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Cyberbullying Prevention Program

With the rising prevalence and dangers of cyberbullying, Stand for the Silent developed the Social Bullets Program as a means to educate, intervene and prevent. The Social Bullets video below, and the Proactive Parent’s Cyberbullying Handbook are resources for use by parents, youth, other adults who are in the roles of safeguarding youth, and youths themselves. We invite you to view the video and read the material with the goal of leaving you feeling more understood and prepared to address the cyberbullying experiences facing you and your youth.

“In 24 hours, 300 teenagers attempted suicide.”

The Social Bullets video you are about to see is based on data gathered to replicate a twenty-four-hour period on social media, as experienced by youth living in the United States. The video features originally written messages, actual numbers, types of cyberbullying with descriptions, and comments by actual cyberbullying survivors. After the video is viewed by adults and youth, our hope is that it can be used in conjunction with additional resources found on this website to promote a series of discussions that culminate in beneficial action.

Content Warning: The following video contains material that may be harmful or traumatizing to some audiences.

 
 

Portraits of the Cyberbullied

Culture Shaming, Body Shaming, Slut-Shaming, and Grade Shaming are the four most common forms of cyberbullying. Depicted in graphic representations of the cruel injuries inflicted on youth who are cyberbullied, the posters show the harmful effects that cyberbullying imposes on the body, mind, and spirit of the cyberbullied. A brief summary describing the specific type of cyberbullying accompanies each poster. 

  • Culture Shaming is a tool people use to make themselves feel better and appear to be better than others—it’s a social mechanism used to put others down, usually by describing them as less than. This can include written messages or pictures that devalue and demean a person’s racial, ethnic or socioeconomic background.  This destructive behavior contributes to dropping out of school, alienation, substance abuse, and gang participation.
  • Body Shaming has become the norm to criticize aspects of our bodies as some type of bonding experience with friends – if we all hate our bodies; it somehow makes us feel connected and united. Body-shaming (criticizing yourself or others because of some aspect of physical appearance) can lead to a vicious cycle of judgment and criticism.
  • Slut-Shaming is a form of cyberbullying where girls are targeted on social media and bullied through degradation or humiliation for their sexuality. This means that girls are often ridiculed for the way they look, the way they dress, and their presumed level of sexual activity. Bullies often use social media sites to share explicit photos and videos. For instance, bullies and mean girls may take photos of the girls they are targeting and post rude or sexually explicit comments about their bodies.
  • Grade shaming, regarding either positive or negative marks, is simply unacceptable. So maybe you didn’t really get the grade you were hoping for, or this is your fourth failed test in a row. On the other side, you nailed the test – and it feels pretty darn good, right? No one has the right to make someone else feel crappy about getting bad grades. And guess what? No one has the right to make someone else feel crappy for getting good grades either.

The Handbook provides:

  • Key signals to recognize
  • Ways to use the video
  • Guidelines for in-depth discussions
  • Action suggestions for beyond the home
  • Additional resources to gain further information.

Parents—improve the odds that your own child and the youth they interact with will not be caught in a downward spiral of cyberbullying in the community.

The Proactive Parent’s
Cyberbullying Handbook is Out!

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