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Types and Examples of Cyberbullying: Protect Your Kids Today
Cyberbullying is an abuse centered personal dynamic that usually includes three elements; an aggressor, the victim, and the bystanders. Mostly cyberbullying is fueled by the need for social acceptance, occasional retribution, and recognition. Not all times, cyberbullying is induced by dark developmental issues. Sometimes, cyberbullying happens just because the kids are not brought up well and have the wrong perception.
Whatever the reasons become, cyberbullying must be addressed and taken into consideration now because it is destroying our youth. Whether they become bullies or the victims, either way, they are being mentally tortured and there are deeply rooted issues responsible for this kind of behavior. Let’s take a look at a few examples of cyberbullying to be aware of what sort of issues our kids can face on the internet. You may also look up for a few facts about cyberbullying before moving ahead.
Here are some of the examples of how cyberbullying is practiced:
1. Cyber Threats
There is an example where a cyberbully threatens the target child. The bully can pose a threat in many ways to prove the target kid that he is in danger. They often do this to let them spill some personal information, or there are a few bullies who just do it for fun. This can take a serious turn where the bullies try their best to induce fear in the child so that he/she can perform self-harming activities.
2. Impersonation
Impersonation is another popular tactic used by cyberbullies. They impersonate the target child and post weird, negative, and very unlikeable things on social networking sites, online forums, chat boards, and other online places. It also includes setting up internet vitriolic sites on their names so that they can be bullied and criticized classically. Most of the time, the target kid is unaware of these things happening at the very start.
3. Pseudonym Stealth
It is the kind of cyberbullying which is practiced online. The bullies keep their real identity hidden for the time and use the nickname that might attract the target child. This can be done on some major messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger and Skype. With that name, they say harsh things, criticize, and bully the kid. And, the kid never gets to know who is the person behind this hatred.
4. Bash Boards
Bash Boards indicate a cyber-attack that is usually initiated in the virtual rooms, chat rooms, online discussion forums, and message boards. On these social exchange sites, children freely share stuff with their peers to see, review, and comment on. Mostly, these forums are used for cyberbullies, and kids are encouraged to share negative stuff about other kids.
5. Gaming Harassment
Now is the era of online gaming. Kids interact with other players while playing the game online. This allows them to share information and stuff over those gaming chat rooms. However, cyberbullies make their place in these rooms and start abusing others, use profane and threatening language, pass wrong information about each other, and lock others out of the game. Cyberbullies often choose the target child and say negative things about them.
6. BlogoBullying
It might seem like a weird and unreal thing, but it is happening around us. Blogobullying is when the cyberbully dedicates a complete blog to bully or harass a child. The target child is the central subject of that blog. Although it is like the least used tactics, when used, it can leave long-term effects on a child’s mental health. Knowing that all that is being said about them is on the internet and will be there forever is a big heart aching news in itself.
7. Exposure
Exposure is a tactic that works by displaying personal images, videos, chats, and other stuff online without the other person’s consent. This is one of the most common ways of cyberbullying. The private content belonging to a child is shared on the internet making them all embarrassed and humiliated. It becomes more intimate when the pictures and videos being shared have any sexual content in them related to the target child.
Read more about the tactics and types of cyberbullying here:
https://www.ipredator.co/examples-of-cyberbullying
Some Real-Life Events of Cyberbullying
Here are some real-life examples of cyberbullying. Take a look at how exactly kids are being affected by it.
Amanda Marcuson: Birmingham, Michigan
Some girls stole Amanda’s belongings and she reported it. Later that day, she received harsh messages and criticism from unknown people. She defended herself saying that they stole her things. When she went out with her family, her inbox was flooded with threatening and mean messages. But the people who were sending these messages never said a word to Amanda.
Ryan Halligan- Poughkeepsie, New York
Ryan was a sweet thirteen-year-old autistic child. He tried hard to not be the center target of cyberbullying being autistic. He had a crush. The girl he liked pretended to like him back but she turned out to be a big bully. She made fun of him on the internet and pushed him to take his life. So, he hung himself.
Jodi Plumb, Mansfield Nottinghamshire
Jodi was sad and devastated when she found out that a website was solely made for the people to pass out negative comments about her. They were talking about her image, weight, and the possible time of her death. However, her mother went to the school board and complained. Jodi was even attacked in the school twice.
What Should Parents Do?
Being a parent, all these tactics and examples are horrifying. The fear of putting your child in so much danger just by sending them school or giving the smartphone is enough for parents to get panic. But, at this moment, wise decisions should be made. There is no point in limiting your child, keeping them home, or lecturing them all the time.
Do wise things like using a parental control app. SecureTeen is among the best parental control apps that let you monitor your kids’ smartphones all the time. You can see their call and message logs along with their social media activities. They are kids, they won’t recognize the danger coming, but you will. So, why not deal with it the smart way?
