The Internet has brought us many great things.
The Information highway is astonishing to say the least.
But as with any great invention, there will always be some abusers who will use it for their own advantage.
Everyone knows that bullies are basically cowards and insecure.
They act out on those least likely to defend themselves.
Instead of having to face others in the school yard, they now hide on the Internet and bully electronically, otherwise known as "cyber bullying".
Cyber bullying statistics are on the rise, so beware.
How Does Cyber Bullying Occur? Kids like chatting to their friends on the computer.
They give their friends access to view their photos and other personal information on the social networking sites; i.
e.
MySpace or Facebook.
The cyber bully then writes messages and sends them to all the friends of the victim.
Then anyone including the bully can make nasty comments and abuse the victim by writing for the entire world to see.
The humiliation can run quite deep and be traumatic for the individual on the receiving end.
A serious consequence is that the child then, no longer feels safe in their own home.
These abusive messages arrive on their home computer and often in the privacy of their own bedroom.
It's totally understandable that they feel violated.
How to Avoid Being a Victim of Cyber Bullying Cyber bullying, by definition; the police aren't able to do much to protect your child except in extreme cases, but there are steps you can take to keep your child safe.

• Concerned parents may want to get software programs that have safety features that can be installed giving you a good deal of parental control.
  
• Teach them not to divulge personal information on any site they visit.
  
• Limit access to chat rooms and allow them to only use those that are monitored.
  
• If they do get any abusive messages, instruct them not to respond to any of them.
  This is what the cyber bully wants; to stir things up and get responses.
  
• If you do get messages you feel are from a cyber bully, save them in case you need to take some sort of police action.
  This will be evidence you may need in the future.
  
• Pay attention to the kids and see if their behaviour has changed.
  Be supportive and help them with their self esteem.
  They need to feel positive about themselves regardless of what some abusive individuals may communicate on the Internet.
  
• Never post compromising photos on the Internet, even if they were thought to be innocent at the time.
  
• Remember the old adage "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all".
  It's very important that kids understand that once something is posted on the Internet, it can't be taken back.
  Lots of people can get their feelings hurt, even if unintentional.
  "What goes around, comes around", so keep it friendly.
  
• Change usernames and passwords regularly.
  

The best thing to do is to protect personal information.
Listen to your kids and pay attention to any changes in behaviour and then do whatever necessary to remove the threat of the cyber bully from your home computer or mobile device.