Cyberbullying: Be Upstanding Adapted from Common Sense Media
Learning Objectives You will be able to: ~reflect on what it means to be brave and stand up for others offline and online. ~learn to show empathy for those who have been cyberbullied. ~generate multiple solutions for helping others when cyberbullying occurs.
Think and Respond: 1. What does it mean to be brave?
2. How can you show bravery if someone is being cyberbullied (bullied online) and you are a witness?
Key Vocabulary: bystander- someone who sees cyberbullying happening, but does nothing to help upstander- someone who helps when they see cyberbullying occur empathize- to imagine the feeling that someone else is experiencing
An upstander... ~is not directly involved in the cyberbullying incident, but steps in to help anyway. ~empathizes with the targets of cyberbullying, letting them know that they care and are listening. ~does not spread rumors or go along with cyberbullies because of peer pressure, and may even tell the cyberbully to stop. ~encourages the target to tell a trusted adult about the situation.
WHY CARE? Directions: Read the scenario about Michael and Jose and answer the questions.
SCENARIO Michael sends his friend Jose a short video he made at home, a reenactment of a famous fantasy movie scene. Jose, laughing at how Michael looks, shows it to some other boys at school. The boys laugh at Michael too, and then decide to post it on a video-sharing website. Millions of people then view Michael's video. Nasty comments are posted. Every day, Michael goes online to check the site and sees more comments like "idiot" and "fat nerd". Every day, he goes to school and hears similar cruel comments from his classmates.
QUESTIONS 3. Who are the bystanders? 4. What would you do if you were a bystander? 5. What would you say to Jose if you wanted him to stop? 6. What would you say to Michael or do for him to show your support for him? 7. What could you say to the other kids at school who viewed the video and left cruel comments? 8. How could you have involved a trusted adult?
Don't be a bystander! In this true story, many people contributed to the cyberbullying. But there were many more kids who knew about the situation and chose not to get involved. Kids who are not cyberbullying but who see, hear, or know about it are called bystanders. In this situation, kids in school who witnessed the abuse and kids online who viewed the video were bystanders.