Cyber bullying

Never give out any personal details on the internet - your real name, address, age or phone number. Even telling someone which school you go to can help them find out more about you.

If you are being bullied on a social network you could think about whether you want to delete your profile or make it temporarily inactive.

You can block email address or chat users if you are being bullied by email or
instant messenger.

You can bar a particular number from contacting another phone on some handsets. Check your phone user guide to see if yours can.

There are lots of ways that cyber bullies can target you - some of them can
be really subtle.

Email
Sending abusive or nasty emails - including sending emails to a group of people who join in the bullying. Sending computer viruses or inappropriate videos by email is also a type of cyber bullying.

Instant messaging (IM) and chat rooms
Using instant messaging and chat rooms to send threatening or abusive messages to someone else and asking others to join in.

Using another person’s account, without their permission, to send abusive
messages to others.

Social networking sites
Writing nasty or upsetting comments on someone’s profile and making jokes or comments about people on your own status updates or tweets. Even if you aren’t the person who made the original comment writing underneath it (commenting) can make you part of the bullying.

Setting up a fake profile dedicated to bullying someone else. Usually bullying in this way can be seen by a large group of people.

Find out more about how to stay safe on social networking sites and
Facebook timeline.

Online gaming
Abusing or harassing someone through online multi player gaming sites.

Mobile phones
Sending abusive texts, video or photo messages, or sharing videos of physical attacks on individuals (for example happy slapping or blue jacking). Also sexting, which is encouraging someone to share intimate pictures or videos of themselves and then sending these on to other people. 

Abusing personal information

Posting photos, personal information, fake comments and blogs, or pretending to be someone online without that person’s permission.

Bullying is not specifically against the law, but harassment or threatening behaviour is. If someone is bullying or is threatening you, something can be done to stop them and you should report it.

Sexting is when someone sends or receives a sexually explicit text, image or video on their mobile phone, usually in a text message. 

They might encourage you to send them pictures of yourself naked, or film yourself doing things that you may not be happy about.

Once these images have been taken and sent to others, you lose control of them and they can appear anywhere. Find out more about sexting.

No one really likes to think of themselves as a bully. We can often make excuses for the way we treat people and see other people as bullies but not ourselves. You can become involved in cyber bullying without realising it but even just having a little involvement can have a huge impact on how the person being bullied feels.

If you use digital technology to deliberately upset, anger or embarrass someone else this is cyber bullying. It can include writing posts, comments, tweets, posting pictures or sending texts. You do not have to be involved in puttting up the original post, comment, photo or text to be part of the bullying. Even ‘liking’ or commenting, for example, ‘lol’, can make you part of the bullying. When a person who is being bullied sees this it can make them feel like you are involved and they are being ganged up on.

Never underestimate the impact of bullying on someone. It can make them feel upset, embarrassed, angry and hopeless. Sometimes it can make people feel like there is no escape and it can lead them to self-harm, think about running away and in some very serious cases, to commit suicide.

It’s really important to treat others with respect and think about how comments you may write can make the other person feel.

The first step is realising that you have been involved in cyber bullying. We all make mistakes and it doesn’t make you a bad person. Once you have understood the possible impact of what you've done, you can start taking steps towards putting things right.

One of the first things you can do is to tell someone you can trust, like a parent, carer or teacher. They may be able to offer you some advice about what to do.

-You can delete any of the posts you have written which might have been upsetting to the other person.

-You could think about talking to others involved and encourage them to stop the bullying. It only takes one person to start making a big change.

-You could apologise to the person who was bullied and offer them support. This can mean a lot.

-You can learn from this. Sometimes we do things without really thinking them through but the important thing is to learn from it and change the way you act in the future.

Being cyber bullied can be a difficult experience for anyone - it can be really helpful to have a good friend to listen and offer support.

If you have a friend, or even someone you know who is being cyber bullied you there's lots you can do to help. You can:

- Be there is listen to your friend. If they are bullied they might be going through a lot of emotions and it can be really helpful for them to have someone to talk things through with.

- Support your friend by offering to go with them to report the bullying and help them think about what they want to say.

- Think about writing supportive comments when other people are putting up negative posts. This may make them feel like they are not so alone.

- Do things together that may take their mind off things for a short while, for example watching a DVD or going to the cinema.

If someone you know is being cyber bullied it can be tough for you to deal with - you might also feel upset and unsure what to do. You don’t need to try and solve this on your own. You could think about talking to someone you can trust or going on the message boards to ask some other young people for advice.

The impact of cyber bullying is different for everyone. It depends on what the bullies are saying, how long it has been going on for and what support you have.

There is no right or wrong way to feel when you have been bullied. It can be a really difficult time and it can sometimes be hard to see it stopping. If you are feeling upset, scared or angry you could think about talking to someone - this could be a person you trust or talking it through with one of our counsellors. If you don’t feel ready to talk to someone it might be helpful to try writing down how you are feeling.

If the bullying goes on for a long time it can start to have an impact on how you cope. Sometimes people turn to self-harming. In serious cases people might think about running away or killing themselves. Although these options may seem like an escape at the time, remember, the bullying does not have to go on for ever. There are ways for it to stop and you do not have to deal with any of this alone.

If you are being bullied, or you are receiving nasty or threatening texts or calls on your mobile, tell an adult like a parent or teacher. They can help you put a stop to this. If it doesn't stop you need to tell the police.

All UK mobile companies are used to dealing with nuisance calls and will have people you can call who can help you deal with this.

• Don't reply to any nasty messages you receive.
• Keep the messages that you have been sent so you can show someone.
• Don't answer any calls that are from a withheld number, or from a number
you don't know.
• Change your mobile number and only give your new number out to close friends.
• If the problem is serious, tell the police or you can call us and we can help.

Mobile phone operators can't bar a particular number from contacting another phone, but you can do this on some handsets. Check your phone user guide to see if yours can. They can only take action about the bully's account, such as blocking it, if the police are involved.

There's lots you can do to stop this kind of bullying - find out about stopping mobile phone bullying.

Find out about staying safe online.

Read about other types of bullying.