Cyberbullying is affecting an increasing number of teens, in Europe and abroad, equally girls and boys. The victims do have ages between 10 and 16, the most dangerous time for internalizing pain and abuses of all kinds. Some of the effects are either that the victim is becoming an aggressor him or herself or that anti-social dramas and serious depressions are developping. Often, the dramas are consumed in silence, no parent or close friend or relative being able to notice the suffering, unfortunately in many cases until it is way too late.
Besides a close and active relationship with your children, it is possible to fight against cyberbullying using the same weapons used by aggressors - the World Wide Web. At the level of the European Union a budget was created through Youth Initiative supporting projects aimed to counter this dangerous phenomenon. Thus, the Klicksafe was created as a platform offering support and assistance to the cyberbullying victims.
Part of it, an app was created - free, available for both Android and Apple - in English, French, German and Luxembourgish - aimed to offer first help for victims of cyberbullying. The two main characters, Tom and Emma, are helping the users to cope with various situations and offer a big variety of tutorials about how to protect yourself from the harm and react properly to online bullying. A noteworthy initiatives which might save young people from the torments of suffering in silence. It might save lives too.
