Effective & Handier Ways to Stop Cyber Bullying through Texting

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Michelle hates her phone. She dropped her phone into a small lake while returning from school a few days back. Though she is sorry to lose her phone and have told her mom a lie that it got left in the bus while she was coming home; she is really happy to have finally gotten free from all those hate messages that would hit her inbox all through the day.

It was about 6 months back that she started receiving those hurting messages from unknown numbers. Every time she deleted them, there were several more of them hitting her inbox. She never gave her phone number to so many people and had no idea how so many people got hold of her number who were troubling her.

Cyber bullying through texting is one of the most common ways that bullies use to harass their victims for a very simple reason that it is very simple to do! You don’t need much to do nor do you need a whole lot of investment. Just a cell phone and an extra SIM card, so that nobody gets to know it is your number, and you can start bullying other by sending hundreds of offensive, threat inducing messages to the people you dislike. And anyone like Michelle may have to face such harassment anytime anywhere.

Why is text bullying so very infamous?

Taking a look at previous years’ cyber bullying statistics, you’ll find that about 38% of young people faced cyber bullying and about 24% of the kids were harassed through the text messages. Anyone can send a text without much hassle and almost every next child owns a cell phone with texting capabilities. This makes harassment and bullying through text messages far more common than other ways. One doesn’t even need Internet data plans or any kind of Internet connectivity on the phone to send and receive messages. Thus, if you are a bully you don’t have to wait online for your victim to come, simply sending a text from anywhere anytime will let you trouble your victim.

This works instantly and one can do it anytime, even while having lunch with the family; having a bubble bath; or while in bed and trying out something interesting on the cell phone before falling asleep finally. Again, victims can avoid harassment online by simply getting off line or deleting away their online accounts but anyone who is being harassed through text messages just can’t avoid this unless the phone is switched off or the person changes the phone number.

If you are a parent or guardian or a teacher looking for ways to help your child or student stay safe from this kind of harassment, simply take a look at the below mentioned things to do:

Set cell phone safety rules for your child

Most cases go unseen or lead to unforgivable disaster because kids don’t share anything with their parents or teachers or other adults. A recent survey suggests that about 28% of children don’t tell anyone about the harassment. So, talk to your child; be free with the kid and more like a friend than being a parent or teacher. Give kids a proper space to share their heart. Ask them never to hide anything that hurts them or troubles their mind.

Make it a rule that number shouldn’t be shared with everybody and should be given only to those who are really trustworthy. Make sure your child doesn’t publish the number on the Internet on some social site or communication app.

Equip your child with helpline numbers from government and non-profit groups working against bullying

There are various organizations (both public and non-profit ones) that help children against cyber bullying and crime against children; kids need to know about them, in case of an emergency. Sometimes, kids may not feel free to talk to a parent or teacher or guardian but find it more convenient to speak their trouble to some counselor. So, make sure to equip your child with every such number, email address and website details that help kids in trouble.

Organize special workshops in school or the neighborhood

Workshops, seminars, and special programs not only help your children learn important precautionary measures but also let them know how to handle things boldly. Any school or neighborhood can have bullies and victims. Perhaps the bully has some psychological issue and needs counseling to stop being bad and rude to others, special workshops will help them in getting right. If you are a teacher, talk to your school authorities and organize special workshops and if you are a parent, contact other parents to help kids both in schools and neighborhoods.

Empower your child’s cell phone with parental monitoring app

This is another great way to help your child stay safe from text bullying and other kinds of cyber bullying that involves cell phone in the process.  An advanced parental monitoring app for cell phones and smart phones will record every activity taking place on the phone. This includes text messages sent and received; chat histories on various messenger apps like Skype, WhatsApp, etc; call logs; and all the Internet activities starting from visiting various sites, downloading things and so on.

When you are tracking child cell phone, it gets absolutely clear whether your child is being bullied or is bullying somebody and as you have complete records including the contact details and time stamps, you don’t just get proper evidences but also get a more proper idea about what the exact trouble is, which then helps you keep your child safe in much better way!

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Source: http://www.trackshore.com/blog/effective-handier-ways-stop-cyber-bullying-texting.html