Social media is not to blame!
However social media unfortunately provides bullies (let’s face it – they have always existed) with more ammo, with a thicker skin and the ability to bully from a distance and often with a degree of anonymity.
This is why we have a responsibility to step up to the mark and go further than ever before to make sure that bullying is highlighted and that the bullies are stopped and exposed.
Parents & teachers
It’s no longer enough that we can plead ignorance and dismiss Facebook and the other social media platforms as being something for the young folk. It’s no longer enough to ban our children from using the platforms – they will anyhow.
To protect our vulnerable children we need to jump in ourselves, learn and understand how these powerful and very useful social media platforms work, discover the risks and plan so that these can be managed and minimised.
We owe it to our kids to show them how to:
- Set up their personal accounts properly
- Maintain their privacy settings
- Connect with “friends” safely
- Think about what they post
- Post appropriately
- Spot and deal with inappropriate behaviour
- “Unfriend” and Block certain users
- Report Bullying
Most of the social media platforms provide proper ways of dealing with bullying. For example Facebook have quite extensive guidelines, functionality and procedures – learn about them.
The Design team at Fuzion have prepared a simple poster to help children enjoy social media properly and provide some assistance to deal with an inappropriate or bullying situation should it occur.
TELL – someone what is happening
UNFRIEND – the person that is causing offence
BLOCK – the person that is causing offence
REPORT – the person causing the abuse
Can we encourage you to download and print the poster and share it with your children, put it up in your canteen or noticeboard.
Lets stop the bullies!
