Passive Aggressive Diaries

Understanding passive aggressive behavior in families, schools, and workplaces

10 Guidelines for Stopping Cyberbullying

Adults can teach kids critical skills for coping with online aggression.


While many parents consider themselves digital immigrants in their child's native cyber-lands, even a tech-novice can help a young person navigate their way safely through the choppy waters of online aggression. What follows are 10 guidelines that parents, caregivers, and other concerned adults can offer to the young people they care about for effectively dealing with cyberbullying:

1.       Reach out to a trustworthy adult


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 2.       Disengage

A young person's instinct in a cyberbullying incident may be to retaliate—to return the insults, post equally lewd photos, or spread vengeful rumors. Teach them never to give in to this temptation. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but revenge can lead to three bad outcomes:

  • It ups the ante on aggression. The person who “started” it will likely escalate their cruelty even farther.
  • It creates equal culpability in the eyes of adults. Accountability is not based on “who started it?” but rather: Who did the right thing to bring the situation to an end?

 3.       Log Off & Block Harassers


 4.     Use Privacy Settings


5.       Take Screen Shots

As the saying goes, what happens on the internet stays on the internet. Never does this truism come in more handy than when young people know to take screen shots of incidents of cyberbullying, including offensive emails, texts, Facebook posts, Tweets, photos, videos, phone numbers, and so forth. This kind of solid evidence, when shared with adults, can go a long way in bringing cyberbullying to a screeching halt.

6.       Step In to Stop It

Even if your child is not the originator of a cruel online message, when he forwards it, “Likes” it, or even sees it without doing something to stop it, he becomes part of the problem. Teach kids to never forward, share, or passively condone cyberbullying activities.

 7.       Report It


8.       Empathize


 9.       Remember: You are Not to Blame


 10.   Be a Friend

If your child knows someone on the receiving end of cyberbullying, encourage her to reach out to that person. When young people are there for each other as friends, they create strength in numbers and can make a huge difference in turning the tide away from cruelty and toward kindness.





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