Facebook prepares to celebrate bullying prevention month

Bullying prevention month begins in October, but Facebook has already launched their social media campaign against cyberbullies. Wednesday they released a social media safety manual for users to help fight online bullying and safety issues.Screen Shot 2013-09-27 at 6.52.49 PM

Though the manual gives a basic Facebook safety overview that avid users may not find helpful, the guide is beneficial for parents and educators who may not understand the site as well. Steps towards reporting harassment and abuse are laid out for readers to educate themselves and to share with their children or students.

Facebook also hired New York Times best-selling author, Rosalind Wiseman. She offers tips to parents on how they can monitor their children’s pages while avoiding being overbearing parents. Wiseman explains to parents that for teens, Facebook and other online social media are a huge and important part of children’s lives and those parents need to see it from their kid’s perspectives.

Growing up in a generation of increasing social media and online influences, has both its perks and it’s disadvantages. Unfortunately, these disadvantages have occasionally resulted in kids taking their own lives. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, one in six teens have been a victim of online bullying in the past year.

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When people are hidden behind their computer screens, they’re more likely to say things they would never feel comfortable saying to someone in person. They are able to pick on someone and say nasty things when they’re safe in their homes or surrounded by friends.

Facebook launched a campaign “We Are All Daniel Qui” telling the story of a young high school boy, who was the goalie for his school’s soccer team and was made fun of online. He struggled as a goalie and their team lost many games due to his mistakes, and photos were posted online making fun of him and his lack of skills. One of his team members posted a picture of Daniel making a save, and tagged everyone in it and it resulted in the rest of the school showing their support for Daniel, making him more comfortable to show up to school and survive the torment of his online attacks. The success of his unfortunate situation shows Facebook users that one can overcome the sadness cyberbullies bring to you.

Hopefully these efforts in the month of October will carry through the remainder of the year, and efforts to save these teens that are victims of online bullying will be successful.

2 thoughts on “Facebook prepares to celebrate bullying prevention month

  1. Cyber bullying is indeed a growing problem. 1 in 3 teens have been the victim of cyber threats, and 25% of teens are victims of repeated cyber abuse. I am glad Facebook is taking great steps to promote awareness. I didn’t know about their campaign and I hope more people are made aware!

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