Cyber bullying: Know the Signs

While it is easy to look at stories and understand the facts about cyberbullying, how can we actually prevent it from ever happening?

Teens nowadays are using the internet for just about everything. This also means that they are exposed to more interactions via social media and are more vulnerable to being cyber bullied. According to www.ncpc.org, students who go home to escape bullying find that they can’t run away from it. Even with them being bullied, a lot of teens don’t know that there are people who can help them in situations and often feel embarassed to speak up. For the many teens who are afraid to speak up, it is the job of others to be on the look out for potential warning signs. These signs can affect a childs emotions , academics, and behavior.

Emotions: The child can become more withdrawn and shy due to their bullying. They may also start showing signs of depression and/or seem overly anxious. Their mood can also change by gaining aggresive tendencies and becoming agitated.

Academics: A big red flag of cyberbullying is through the students academics. This is because a shift in their commitment will start to occur. This is shown through lose of interest in school, a drop in their grades, starting to skip school and/or not wanting to attend classes. All of these show signs of bullying because the child is scared of their bully and wants to avoid them at all costs.

Behavior: Another way to tell if your child is being bullied is through their social interactions and behavior. Signs that can lead to finding out your child is bullied can be that they suddenly stop using the computer/technology, their eating and sleeping habits change, they no longer want to participate in activites that they once enjoyed, a change in friends occur, and self harm or attempts at suicide occur. All of these can be signs that your child is under a lot of stress and pressure and needs assistance right away.

On the contrary, there are also signs to look for if your child is the one cyberbullying someone else. These include:

Being secreteive when using computer/ mobile device, turns the screen off or away when someone is coming close to them, and becomes upset or angry if device is taken away from them. The act of being shady should raise a red flag for parents to make sure that their child isn’t the one doing the bullying themselves.

Cyberbullying is a big problem in teens lives and the more information we know about it, the more we can do to help prevent it from occuring and stop it from becoming something more tragic.