The online world is constantly growing and developing and therefore the risks for children and young people are increasing alongside. As Internet safety is a key aspect in today’s society, it is important for parents and carers to understand the risks and what can be done to keep children safe online. Although some may think risks may be created from websites or other online resources, one of the biggest impacts online is Cyberbullying. This is when a child or young person is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated and targeted by another child and the extent of this type of bullying can result in suicide.
A study was conducted on the involvement of bystanders in cyberbullying and what extent their behaviour had an effect on the children involved. The study of 1,094 participants aged between 9-18 found that 46% of these were bystanders of cyberbullying. Of the bystanders, 55.4% stated they did not provide any help to the cyber victims, whereas 44.6% stated they did help.

Providing help to victims of cyberbullying is paramount and children must be taught the consequences of cyberbullying and what realistic affects it can have on the victims involved. It is therefore important for all parties to be involved into preventing cyberbullying or stopping anyone involved before it is too late.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260515585531

http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/prevention/index.html