4 things you need to know about cyberbullying

(NC) Today, youth face dangers from more places than ever before. Every new technology that helps them communicate or find community can also be abused to harass, intimidate and bully. Cyberbullying is a difficult subject to talk about, but silence only creates more opportunity for the danger to grow. Making online spaces safer starts with educating ourselves on just what youth are facing—here are four things you might not have known about cyberbullying:

1. It’s more common than you think. Cyberbullying can take as many forms as there are ways of communicating online. Targets may experience private harassment like threatening or demeaning emails or text messages; the cyberbullying may also be public, like embarrassing photos being released online, or a website or social media page built to make fun of the target. 31 per cent of Canadian youth report having been cyberbullied, but the real figure may be even higher.

2. It leaves a lasting impact. Unlike in-person forms of intimidation and harassment, cyberbullying can follow a target everywhere they go, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The effects it has on someone experiencing it vary, but can include anxiety, hopelessness, shame, impacted school performance and even self-harm.

3. It can cross borders. While most cyberbullies and their targets know each other, the online nature of the harassment means that it can come from anywhere. It also means that efforts to address cyberbullying in one region can potentially have a global impact.

4. Spreading awareness is key. It empowers targets and those around them to take action which has been found to significantly cut how often it happens. A Canadian communications agency recently found success with a campaign that raised awareness around cyberbullying in Tunisia. The campaign, “Don’t Feed the Monster,” aimed to equip teenaged girls and boys with tools to resist and prevent cyberbullying, while raising awareness among, teachers and parents about the dangers waiting for youth online.

You can learn more about this effort to fight back against cyberbullying, as well as hear other stories of Canadian changemakers making a global impact in a new podcast at tap-pat.ca/canadian-changemakers.