What Can We Do About Cyberbullying?

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." -Albert Einstein

Now that we've established the severity and scope of cyberbullying, I'm sure many of you are wondering what you can do to prevent and address it. Below are concrete actions steps that parents, teachers, administrators, and students can take to deal with cyberbullying.

What parents can do:

• Become familiar with social networking websites and ask your children if they'll show you their profile pages.
• Talk with your children about social media issues and make sure they know they can come to you if something is upsetting or inappropriate.
• Instruct your children not to respond to any cyberbullying threats or comments but not to delete the messages either. Instead, they should be printed out and include the cyberbully's screen name.

What teachers can do:

• Explicitly teach your students what not to do online, such as spreading rumors about classmates or posting harmful comments about or videos of classmates.
• Teach students the "true, kind, necessary" litmus test for what they say. All communication about classmates should meet at least two of those criteria.
• Teach kindness and empathy through social-emotional learning lessons and activities.

What administrators can do:

• Implement an anti-bullying policy and communicate it to parents, teachers, and students in the beginning of the school year.
• Include in the curriculum classes that teach students how to safely and appropriately use social media.
• Engage the school community - students, teachers, and parents - in discussions about cyberbullying and how to prevent it.

What students can do:

• Don't respond online to messages sent by cyberbullies.
• Don't participate in cyberbullying by forwarding harmful messages or videos sent by others.
• If you experience or know about a cyberbullying incident, tell an adult that you trust.

For more ideas about how to prevent cyberbullying, check out 18 Tips to Stop Cyberbullying and How Teachers Can Prevent Cyberbullying.

This list certainly isn't exhaustive. What other strategies do you have for preventing and addressing cyberbullying? Please share them in the comments section below!