Important Tips to Prevent Cyberbullying from Occurring
Bullying was never a thing of the past. It is still ever-present in our lives. Perhaps much more than it ever was. With the advancement of technology and social media platforms, bullying has taken different forms—cyberbullying being the one.
In today’s time and age, our kids are vulnerable to several online threats including cyberbullying because they spend a huge chunk of time in front of their screens. To protect them from cyberbullying, most parents resort to the best free hidden spy apps for Android and iPhone so they can monitor their online activity without them knowing. (Note: We do not recommend using only the free trial versions offered by most monitoring apps as they lack important monitoring features).
While using monitoring tools is one of the effective ways to prevent cyberbullying, we are also going to provide you with a few other important tips to protect your kids from this severe online threat. Let us go through some effective tips that can reduce your kids’ chances of getting bullied by someone on the internet.
Educate Yourself About Cyberbullying
Before you can adopt ways to prevent cyberbullying from occurring, you need to understand exactly what it is. You need to gather more information about cyberbullying, what it really is, how and where it occurs, how many types exist, and then discuss with your friends about their experiences regarding cyberbullying.
Being a parent, you should know everything about cyberbullying before you can take some action to prevent it from occurring to your kids. When you have a fair idea of how and when cyberbullying occurs, you can protect your kids from getting bullied online.
Once you think you have gotten enough education about cyberbullying, you can raise awareness about it through a club, a campaign, or an event. Remember, knowledge is everything.
Avoid Messages from Strangers
Another tip to keep your kids from getting bullied on the internet is to teach them to avoid opening messages from people they do not know. They should delete the messages straight away without reading them from strangers as they may contain malicious software or viruses.
Similarly, they should avoid reading messages from bullies on social media platforms. The more they stay away from them and ignore them, they will be less likely to become susceptible to cyberbullying.
Monitor What Kids Post Online
Sometimes kids post personal photos and videos on social media platforms in excitement because they want others to see what’s going on in their lives. However, they do not realize what could be the consequences of sharing personal information on online platforms.
They may post something on social media that can jeopardize their reputation. As a result, people start judging them based on how they appear to them online. Bullies can use the same points against them to make them feel threatened as well as bad about themselves.
Therefore, you must teach your kids that not everything can be posted and shared on social media and that whatever information is shared online remains permanent even if you delete it later. Monitor closely what they post online and if you find anything inappropriate or something that can trigger bullies, you need to ask your kids to take it down immediately.
Install Monitoring Tools
Another best tip to combat cyberbullying is to install third-party monitoring apps on your kids’ cell phones or other devices they use frequently to access the internet. Monitoring apps and parental controls help parents monitor and control their kids’ internet usage and keep them safe from online dangers.
Those parents who do not want their kids to ever find out that they are secretly monitoring their online activity can use an undetectable spy app for Android, iPhone, or any other device they are using. Undetectable monitoring apps stays hidden on the kids’ phone and secretly monitor their entire online activity as well as the messages they receive from strangers.
If or when you find your kid interacting with a bully or receiving threatening, abusive, or mean messages from someone, you can immediately intervene and stop cyberbullying from occurring.
Teach Kids Not to be a Cyberbully
No matter what your kid experiences online, teach them not to repeat the same with others. If your kid has been bullied by someone on social media, you must teach them not to retaliate and treat them the way they have been treated.
It is important for kids that they should not handle bullies on their own and that they should not start bullying them in return. They must immediately report the incident to their parents, guardians, or school teachers and then let them take care of the matter.
Teach Them to Report Immediately
Bullying only becomes worse when kids stay silent about it. When a bully knows the victim cannot stand up for himself and can bear the brunt of bullying, they will continue treating them badly. However, the game changes when the victim takes a stand for himself and reports about the bullying incident.
Parents must teach their kids to be strong enough to take a stand against cyberbullying and report about such incidents all at once. Once reported, the bullies will understand that it’s time for them to stop. The fear of severe punishment will prevent them from bullying others.