10 tips to prevent cyberbullying

Cyberbullying refers to harassment carried out online, and it currently represents one of the greatest threats faced daily by thousands of children. According to a study by the website kelisto.es, this type of harassment already accounts for almost 25% of all cases of school bullying in Spain. To address the problem early, it is important to detect certain symptoms that children often exhibit, such as withdrawn and erratic behavior, difficulty sleeping or excessive tiredness, introverted behavior, social isolation, and decreased academic performance. All of these behaviors should alert teachers and parents that a child is experiencing a problem.

10 tips for parents

• Install a parental control system
• Your children should not accept invitations from strangers and should block any contacts that are offensive to them.
• Try to prevent your children from downloading too much music or video from the internet, as many of these downloads can contain malware.“
• Explain to your children that they should be careful with the messages, photos, videos, or personal information they post and with whom they share it, as it could be used against them by third parties.
• If your child starts receiving insulting or offensive messages, make sure they cut off all communication with that person and report it to the appropriate authorities. It's important to always save the messages for use as evidence.
• Advise your children not to use their real name in chat rooms, but a pseudonym, and not to share any images or personal information.
• Configure the privacy options offered by social networks to the maximum extent possible, so that your child can better protect their personal information.
• Identify all devices that allow you to connect to the Internet, such as tablets, smartphones, and video game consoles, to be aware of all the windows that exist, open to the Internet
• Explain to your child that they should not trust offers, gifts, and dating proposals from people they don't know.
• It may be helpful to inform the service providers through which the cyberbullying has occurred, so that they can ban such content or the harassing user if they deem it appropriate.

Apen, specialist in computer maintenance and security

In any case of cyberbullying or cyberharassment, we recommend that the parents of the child in question report the case as soon as possible to the appropriate authorities. For our part, at Apen, we recommend that you maintain some control over your child's internet access, provided they are under 14 years old. A good piece of advice is to explain at least the causes and consequences of cyberbullying, so that they are aware of the dangers they may encounter online. Apen We offer antivirus solutions ESET NOD32 that have products with parental controls focused on these types of cases.