Not sure if your experience is grave enough to be considered cyberbullying? If you’re being hurt by someone who continuously harasses you, contacts your friends to talk about you, or writes bad things about you on a web page or social networking site, you may be a victim of cyberbullying.  A clear case of cyberbullying would be receiving five or more messages per day from the same user that includes profanities or slurs based on your race or gender. The bully may be someone you also know in person. In this case, harassment may take the form of shaming you about your appearance, social presence, family, or status. The effects of being intimidated, insulted or harassed online can be as startling and unsettling as experiencing your home being burgled, being mugged or being constantly threatened. Just because the person isn't in front of you or hasn't done physical damage doesn't make your distress any less real. Acknowledging the emotional component of cyberbullying, will better equip you to speak out and seek help. Cyberbullies tend to be less emotionally stable and more aggressive than their non-bullying peers. Most cyberbullies do not even recognize that they have an impact on their victims. If you're tempted to take the bullying personally, remember that bullying is their maladaptive way of crying out for power and attention. This is all good reason not to take the harassment personally. Choosing to ignore a bully is a difficult, but effective strategy, just as walking away from a bully is in person. When you receive a rude or off-putting message, try to distract yourself from what's going on by doing something that doesn't involve your phone or computer.  Remember that there is no shame in not responding to them––you do not have to acknowledge them or try to defend yourself. Responding might make you feel strong and confident in the moment, but it also invites the bully to continue their behavior--this time with a vengeance. The most efficient way to ignore the bully is to block the user through the website. You can do this on most social media sites. On web communities, these abusers are often blocked by more vigilant administrators or forum observers. However, if you spot these offenders or are being victimized by them directly, speak out in order to help you and other users. Administrators are unlikely to intervene if they do not know about a problem.  If the bullying goes beyond a certain website (i.e. you are being contacted via email), take your case to the authorities. Notify the cyber bully’s Internet Service Provider (ISP), as they will be able to block the user's access. If the problem is mainly in a chat room, inform whoever runs the server. Instant messaging services all have harassment policies that has information about what to do if there is an issue between you and another user. If you receive a threat, contact the police. Make sure you document as much contact as you can from the bully to be used as evidence. Cyberbullying usually refers to the use of electronic communication to harass and threaten among school-age youth. Most states have enacted legislation in response to this problem. This list shows each state's laws about cyberbullying. Cyberstalking and cyberharassment, referring to incidents between adults, have also been outlawed in many states. This means that it is crucial to know how the law permits you to handle cyber victimization.  Reporting instances of cyberbullying is encouraged whether or not your state specifically references electronic communication within its normal stalking and harassment laws. While cyberbullying is often committed by someone the victim knows in person, laws are different if the person is located in another part of the country. Because cyber crimes present difficult questions of jurisdiction, solutions tend to be customized on a case-by-case basis. Whether or not you can sue a cyberbully for defamation of character also varies because defining defamation is not always easy. Spending time distracting yourself with events and activities offline can provide much needed relief from the problem. Increasing face-to-face social support is proven to buffer cybervictims from depressive symptoms much more than assertive, “return fire” methods of dealing with bullies. To help you get perspective, try not to ruminate on the hurtful messages or posts. Promptly file away messages or delete hurtful messages so that you aren’t tempted to look at them.If the messages are actual threats, remember not to delete them, as they may be used as evidence in your case against the bully. Cyber-bullying usually involves shaming, denigration, and a breach of personal boundaries. For these reasons, counseling can be a great way to cope with the ongoing emotional pain and anxiety caused by long-term harassment. Seeing a therapist is an opportunity to learn cognitive and behavioral techniques that get to the root of the damage caused by being bullied.

Summary: Assess your aggressor. Understand your feelings. Ignore the bully. Report repeat offenders. Learn your legal rights. Take a web hiatus. Consider therapy.


Go to https://www.facebook.com/. This will open your Facebook News Feed if you're already logged into Facebook. If you aren't logged into Facebook, first enter your email address and password in the top-right side of the page. This tab is in the upper-right side of Facebook, and has your first name on it. Doing so opens your profile page. It's a tab just below your cover photo that's near the top of the page. This option is in the upper-right side of the "Friends" section of the page. Clicking it opens the "People You May Know" page, which is a list of people that Facebook recommends you add based on your current friends. It's a blue button to the right of a person's profile. This will send a friend request to them. Click Add Friend next to more people on the "People You May Know" page to send out multiple friend requests. The more people you add, the more friends you'll have. Most people will accept a friend request from you if they see that you have friends in common.
Summary: Open Facebook. Click your name tab. Click Friends. Click + Find Friends. Click Add Friend. Add more friends.