What can I do if I'm being Cyberbullied?

Learn about what you can do if you are being cyberbullied from Public Safety Canada. From their website:

• Keep your cool, and don't respond to a hurtful text, post, or email, however much you may want to.
• Keep the text or email, and if it's a post on a social networking site, get a screen shot. You may want to have a record of the incident in case you ever need to prove what happened.
• Block whoever sent the hate! Move the message to your 'Junk' folder, which is totally appropriate. If you don't know how to block a sender from your phone, call your cell phone service provider.
• Remember you're not alone in this. Tell someone you trust what happened, whether that's a parent, a teacher or a friend. If a threat to your safety was involved, call the police immediately!
• Protect yourself by keeping your passwords private. Don't share them with anyone except a trusted adult.

• Learn about privacy settings and reporting features on your accounts.

Think before you post

• Be very careful which photos you share online, because a cyberbully may use it against you.
• If you have already shared a photo that you would like to have removed, visit needhelpnow.ca for practical steps you can take, including how to contact popular websites, to get your picture/video off the Internet.
• If someone hacked into your profile, change your password, and if you keep getting messages like 'add me to your friends or contacts list' repeatedly, change your user name and email address.
• If someone created a profile of you without you knowing, contact the people who run that site and have it removed.
• Report the online bullying to the social media site it happened on, whether that's Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, or any other site. They have policies against abuse, and whoever violates those policies will likely get notified and prevented from using that site.
• Being cyberbullied is awful. If it happens to you and you're really upset and don't know where to turn, don't go through it alone. Call a counsellor at Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868, or if you don't feel like talking, you can contact them online at kidshelpphone.ca. If you're having trouble taking the next step, you can use the letter to an adult template, print your letter and drop it off with a teacher or school office.

(photo credit: unsplash.com)