Last week, we at Swof Media supported ‘Stop Cyber Bullying Day’; an awareness day created by The Cyber Smile Foundation, that acknowledges the difficulties surrounding cyberbullying in today’s online community.
Around 60% of the world’s internet users have experienced some kind of bullying or harassment – meaning most of us have!
As a digital agency, our work-lives centre around online activity; so, at our team meeting last week, we discussed cyberbullying and how we can be more conscious of the online issues both we and our clients might be experiencing.
Why The Cyber Smile Foundation matters to Swof Media
The experiences discussed included Helen’s account of having been bullied at school at the age of twelve, saying that “… the bullying I experienced was both verbal and subtle …”.
She went on to say “ … subtle bullying is like cyberbullying in a way. It’s not always visible to other people, and it’s hard to notice when someone is going through a hard time as a result of being bullied”.
Team Swof then discussed the difficulties in recognising the signs of cyberbullying and took a look at how we might be better able to notice when someone is suffering at the hands of bullies.
Young people and cyberbullying
Steve offered his take on bullying in cyberspace; his concerns are for his children who are growing up in a world that is difficult to ‘patrol’ when it comes to online issues such as ‘netiquette’, trolling, and coming into contact with strangers.
Steve stated “I feel passionate about this subject and want to do all I can to encourage unity and acceptance online, with so many online users have been exposed to bullying, abuse or harassment […] I’m acting now by starting with my own young children and educating them around privacy and how to be vigilant as they start to use the internet more and more”.
Steve was pleased to know the some schools throughout the UK are actually holding workshops and talks for pupils this week, in a bid to tackle this issue and raise awareness.
Swof Media’s new approach to tackling cyberbullying
We wanted to take an active approach to tackling cyberbullying, so we are now an official supporter of The Cyber Smile Foundation, which means we will be privy to the latest news, events and updates on this topic, which we will happily share with our online community.
Following this approach, we also decided to make sure that we take the time to actively ‘check in’ with each other and our clients on a regular basis; ensuring that our online environment is a safe, kind, and friendly one.
If you are struggling with online bullying, then please access the tips and support offered by The Cyber Smile Foundation. They are there to help you get through this, and come out the other side smiling 😊
