Cyberbulling. It is so called for all those acts of bullying and harassment that are carried out using the new means of communication: cell phone, chat, forum, e- mail, etc. And being a victim of this type of violence means being trapped in situations that can be very scary and from which you often don’t know how to get out: it is not at all pleasant, as well as being very dangerous, so you have to pay close attention when “cyber – we communicate”. But then, perhaps, we need to stop using the internet and telephone to communicate and have fun with our friends; Absolutely not, because in order not to risk getting trapped in an episode of cyberbullying, it is simply necessary to always be very careful when online and, above all, it is good to know what you can do and what not to do when using the new ones. technologies to
communicate In this regard, we will better explain what the phenomenon of cyberbullying consists of giving you some tips to become more aware of the risks you can run and how to know how to deal with them. There are various types of acts that fall within the definition of cyberbullying: an example that occurs more and more frequently is the sending of messages,
via the internet or mobile phone, with vulgar, violent, offensive or derogatory content. Sometimes it can be a trivial joke from a friend, but other times the joke is too heavy to laugh at. So, if you happen to receive this type of message through text messages, e-mails or other, remember not to reply to the message, you would only encourage the bully to continue. Also, if you are faced with “unwanted messages” or sent by someone you do not know, remember that you are not obliged to read them but it is still good to keep them and then talk to someone. It is, in fact, important to report the problem, or even just a doubt, to someone older who can help us. They can be parents, friends, teachers, but also moderators or owners of the website you were visiting when you received the message. This is important, because if illegal behavior is identified, these must be communicated to the competent authorities, or to the Hotline as a stop-it, which, despite the name, are nothing more than organizations that collect the reports. The publication of private information belonging to another person is also part of cyberbullying. Therefore, you must be very careful when entering personal data on the internet. These data reveal a lot about us, about our identity. The same goes for videos and photos that portray ourselves or our friends. All this set of information, once put online, is difficult to control. Anyone can become aware of that information, get hold of it and use it, if necessary, to harass or threaten you. We must imagine the internet as a crowded square: even if we only have a computer or a mobile phone in front of us, there are millions of people on the network and it is not prudent to show everyone your personal information. For example, it is good to always use a fancy nick name and not give too much confidence to “strangers”. Obviously not all are potential cyberbullies, but we must also keep in mind that on the internet it is easy to pretend to be someone else, inventing age or physical characteristics different from the real ones: this can be done both by those with illicit intentions, as by those who are simply shy , and would like, in this way, to hide in the virtual world to experience a different “reality”, perhaps a better one. But remember that this is not the right way to deal with problems; talking on your own with people can give you pleasant and unexpected moments, it is better to face your fears and shyness.
Cristian Comis, III M
