NS: What can a person do if they are being cyberbullied?
PKG: 1. Assertively ask the bully to stop. Otherwise, don’t respond or argue with the bully. Don’t answer emails, instant messages, text messages, or other messages from a bully. Don’t visit the bully’s blogs, web pages, or other sites. Your visit can be detected even if you don’t type.
2. Tell your parents.
3. Save proof of cyberbullying. Don’t delete anything. Copy and paste conversations using the “prt sc” button, or shift or control and “prt sc” or “fn” and “prt sc”. Save emails. Save text messages and/or voicemails. Keep a record of witnesses.
4. Make changes. Place the offender on block/ban/ignore. Log out. Change your email address, screen name, cell phone number, and other ways the bully could contact you.
5. Report cyberbullying to the moderator, the site, your internet service provider or the cell phone company.
6. Have your parents contact the bully’s parents with evidence of cyberbullying. Let them know this behavior could be punishable by law and that you’re willing to press charges.
7. Contact your school. If cyberbullying doesn’t occur on school property, your school may not be able to help; but, it’s worth a try.
8. If your safety is threatened, call the police. They can help.
9. If all else fails, contact an attorney.
Phyllis Kaufman Goodstein is the author of "200 Ready-to-Use Reproducible Activity Sheets That Help Educators Take A B.I.T.E. (Bullying Interventions That Empower) Out of Bullying:, available for purchase from: www.marcoproducts.com.
