A new form of bullying has emerged as a result of the popularity of the Internet. Now, children, and even adults, sometimes cannot find solace even at the comforts of their own home or room because bullies and other unscrupulous individuals now use the Net to harass, stalk or just make the life of some people miserable.

Before you can even be a target of cyber bullies, however, you need to equip yourself with tools and knowledge on how to protect yourself from these nasty individuals. If you don’t make yourself vulnerable to attacks, cyber bullies will not bother you. You have to remember that bullies take pleasure in feeling stronger and more powerful than their victims. So if they feel that they cannot overpower, these bullies will not bother you.

Below are some simple ways to protect yourself from cyber bullying:

1. It Pays To Know

How can you protect yourself from cyber bullying if you don’t know anything about it in the first place? It is like fighting someone you cannot see. Thus, you need to research and learn all the things you can about cyber bullying — how they work, what do they do, and the profile of the people that do this stuff.

2. Choose Your Screen Name or Email Address Carefully

You should choose a screen name or email address that would not reveal too much about yourself. Choose a screen name that would not identify your age, gender and occupation. Furthermore, pick a screen name or email address that is clean and has no connotations. How can you expect people to respect you if you use a name that can be associated to sex, violence, or drugs?

3. Do Not Make Your Profile Available To The Public

If you join chat rooms, instant messaging and social networks, ensure that your profile is private or invisible so that only the people in your contact list can send you a message or can contact you. If you make your profile accessible just to anybody, you might be a target of cyber bully.

4. Ensure That Your Contact Details Are Only Given To People You Can Trust

You need to safeguard your mobile number, email address, screen name, log on information and other personal details. Do not give them to casual acquaintances or people you just met online. The more people who have access to your contact information, the more likely you are to be targeted by a cyber bully. Even if somebody wants to send you a hate mail, if he or she can’t find a way to send it to you, then they might just give up and find other people to pester.

5. Save The Messages or Mails

If you feel that you are a target of cyber bullying, you need to keep a record of the messages and mails that you receive from the offender. Ensure that you know the date and time of all the messages. You will never know when you will need the information in the future.

6. Don’t Keep It to Yourself

More often than not, mails from cyber bullies contain very hurtful and degrading messages. As a result, a lot of victims of cyber bullies just keep the incident to themselves. However, you can only bear so much.

It would be best to tell somebody about the situation because you need all the support you can get. If you are a minor, you should tell your parents. You will see that problems with cyber bullies will be easier to bear and manage if there are other people who are willing to help you out.

7. Never Reply To Cyber Bullies

Cyber bullies love to feel important and stronger than other people. If you reply to bullies, they will feel that they have power over you because you have been affected by what they have written or done. Don’t give them the satisfaction of knowing that you have been affected by their appalling behavior, never send a reply.

8. Report Cyber Bullies To The Moderator Of The Site Or Your Internet Service Provider

In order to prevent the cyber bully from hurting you and other people, you need to report the situation to your ISP or the moderator of the chat room or site. You can have cyber bullies blocked from the Internet sites you visit, especially if the messages sent to you contain lewd, racist and inappropriate material.

9. If Threats And Messages Become Serious, Go To The Cops

You should never take for granted threats and libelous messages. These things are illegal and should immediately be reported to the cops.

10. Create A New Screen Name And Contact Details

Another way to protect yourself from further harm and hurtful messages is by changing your screen name, creating a new profile and requesting for a new number. Just ensure that this time, you only give your contact information to people who are close to you and those that you trust.

Popularity: 31% [?]

If you're a concerned parent, you may want to subscribe to the: OSA~RSS Thanks for visiting! and make sure to sign our OSA Guestbook...

Technorati Tags: children, cyber bullies, Cyber Crime, CyberBullying, cyberharassment, cyberstalking, sex violence

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!