Before the Story
This story focuses on what it’s like to be a witness to cyberbullying.
The good news is that many youth who witness bullying try to help, with 61% of youth claiming they would defend a schoolmate and 89% would defend a close friend.
Unfortunately, this number decreases to 37% of youth who would intervene in a situation involving cyberbullying to defend someone they did not know.
The strategies modeled in this story are based on MediaSmarts’ research project Young Canadians Experiences with Online Bullying, which surveyed more than 800 young Canadians about their experiences with cyberbullying.
Prepare students by asking if they’ve ever seen anyone being mean to someone online.
- Make sure they include virtual worlds and online games, where much of the online conflict at this age takes place.
How did they feel when they saw it?
- Did they, or anyone else, do anything about it?
- Let them know that two-thirds of Canadian students have done something to help someone being bullied online.
- What are the different things that they might do to help that person?