Spread Awareness and Stop Cyberbullying | Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week 2024

What Is The Purpose Of The Week?

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week is a time designated by the Ministry of Education in Ontario for schoolboards to unite against bullying. It’s a call to action for educators and students to bring awareness to different forms of bullying and work to stop them. The week focuses on the importance of safe schools and the impact of bullying on students’ mental health and overall wellbeing. It’s happens in the third week in November and many other provinces in Canada also take part in the challenge.

Define Bullying

Unfortunately, there are many different kinds of bullying. It is often the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threats, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. Usually the behaviour is repeated or habitual, and is characterized by a physical or social power imbalance. Despite bullying being a common problem for children and teens in school, it can happen at any age in any place. Most kinds fall in to 6 categories which are: physical, verbal, relational, sexual, prejudicial, and cyberbullying.

What Is Cyberbullying?

At KnowledgeFlow, we want to put a stop to all forms of bullying, but with our breadth of cybersafety knowledge we are best able to educate others on cyberbullying and ways to address it. Cyberbullying is any kind of bullying that takes place on an electronic device, whether that’s through different online platforms like social media, texting, posting fake images, etc. It can include harassing messages, rumors, and hate speech as well as stalking, threats, and even sexual harassment.

Statistics Canada reported in 2019 that 1 in 4 youth aged 12 to 17 had experienced some form of cyberbullying the previous year. In 2024, 1 in 10 children still experience online harassment, and 89% of Canadian teachers believe cyberbullying is the number one safety issue in public schools.

Cyberbullying includes being threatened or insulted by a text message, being left out of an online community, or having hurtful information posted about you online. Although this could happen to anyone, youth are particularly susceptible to cyberbullying and other factors such as gender or race could increase the chances of this.

But, you can help lower these statistics by spreading awareness and working toward prevention!

Spread Awareness

• Learn To Recognize Cyberbullying: The first step toward spreading awareness about cyberbullying is to be able to recognize what it is and when it might be happening. Learn about what cyberbullying entails and 6 ways to identify if someone is being bullied here.

• Raise Your Voice: No matter where you are, you have a voice that can be used to bring attention to a pressing issue. Use your voice to educate your school, your friends, and your kids. Use your voice to spread kindness and positivity online. Counter mean comments with genuine compliments and work to make people around you feel heard. Use #notonmyinternet to call out online bullying when you see it and join the movement to make the internet a bully-free zone.

• Share Your Story: If you’ve been cyberbullied in the past, use your story as a way to empower and support those who are being bullied right now. You might not know what someone is going through, but when they hear a story they can relate to it is an important reminder that they are not alone.

• Educate Others: Awareness is spread through education, so whether you are a parent, a teenager, or a teacher you can educate yourself and the people around you about cyberbullying and ways to prevent it. Check out our educational resources on 5 Ways to Combat Cyberbullying, Pink Shirt Day initiatives, and the dangers of AI generated images.

Prevent Cyberbullying

• Parental Controls: For parents and teens, it is beneficial that your parents are aware of your online activity. They can help support you if any thing goes wrong and simply be that extra layer of protection. According to Statistics Canada, parents’ awareness of their teens online activity decreases the chance of cyberbullying by 7%.

• Surround Yourself With Supportive People: It’s important to surround yourself with real friends who will support you through anything. They can encourage you to seek more help from professional resources like a counsellor, trusted adult, or police services. There are many benefits to connecting with people in live contexts and not just which include increasing your positive mental health and well-being and decreasing your chance of cyberbullying.

• Report It: Lastly, if you suspect someone is being bullied online, take the time to investigate the situation and report it to a trusted adult, schoolboard, or police services if necessary so that it doesn’t happen again. Visit our resource on Essentials For Police Services: Cybersafety For Teens (knowledgeflow.org) for more cybersafety tips and resources for getting help.

Resources To Get Help

• Kids Help Phone: A free, 24/7 confidential counseling, information, and support service for young people in Canada. They can be reached via phone at 1-800-668-6868 or by texting 686868.
• NeedHelpNow.ca: https://needhelpnow.ca/en/
• Bullying Canada: https://www.bullyingcanada.ca/
• Government of Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/bullying.html
• UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/end-violence/how-to-stop-cyberbullying
• Cybertip: https://cybertip.ca/en/

Let’s work together to spread awareness and prevent online hate! At KnowledgeFlow, we want to see the internet become a safe, kind, and enjoyable space for everyone to connect and share.