is and why it is wrong. By educating them, you will enable them to learn what cyberbullying is and learn strategies to deal with it. Also, you should incorporate the internet and social media into lesson plans to help teach people or students how to be respectful online.
Report any actions that support cyberbullying
What do you do when you confidently feel that someone or people are bullying you online? Nowadays, cyberbullying is a common practice because of the digital environment. Cruelty is likely to occur with or without an aggressor’s specific intent to make it repetitive or focus against a less powerful target.
All cases of cyberbullying are handled and investigated by the DCI Kenya using evidence-based approaches. You can report the cases physically to the relevant authorities or even on the social media apps like Twitter and Facebook, which allow you to report users for any actions of cyberbullying.
Ever experienced cyberbullying on social media? Share with us how you dealt with it!