Sheriff’s Dept. Lists Resources for Kids, Parents to Cope with Cyberbullying

If you’re a teenager, you spend a lot of time on a cell phone or instant messenger chatting with friends and uploading photos, videos, and music to websites. You may have online friends whom you’ve never met in person, with whom you play games and exchange messages.

Teens’ lives exist in a variety of places such as school hallways, part-time jobs, and friends’ houses. Now many teens also have lives on the Internet. And bullying has followed teens online.

Online bullying, called cyberbullying, happens when teens use the Internet, cell phones, or other devices to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person. Cyberbullying is a problem that affects almost half of all American teens.

Whether you’ve been a victim of cyberbullying, know someone who has been cyberbullied, or have even cyberbullied yourself, there are steps you and your friends can take to stop cyberbullying and stay cyber-safe.

Here are online and real-world places where teenagers and parents can get help:

http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying/

National Criminal Justice Reference Service

https://www.ncjrs.gov/internetsafety/cyber.html ^ http://www.ncpc.org provides information about stopping cyberbullying before it starts.

Stop Cyberbullying Before It Starts (PDF) provides useful information for parents:  http://www.ncpc.org/resources/files/pdf/bullying/cyberbullying.pdf

http://www.cyberbullying.us/ provides cyberbullying research, stories, cases, downloads, fact sheets, tips and strategies, news headlines, a blog, and a number of other helpful resources on their comprehensive public service website.

http://www.stopcyberbullying.org has a fun quiz to rate your online behavior, information about why some people cyberbully, and how to stop yourself from cyberbullying.

http://www.wiredsafety.com provides information about what to do if you are cyberbullied.

http://www.stopbullyingnow.com has information about what you can do to stop bullying.

For more information, contact your local sheriff”s station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.  http://www.lasd.org