Online bullying can be just as harmful as physical or emotional bullying, and may involve anonymity. Victims can take steps to prevent or reduce incidents, including keeping records of harassing communications and reducing their online footprint. If the bullying continues, victims should notify website owners and try to identify the bully from real-life actions.
The destructive practice of online or cyber bullying can be just as harmful to a victim as physical or emotional bullying. Threats or insults received through online communications can be even more sinister, as the cyberbully may have the benefit of anonymity or alternate identities. There are steps a computer user can take to prevent or reduce online bullying incidents, but some of these steps may involve restricting access to an online social account or deleting such accessible accounts altogether. In many cases, online bullying begins with bullying in the real world, so a victim may need to take proactive steps to keep both worlds as separate as possible.
One way to deal with online bullying is to treat it like the crime it is. This means keeping track of the times, dates, email addresses and content of all online harassing communications. Emails received from a cyberbully should not be deleted immediately, but should instead be archived in a special online file or downloaded to a secure computer file. Many online chat programs also allow saving conversations, so a victim may want to use that option after a creepy or intimidating chat with a cyberbully. Some online bullies will post embarrassing photographs or other demeaning materials on the Internet, so a victim should record all information about the post, such as the domain name, date of the post, poster name, comments, and any other identifiers. A large online video or photo hosting website may need all of this information to conduct an internal investigation.
Many online bullying incidents begin as real-life bullying incidents. The bully often knows the victim personally and already has enough information to initiate an online cyberstalking or bullying campaign. Knowledge of a victim’s full first and last name can literally be enough information for a motivated, computer-savvy bully to find out which online social or professional networks a victim frequents. More information about a victim can be discovered in public records or through paid online checks. To address online bullying, a person should use every means available to reduce their online footprint, from increasing security levels on social accounts to changing online usernames and passwords.
If a victim continues to be attacked online by a cyberbully, it may be time to notify the website owner or email service provider of the violation. Once the website or domain owner has been contacted, you may be in a better legal position to identify and penalize the offender. A victim should also make an effort to identify the bully from her real-life actions. Did online bullying start after a real-life incident, such as a job promotion, a new romantic relationship, or a conflict with a fellow student or co-worker? Did the online bully mention specific incidents or use information that only a small number of real-life associates might know? Few cyberbullies select their victims at random, so a person who receives threatening online communications could also be the victim of a bully in their workplace or school. Once their anonymity has been compromised, either by the victim or an authority figure, many cyberbullies lack the courage to continue bullying their targets online.
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