Anne-Marie Schmidt posted a screen shot on her Facebook profile of a vicious Instagram post made by the bully who has been tormenting her daughter, Mackenzie. It read “Questions – does anyone like Mackenzie? She’s being a b*tch to me, check my photo of all my friends… She commented on it. I HATE HER AND I DONT CARE IF ANYONE TELLS HER!!! HeHe” On the post, numerous other children commented and agreed. One even commented “She is a b*tch alright.”
Schmidt declared that her extreme and direct action of exposing the bully was “to make more parents pay more attention to what their children are doing online.”
However, Michael Carr-Gregg, a renowned psychologist who is a founding member of the National Centre Against Bullying and a chairman of the organization’s Cybersafety committee, disagrees with how she handled the situation.
“This is fraught with danger,” he declared. “You are responding to the bully, and that is not the right thing to do … It’s like feeding the trolls, and all that happens is that they step it up a notch.”
Carr-Gregg’s upcoming book, Beyond Cyberbullying, gives various advice to parents on how to deal with cyberbullies. The book instructs parents to contact web administrators for offensive contents to be taken down, encourage their children to ignore the bully, and make sure the bully’s contacts are blocked on any mobile devices and social networking sites of their children.
More About ETCB:
The End to Cyber Bullying Organization is the world’s number one source for up-to-date cyberbullying information, news, legislature, and cyberbullying prevention tips. ETCB is instantly accessible online, and phone assistance by certified and professional cyber bullying counselors is available to any inquiring individuals. Highlighting cyberbullying as a leading issue in today’s technological society and raising awareness throughout the web and throughout communities is the first and primary step to putting an end to cyberbullying.
A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, ETCB is an international cyberbullying awareness campaign that has united over 4.5 million individuals internationally. Youth initiatives have started up in not only the fifty states, but also in nations such as China and the UK. Partnering with other organizations, such as the Girl Scouts of USA and Sears Anti-Bullying Coalition, has enabled us to outreach even further. All of the money raised has been utilized to continue expanding ETCB, helping to increase the impact we’ve made. Most importantly, we are grateful to have comforted and served thousands of cyberbullying victims of all ages. Future victims no longer need to feel as isolated and helpless as I once did.
