#Stop Cyberbullying
With young people spending on average up to 15 hours per week online, there are a number of important skills for them to learn on how to be safe. For example,
How to protect themselves from un-wanted contact from strangers or someone not known to them, or unsolicited photographs.
How to guard their on-line reputation. With employers turning to the internet even more to find out about prospective employees, what a young person posts can impact on future employment and life choices.
How to deal with cyber-bullying and on-line negative experiences. Flaming, trolling, harassment, excluding are all examples of cyber-bullying that can impact a young person.
Negative on-line experiences can cause loss of self-confidence, anxiety, poor performance at school and in severe cases self-harm and even suicide.
It is essential, not only for young people to know how to protect themselves but how to be good on-line citizens. They can do this by:
- Not starting on-line or cyber-bullying.
- Not being part of it, if they see it occurring.
- Being an up-stander rather than a bystander, that is supporting their friends and people they know who may be experiencing cyber-bullying; and
- Not letting it get out of hand.
Youth Legal Service, believes in supporting young people to be good on-line citizens.