Cyber bullying, stronger than sticks and stones?
Growing up I often heard and spoke the mantra: “sticks and stones might break my bones, but your words will never hurt me”. This was supposed to be a way of handling and overcoming verbal bullying. I can attest that this defense did little in preventing any bullying. Better approaches were avoiding certain places or even standing up to the bullying. Now like many things in life bullying has evolved into another form. This form is cyber bullying. No longer can one find sanctuary within their own home. Where you could run away before it now finds you in your “hiding place”. Cyber bullying is not something you can just fight back either. Because even if you try, you’ll learn that any attention only encourages it. Reading through the other content within this blog, you can also see that cyber bullying affects not just children. It can be a poorly misspelled insult or a personal attack. Triggered by absolutely nothing on your part. This behavior can be even more harmful than its predecessor. As it has a much further reach than in previous forms.
So, how do you defend or protect yourself? With the growing utilization of social media within everyday life just leaving the internet is not always a viable solution. Fortunately, as easy as it is for cyber bullying to creep into your home, it can be blocked. The best defense against a cyber bully is simply to block and report. And children should share with an adult. I encourage my daughter daily to go to a responsible source whenever she experiences any kind of hurt. Also, a healthy tip is to remember that you do not owe anything to those cruel comments. Attempting to change or take these words to heart can cause excessive mental damage. If you experience it resist the urge to respond. Instead delete, block, and move on. Fortunately, cyber bullying is becoming more recognized online. Along with that there comes some hope. Repercussions to those who post harmful messages or negative comments are being taken more seriously by most social media platforms. Guidelines are now being placed throughout many social media groups to discourage bullying. Cyber bullying is real and harmful, it can happen to anyone. And much stronger than sticks and stones. So, if it does happen, do not accept it. Do not ignore it either, respond by blocking and reporting. Do not let the negative define you!
