Parental Supervision as a Way to Stop Cyber Bullying

Moreover, social media applications act as the catalyst for destructive behaviors like cyberbullying. “There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression,” said Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics at the University of Alberta. Unfortunately, social media facilitates bullying because users usually hide behind anonymity and remove themselves from the consequences of harassment. Just because bullying is not being done face-to-face, doesn’t make it any less significant. In fact, it can cause even greater harm when done on social media rather than in person, because it is seen and spread at a wide range.

As an example, Emma a 14-year-old girl, and a victim of cyberbullying, talked to Common Sense Education on Youtube, about how embarrassing the bullying was when done in public. Alarmingly, teens feel embarrassed to reach out to trusted adults for help. They suffer in silence because they also don't want parents or adults to take away their smartphones. According to a survey done by Anderson and her team, researchers at Pew Research Center, 59% of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online. These harassment comes in different forms with name-calling and rumor spreading being the most forms used. Besides, the vast majority of teens (90% in this case) believe online harassment is a major problem that affects individuals their age. At a similar time, teens mostly think parents, teachers, and politicians are failing at highlighting this issue.

There’s no doubt that parental supervision is required to moderate the time teenagers spend online. Teens need help in managing their priorities because sometimes they struggle to control their temptations. It’s often much easier and far more tempting to go on Snapchat or Facebook, than it is to get down to study. Sometimes, they would end up spending hours online without even realizing that. That’s why we encourage every parent to be part of the proactive efforts to help their teens manage their screen time. A good way is setting home rules that limit screen times during the day, and set time when screens need to be turned off at night. Another way is through the use of “parental control apps” like screentime, offtime, breakfree, and flipd. These applications can disable the phone after a certain time, and can also block notifications that usually remind the user of the applications again.

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