The Anti-Bullying Alliance is a membership
organisation made up of over 120 public, commercial and voluntary sector organisations
acting to prevent and respond to bullying.
We have a network of over 1000 schools to get
the message out there that children and young
people can grow up in safe environments free
from bullying.
At the start of 2013 we conducted a poll with
young people about what was most important
to them. The response was overwhelming; we
needed to return to the issue of cyber bullying.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance is a membership organisation made up of over 120 public, commercial and voluntary sector
organisations acting to prevent and respond to bullying. We have a network of over 1000 schools to get the message out
there that children and young people can grow up in safe environments free from bullying. At the start of 2013, we
conducted a poll with young people about what was most important to them. The response was overwhelming; we
needed to return to the issue of cyber bullying.
Cyber-bullying can often make children and young people feel angry, embarrassed and isolated, as well not knowing if
their community is against them and making them feel ashamed. This is why it is so important to talk to someone, to know
you are not alone.
The feedback from young people was that a lot of the information was out of date, much on PCs and failed to reflect their
use of both the technology (mobile phones and tablets) as well as the risks of social networking sites. We believe it is
important that young people are given support in schools to know what is appropriate and what inappropriate or risky
behaviour is on-line. With so many young people placing personal information online, we have come up with the term
‘digital tattoo’ to help remind everyone that information is permanent and very difficult to remove. So it is important to
think about your actions before you send comments, images or videos.
For schools, ensuring cyber-bullying is high on the agenda and that they are clear on how pupils can report cyber-bullying
is really important; but also that staff are confident in resolving issues of cyber-bullying to help victims fee safe.
In addition, parents need support in preventing cyber-bullying by being helped to understand the risks to children and
young people online, and are confident in giving appropriate advice such as: saving pictures, texts, or videos to show a
pattern of harm as well as reporting to service providers. We also want industry to have clear statements that
cyber-bullying is unacceptable and clear processes to report it. By working together we can all make a difference to
prevent cyber-bullying.must feel empowered to take ownership so that they all feel safe, fun and connected.
This year’s Anti-Bullying Week highlighted the fact that
young people will own the future of the Internet and
therefore must feel empowered to take ownership so that
they all feel safe, fun and connected.
Cyber-Bullying is real:
how can you prevent it?
Virtual
Reality
YouthPhoriaUK
47