Is Your Child a Victim of Cyber-Bullying?

Bullying is not just something that happens on grade school playgrounds. No thanks to the internet, it's becoming a worldwide phenomenon.

Because of its relative newcomer status as a household word, cyberbullying (also known as cyber-bullying) is loosely defined as the use of internet or other online resources to harass, intimidate, threaten, cause harm, or even produce a perceived threat directed against a possible victim.

A Heinous Example

As an extreme example of cyberbullying, a recent incident involving a hacker from Santa Ana, California, tells of illegal access to hundreds of email accounts. After acquiring access to a victim's email account, the hacker was able to pose as friends or acquaintances and thus convince the email users to divulge compromising personal and financial information. The hacker was able to use this information either to steal money from the email users' other online accounts, or also use for extortion.

Where the hacker posed as boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or other intimate acquaintance, the hacker would have the email user unwittingly send him compromising photos of themselves. The hacker would then threaten to distribute these photos to the email user's mailing list, unless paid significant sums of money in exchange for silence.

Fortunately the hacker was arrested in June by the FBI. Unfortunately we see this as one of several disquietingly increasing forms of crime arising in the online world.

A Growing Trend

With a growing population of internet users across the world − most of whom place great value upon their online reputation - the chance for certain malcontents to abuse the internet's power becomes more evident.

According to an article issued by American educational journal Community College Week, cyberbullying is on the rise. Fully 10 percent of American middle schoolers state that they have been cyberbullied. While a great portion of these users are adults, the median age across the globe is becoming younger as more children are born and grow up with the internet as a vital part of their livelihood.

Not Just In The Western World

Cyberbullying is not exclusive to developed nations only. Among the fastest growing demographics for internet access is mainland China, where young people feel pressured socially to access technology in all aspects of their life - including socially.

In Hong Kong, after a young woman had uploaded a controversial video, netizens ferreted out her identity and afterwards heckled her to the point to where she considered suicide.

Is Your Child a Victim of Cyberbullying?

It's only natural that parents of children raised in the internet-ready technosphere would be concerned for their safety online. However, despite an ideal upbringing fostering a balanced atmosphere of open yet cautious acceptance of others, one of cyberbullying's most pernicious attributes is that it is shrouded in secrecy.

Cyberbullying sets itself apart from traditional bullying in the sense that its perpetrators are most likely anonymous. Likewise the locale where cyberbullying takes place is often greatly unsupervised.

Signs That Your Child May Be a Victim

Mary Kay Hoal, the founder of Yoursphere.com, a social network for youngsters, offers offers the following tips for parents to help determine whether their children are victims of cyberbullying:

• Be watchful for signs of depression. When being bullied, children often feel overly self-critical, may feel overbearingly alone, may turn inward, and thus offers of help.

• Keep a watchful eye for withdrawn behavior. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, children being bullied may suddenly not be willing to go to school or make use of their computer,

What to Do?

Hoal's further advice in proactively working the issue of cyberbullying:

• Teach your children to "Be Kind Online."

• Get your children's' school authorities involved or, if your children are threatened with physical harm, inform your local law enforcement officials.

• Give your children tools for protecting themselves. Explain to them that bullies feed on the reactions their actions have upon their victims. Tell your kids not to respond to bullies − rather deny them any feedback whatsoever. Make certain to tell your kids that it's actually the bully who has the problem.

Resources Against Cyberbullying

Software packages are available that may assist in documenting cyberbullying activities by capturing screen shots of your child's computer when she or he clicks on the software's alert icon. Yearly service is reasonably priced and some software can be installed on several computers per household.

Other useful resources about bullying include:

Bullying, from Education.com

Dealing with Bullies, from the Nemours Foundation

Stop Bullying Now!, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Resources / Other Reading

1. www.ccweek.com - Resources Available to Fight Growing Cyberbullying Trend
2. Hong Kong Girl Cyberbullying Victim Contemplates Suicide
3. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
4. http://www.education.com/topic/school-bullying-teasing
5. http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/grow/school_stuff/bullies.html
6. http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids