Cyber-bullying,the scourge of Youth

Cyber-bullying has in the past ten years, evolved in to a very serious issue, for young persons, for parents, for teachers and for state services. Cyber-bullying is defined as the use of electronic communication to bully a person, usually by sending messages which are intimidating or threatening to another person.
From looking at statistics at http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html it can be shown that Cyber-bullying is more of a problem among teenagers. Cyber-bullying can take many different forms. Unlike standard bullying, it can affect its victims anywhere and anytime. The victim may not know who is sending the abusive or threatening messages.
The forms of Cyber-bullying can include

• sending mean or threatening messages to a persons email/mobile telephone
• spreading rumours online or via text messages
• posting hurtful or threatening messages on social media sites e.g. Facebook,Twitter,snapchat etc.
• stealing a persons account in order to send abusive or threatening messages
• pretending to be someone else to hurt another person online.

The effects on victims of cyber-bullying include Anxiety,Depression and more seriously can and has led to suicide. There have been numerous cases of such suicides among adolescents in Ireland which have received prominent media attention. Cyber-bullying can be of a continuous nature or may occur infrequently but the victim is always in fear of the next contact. To persons responsible and participating in cyber-bullying,some feel that their actions are funny and do not understand the seriousness of their actions or the pain and sometimes the tragic consequences suffered by victims and their families due to cyber-bullying. It is for this reason that we all have a responsibility while on line to be aware of what we are saying and how we say it.
According to Cyber-bullying statistics gathered in America from the I-Safe Foundation, over half of teenagers or adolescents have experienced online bullying and about the same percentage have also admitted to having engaged in cyber-bullying to any degree. The study found that at least 1 in three teens or adolescents have received cyber threats online. A worrying statistic revealed by the research of the I-Safe Foundation was that well over 50% of young victims do not inform their parents that they are or have been bullied online and instead have suffered in silence.
There are many avenues open today to assist parents, adolescents and teachers to reduce the rate of cyber-bullying

• Talks can be given to teenagers to explain the impact of cyber-bullying and by explaining the serious consequences of cyber-bullying for both victims and perpetrators.
• Encourage victims to open up and tell parents or appropriate adults about their problem.
• Teens should retain the offending messages as proof and show them to their parents.
• Efforts should be made to block the sender of the offensive messages by changing account details etc.
• Teenagers and all users online should keep their online passwords private and only divulge to their parents.
• All online users should not upload any information which they would not to be made public knowledge. 
• Teenagers should not have access to online activity in private spaces at home but only in open family space in the home.
• Parents should supervise teenagers online activity and limit the level of access to adult sites with locks etc.

Parents may if desired deny their children to have smart phones for their personal use until they have reached a certain age.
In respect of this last point, Primary and second level schools in Ireland were recently issued advice from the Irish government to look at the issue o students being denied access to smart phones etc at school.
This area of the debate on cyber-bullying may prove very contentious and we await further developments.https://www.webwise.ie/parents/ask-fm-a-guide-for-parents-and-teachers-2/https: