Preventing Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is an epidemic in the US. Bullying on the internet has become common place in today’s world because of the widely availability of mobile devices and laptops. Social media has amplified the amount of people that cyberbully. Social media gives the attacker the opportunity to bully anyone that they want. Social media also gives them the ability to do so anonymously. You can easily make a “burner” account and attack anyone you want. Anything that is posted is also available for the whole world to see. Anything that the attacker says could be found funny by those viewing the altercation and creates a climate where many think it is acceptable to cyberbully because everyone thinks it is funny. This is extremely dangerous because it normalizes cyberbullying. So, the question is, how do we stop cyber bullying?

Stopping cyberbullying would be an almost impossible thing to do but preventing the upcoming generation from normalizing cyberbullying has great opportunity. Preventing people from cyberbullying is all about creating a conversation and helping them understand the risks of bullying. Helping kids understand what bullying is key to preventing. We must make them understand that any form of bullying is unacceptable. The strong must stand up for the weak. Many kids that are victim to bullying are usually weaker in some sense. Help children understand that if you see someone getting bullied, that you should stand up for them and get help. As parents, you should always make your children feel comfortable with opening up and talking about school life. Asking the proper questions is key such as; what is one good thing that happened today, anything bad happen? How was lunch? Anything exciting happen on the school bus? Key questions like this can help you understand the climate of the school experience.

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The pictures above show Adan Lozano with his cousin Jose Angel Lopez. In the first picture (from left to right) Jose Angel Lopez, Adan Lozano. Credit: Jose Angel Lopez.