Mobile bullying
Thursday 19 April 2007
For most, their mobile is the one thing they never leave the house without, but phones are now being used more and more by bullies to target their victims
With 97 per cent of young people owning a mobile phone, bullies are now using mobiles to tease and hurt others in a number of ways.
Nasty texts
If you’ve been a victim of mobile bullying, you may have been sent a spiteful or nasty text directly to your phone, you could have had voicemail messages sent to your phone that are threatening or just long silences or scary noises.
Camera shy
If you’re one of the four million people in the UK with a camera phone, you may have had pictures of yourself sent to you which made you feel uncomfortable. You could also suspect that the photos have been sent to lots of other people.
Who's calling?
What makes this new trend even more worrying is that they often come from unrecognised or withheld numbers, meaning the bully is trying to cover their tracks so they don’t get caught.
But don’t worry; just because you can’t see the number doesn’t mean no-one else can.
Dealing with it
There are a number of things you can do straight away if you’re getting offensive texts:
- Try to ignore the texts. If they’re not getting a reaction, some bullies may just stop.
- If they do keep coming, keep a log of when you receive the threatening calls or texts, and any numbers that they come from.
- If the number comes up on your phone, block the number. Your mobile’s instruction manual will tell you how to do this.
- If the messages are coming from withheld numbers, contact your mobile network and report the problem. They can trace calls or texts and do something to stop them.
Don't retaliate
The most important thing is to not retaliate.
It’s very tempting to reply with a text or message that is just as bad as the one you received, but by doing this, you’re showing the bully that they’re affecting you, and you’re probably just encouraging them to send more and more messages.
Stop it
If you’re worried about being bullied through your mobile phone, your email address or an online chatroom and would like to know how to stop it, Stop Text Bully has loads of helpful advice and information about what to do and how to stop it.
Or you can text the word ‘bully’ to 60000. It’ll cost you no more than a standard text message and you’ll then be sent a message back with information on how to protect yourself from the digital bullies.
