How to cope with cyberbullying

Eleanor Jones feelings and emotions, healthy relationships, life online

Cyberbullying can make you feel helpless and isolated. Here are Fumble’s tips on how to deal and cope with it

With the increasing importance of online life, bullying is taking new forms. So it’s important you’re aware of the different types and how you can cope with cyberbullying.

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying (or online bullying) takes place online – for example on social media platforms like Snapchat, TikTok or Instagram. With online bullying you may be bullied by someone you know or even a stranger.

Cyberbullying can take many different forms, it could include:

Spreading mean rumours about someone
Posting or liking mean photos of someone
Threatening someone online
Excluding someone from group chats or online chat rooms
Online harassment from people you know or even strangers
Impersonation where someone hacks your online identity to post mean or embarrassing things about you or someone you know
Online stalking

What’s the impact of cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying can be very difficult to deal with. Whether you’re experiencing online harassment or you find online platforms greatly affect your confidence – you’re not alone. Online bullying can impact your mental health, with 38% of young people reporting social media has a negative impact on their self-esteem. So remember that none of this is your fault. And it can be very hard to completely shield yourself against the negative sides of the internet. Don’t feel bad if you need to take a break from social media for your mental health.

How can you stay safe online?

While it can be hard to avoid some of the negative impacts of the internet, there’s some things you can try to help stay safe online:

1. Protect your personal information

You can protect yourself against hackers by regularly changing your passwords and making passwords tricky to guess. Try to keep personal information to yourself, especially when communicating online. In addition, you may not want to send images or messages you wouldn’t want others to see. This comes down to trust, because unfortunately once you send a message or image to someone else, you don’t have full control of what happens to it afterwards. This is much more serious if this involves a sexual image or nude, and we have more specific advice for that.

2. Report abuse

One of the easiest things you can do to stop online abuse is to block or report that user. So don’t forget you have the power to stop someone from contacting you. Some apps and social media platforms have extra tools and filters you can use, for example on Instagram, you can enable comment filters to stop people from posting offensive comments.

3. Take action

Depending on what form of cyberbullying you’re experiencing, it could be considered a criminal offence. For example, it’s against the law in the UK to threaten someone over the internet. If you think you may want to report cyberbullying, make sure to take a picture or screenshot of abusive messages. There’s lots of practical advice on how to report cyberbullying, if that’s what you want to do.

Like other forms of bullying, cyberbullying can be scary and you don’t have to manage this alone. If you’re feeling low, anxious, or want to talk to someone, there are places you can go for help and support. It can really help to talk about how you’re feeling, particularly with specially trained professionals, and you can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable.