Bullying, whether in person or cyberbullying, appears to be on the rise and is a serious problem. It seems that we see and hear the stories about other bullied youth who decided they couldn’t take the bullying anymore and hurt themselves. Cyberbullying is the practice of emotionally hurting someone by posting mean and hateful comments on social media or by text. Learn more on essential Bullying Materials for all.

There is a wealth of Bullying Materials available online about recognizing and curbing all forms of bullying. In fact, a recent Google search on “Cyberbullying” turned up 9.76 million hits. Admittedly, not all of the results are in English, but that’s because this isn’t solely an American problem. It’s a worldwide problem.

What is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is “the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated and hostile manner.” KidsHealth magazine uses slightly different words that say the same thing:” The use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person.”

Bullying Materials: What Is Available for Teachers and Parents to Explain Cyberbullying?

Google Search

Another quick Google search using the term “recognizing cyberbullying” returns about 950,000 results, again, not all of those are going to be in English, but if you’re developing the curriculum for a class on how to recognize bullies in whatever form they take, there is more than ample Bullying Materials available.

YouTube Videos

There are videos all over the place on the Internet addressing this horrendous subject, including this one with a bit of a twist. Performing a quick search on YouTube turns up several different search terms using cyberbullying, with hundreds of videos on the subject.

This is just one example of the attention-grabbing videos that can be found on YouTube to help teens recognize cyberbullying and realize it’s wrong. This video won a Merit Award in Singapore for showing how cyberbullying can occur and how it can negatively affect those who are bullied, as well as the bullies.

Parenting Magazines

Many parenting magazines have come out with articles and article series that can help teachers, administrators, and parents recognize the signs of cyberbullying. These articles, while normally addressed to adults, are also affective in teaching teenagers about bullying.

Medical Community

The medical community has recognized that cyberbullying is a serious societal problem and has taken steps to combat it. The Psychiatric Times has an article describing the phenomenon and how to fight it. However, this is a subscription magazine.

Federal Government Agencies

There are even agencies of the federal government that have recognized the severity of the issue and have stepped in to provide training in Bullying Materials for parents, schools, and kids. The National Crime Prevention Council has put together a flyer on how to recognize cyberbullying that can be distributed to teachers, school administrators, parents, and teens.

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation has even weighed in on the matter, publishing an online paper on the subject. While the language in the paper is a little too deep for many younger teens, it is an excellent three-part series that can be used in a classroom setting as part of an overall curriculum.

Specialized Websites

There are even sites that normally specialize in teaching computer skills that, recognizing how bad the problem has become, have put together training Bullying Materials such as lists of the warning signs of cyberbullying and short videos on how to spot the signs more quickly. The BeeHive is one such site.

Verizon

Verizon even teamed up with a group of experts a couple of years ago to put together a series of videos and blogs on the subject. Some of the experts that were involved in the project included:

  • Dr. Elizabeth Englander of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center
  • Dr. Ben Leichtling of Bullies Be Gone
  • Officer John Dockswell of the Nassau County Police Department

Cyberbullying is a serious problem in this country and around the world. The time to put forth an all-out effort to not only curb it but to stop it completely is upon us. We need to stop bullies of all sorts now before our society becomes completely polarized between the bullies on one side and those that are bullied on the other, with no in-between.

Learn more about anti-bullying organizations you might want to know about. Spread the word on the need for Bullying Materials for teachers and parents. We all need essential Bullying Materials Now!