If You are Being Targeted by Cyberbullies

Don’t feel ashamed

The shame lies with the perpetrator. Remember it’s not about you. Often people who bully others do so to make themselves feel better because they are unhappy. Do not blame yourself, it is not your fault.

Protect yourself

Think about purchasing an application which would allow you to control who calls or sends you texts, such as vMad Bully Stop from Carphone Warehouse.

Block the sender
Don’t reply to abusive or hurtful messages

Do not respond to unwanted texts, instead turn off your phone for a few days or change your number. If you are receiving unwanted calls, do not hang up straight away as this may feed the callers wish to scare you, instead walk away and hang up a few minutes later.

Contact the authorities

If the cyber-bullying is very threatening and serious, contact your local Gardai.

Save the message

Do not delete the offensive text, email, phone-call, video-clip or image, this should instead be kept as evidence.

Do not ignore the bullying

Tell someone you trust. Report the threatening or offen-sive behaviour to parent or teacher and/or contact the service provider (through its Customer Care or Report Abuse facility.)

Share evidence of cyber-bullying with the school. Most often the boys and girls who cyber-bully also engage in traditional face to face bully-ing so it is important that the school gets to know about it so that they can apprehend the perpetrators. With cyber -bullying, you will have the advantage of being able to show copies of the offensive messages, pictures or video clips .