Recognizing Cyberbullying In A Few Steps

The actions proposed to prevent and combat all types of abuse are numerous, especially in the school and work environment. Traditionally, bullying is practiced through insults, harassment or physical assault; nowadays, however, with new technologies, this phenomenon has gone further. How to recognize cyberbullying.

The digital world is an integral part of our daily life. We access social networks, share part of our life and peek at the reality of others. However, it could be a double-edged sword. What if I am the victim of internet abuse? To find out more, read on and you will find out how to recognize cyberbullying.

Steps to recognize cyberbullying

Know the different forms

When one thinks of internet abuse, situations may arise where threats or insults are launched via instant messaging applications or other social networks. But it doesn’t stop there. To identify cases of cyberbullying, keep in mind that it can affect you in several ways.

We can consider ourselves victims of bullying when, for example, they clone our identity in social networks or other applications, using it to send messages with our name and our image. We are victims of cyberbullying if they have retouched our photo in an offensive way and / or have tagged it in offensive terms.

On the other hand, cyberbullying also happens if they record or take pictures of us and post them without our consent on an online portal. Ultimately, when someone uses a technological means to carry out actions that go against our will or our liking. In these cases, we are victims of abuse.

Evaluate, count and gather information

Once we understand the situations in which we can talk about abuse in the virtual world, what to do if we realize that we are in a similar situation? Here comes the second piece of advice: analyze and evaluate what happened. The time has come to reflect on how the events that have happened affect us on a social and personal level.

We may be faced with various scenarios: firstly, it can only be a joke between friends of no great importance, which does not affect us that much. On the contrary, it can turn out to be a situation that makes us feel offended, insecure and hurt. In this case we come to the third key point: talking about it.

If you are a minor, it is best to report it to your parents and / or teachers. They will be able to help you resolve the situation in the best possible way. But you don’t have to talk about it exclusively with them, you can also turn to friends or companions who can help you understand the situation, as well as support you.

After that, the fourth advice will be implemented: collect all the information about it (without omitting any, not even the most unpleasant). To do this, it will be necessary to clarify what happened: how, when and for how long it has been happening; who is involved and what he wants to achieve with his actions; which situations generated the current events.

Find a solution

Being abused is unfair and painful, so we must try to put an end to it.

solutions

To do this, we will have to analyze the information we have collected, establishing if there is the possibility of talking directly with the people involved to try to resolve the situation that has arisen. Again, you don’t have to do it alone. By asking for help, you can gain the understanding and strength necessary for the situation to end.

If speaking is not enough to put an end to what is happening, it will be appropriate to resort to other means. In the first place, the higher authorities (the teachers in the school environment or the bosses in the workplace) must be made aware so that they can take the situation in hand. And remember: recognizing cyberbullying is the first step in dealing with it!

Images courtesy of Jay Wennington, Sergey Zolkin and Gilles Lambert