Cyberbullying is the use of digital communication tools to bully peers. In our age, social media tools and internet applications have become both a need and a threat.
Causes of Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying has become a developmental risk factor for children and adolescents, especially social media tools and internet applications that people living in metropolitan areas use for socialization.
The widespread use of social media tools has created virtual identities and cyberbullying has become a developmental risk factor for children and adolescents. cyberbullying It has made it easier to do than behavior.
Cyberbullying is unfortunately a serious problem that we often encounter with developing technology. There are children who have very big problems just because of this and it is an important problem that needs to be supported.
We are in an age where technology is increasingly developing and internet use is a necessity for everyone. On social media platforms where face-to-face communication is not available, we are trying to communicate with people we do not see or know and to fulfill our social needs. While trying to meet our social and emotional needs, we are now very likely to come across people who bully on social media. These platforms, where there is no face-to-face communication, have become an ideal environment for bullies who have difficulty empathizing.
Children and adolescents have difficulty in analyzing risks with their physiologically and mentally immature mindsets. For this reason, they have become open and easy targets of cyberbullies through social media or communication channels on internet tools.
It is now much easier to exhibit bullying behaviors that they have difficulty doing in public environments, such ascyberbullying, taking revenge on people with whom they have relationship problems in peer relationships, gossiping, humiliating or mocking, over the internet. It has become easier for children of the technology age than us adults to use internet tools where they can bully anonymously, in other words, where they cannot even understand who is doing it and it is difficult to trace it. Children, who are exposed to technological devices and internet use in one way or another from the moment they are born, learn how to use the internet faster than we do. As adults, we can be surprised that even 2-year-old children learn smart devices such as tablet phones.
Children who can read and write have started to socialize on the internet or gaming platforms. It does not seem possible to prevent this anymore. Perhaps we need to make a separate effort to make the use of technology and the internet useful. In this sense, families need to update themselves about the use of the internet in order to understand and guide children who are the current version. It has become a very important pedagogical knowledge to learn as much as possible about the function of the internet tools and games used by children and to know what children are dealing with on the internet.
Cyberbullying is one of the biggest social problems that the internet world has faced in recent years.
In order for families to managecyberbullying as much as possible, it is necessary to set rules about sharing on social media tools with all individuals at home. Technology companies offer child protection and family protection packages and try to prevent cyberbullying. Families should use the protection packages at home.
Cyberbullying and cyberbullying should be discussed within the family and an agreement should be reached on the rules to be solution-oriented without being judgmental and should be followed up without interfering too much in the child's private life. Overly intrusive attitudes cause children to hide information from families. For this reason, it can be a preventive attitude to talk about cyberbullying from time to time without being judgmental, accusatory and overly controlling.
It is necessary to inform children about being exposed tocyberbullying and the negative consequences of exposure.
The issues that need to be discussed and agreed upon can be as follows;
- Sharing with the family if a person harasses, teases or threatens in any way through social media or internet applications
- Not sharing photos or videos without the knowledge of the family
- Not sharing contact information over the internet without the knowledge of the family
- Informing the family when people request a password
- Informing the family before downloading any files, apps or games
- Not being acyberbully and openly discussing the moral, ethical and legal consequences of bullying and being bullied
How Can Cyberbullying Be Prevented?
- Strengthen your communication with your children and talk to them
- Ensure safety and increase precautions in children's use of technology
- Keep in touch with your child's close friends, their parents and teachers.
- If your child uses social media, pay attention to their posts and friends.
- Set limits on technology use
