Education Focus
Left, bullying can hide within a child’s inbox, below, bullies are fuelled by the anonymity of the virtual world
Bully for you!
Natalie Farzaneh, 15, describes how the vicious bullying she experienced at school, got worse online
the “report” button if they view something that makes them feel uncomfortable. This is especially vital if the child receives an abusive message (the report button should be next to the sender’s name). Facebook also suggest what it calls “social reporting” –
sharing any experiences which make a child feel uncom- fortable to a trusted friend or family member offline. The company also promises to react quickly and to take down Groups or posts that violate their own rules. It is important to “block and report” anyone who sends a child unwanted or inappropriate messages – however innocent they appear. Reassure your child that when you “block” people, any ties they currently have are broken, and the blocked “friend” won’t be able to find or contact them on Facebook, or even view a profile. Together, check privacy settings for a block list or tick the “Block this per- son” option. These people will not be notified. A tough one is to warn against accepting or sending
friend requests, and only to accept requests from people the child knows. Tell your child to keep in mind that it is always risky to meet anyone in person whom you don’t know through real “world” friends. “For those being bul-
Find out more PAPYRUS
HOPELine UK 0800 068 41 41
www.papyrus-uk.org Beat Bullying
www.beatbullying.org
lied we need to let them know there is support – that they have to tell someone – whether it is a teacher or a parent or a friend. There should
be early intervention. Content around escalated cyber bullying – malicious targeted persistent stuff such as hate groups, embarrassing photos, deliberate actions – should be reported,” says Richard Piggin. Ged Flynn of PAPYRUS adds: “Our helpline advisors will
give advice, not only about internet privacy and keeping records about what is being said, but helping the caller to come up with a plan to reduce the likelihood of bullying.” Facebook suggests that everyone slows down the speed with which they click the Post or Send button. As parents, we could also point out that it’s good to stop and think about exactly what our children are about to post. Club Penguin social network site tips include only posting something you’d be happy for your grandmother to see or read. Not bad advice at any age.
www.firstelevenmagazine.co.uk VIEW PU P IL
After being horrendously bul- lied at school for two years, I discovered the world of Facebook, where I thought I could get away from all the hate that I was experiencing. Gosh, I was mistaken. I started getting rude com-
ments on my status and pictures and sarcastic emails like, “Hey
What to do if you’re being bullied
babe u r so sexy”, and things like that. At the time I didn’t think much of it, as I was a typical naive victim of bullying, but later on, I realised that they were making fun of me and posting what they said/my replies to other instant messages. I got sick and tired of the bul-
Tell someone! Unless you tell people that it’s going on, it may take a while for people to pick up on it. If you don’t feel like you can tell your parents, CyberMentors is an army of young people working to give victims of bullying support online at
www.cybermentors.org.uk Find someone you can confide in, who will understand and listen to you. Never ever, ever, ever retaliate against the bullies – ever. Retaliating just gives them more ammunition and it will just get worse. Try and stay with friends/someone you trust at times that it’s likely that bullying will happen. If it’s happening online, check your security settings. Try and stay positive until the bully- ing stops. I promise you it does and it will get better.
Natalie Farzaneh
lying at school, and online, so I decided to make a Formspring account. On Formspring, you can ask people questions anonymous- ly about what you are experienc- ing. I made an account thinking that people could get to know me and see that I’m not the type of monster that people assumed I was. Within one hour of posting the link on Facebook, I had 50+ messages from people at my school telling me to “kill myself”, and that everyone hated me. Eventually, the bullying in school and online lead me to self harm, and at times, feel suicidal. Today, I use all of my experi-
ences and I now help other people that are in the same position that I was in. It’s amazing to be able to use such a negative thing and turn it into a huge positive. Victims feel as though they can confide in me
easily as I’ve been there, got the T-Shirt and I know first hand what it’s like and what they’re going through. I’m a media ambassador for BeatBullying UK/
Cybermentors.org. Those charities saved my life. And it’s amazing to finally be able to positively give something back to them.
Follow Natalie on twitter @nattyally. Summer 2012 FirstEleven 35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84