Online Trolling and Cyber Bullying Workshop
For most young people, the internet provides an overall positive experience, providing rich information, varied entertainment and a means to connect with their friends.
Sadly, online trolling and cyberbullying are also realities of our children’s worlds, and most young people will encounter them at some point.
Fortunately, 2020 Dreams has created an effective workshop for helping young people to deal with this issue.
Trolls and Cyberbullies – Are They Not the Same?
While both trolls and cyberbullies post negative content online, their motivations for doing so are very different. Understanding this will help young people to decide how best to react when they come across post or messages that upsets them.
Trolls are looking for a reaction from people engaging in an online conversation. Their language is always provocative, but can also be profane, abusive or hateful. Their motivation is usually to gain attention. They may crave respect from like-minded people, or they might not care what other people think. Trolls may also use social media and other online platforms as a way to express strong opinions and/or offload negative emotions. Hiding behind a fake name and avatar can be empowering for them. While trolls may pick on a specific person at the time of their activity, they have no real interest in that person.
Cyber bullies, on the other hand, deliberately target one or more individuals with their attacks. Their motivation is to hurt their victim. Like the troll, they may operate anonymously, but they will almost certainly know their target. While trolls tend to stick to public platforms, cyber bullies will often use both public and private communications to hound their victims. For example, they might share embarrassing images on Instagram, post nasty comments on a public YouTube video, and also send abusive text messages, DMs or emails.
So, how can young people best deal with online trolling and cyber bullying?
Dealing with online trolling and cyber bullying
Trolls are the easiest for young people to learn to deal with. Once they understand that the troll is purely interested in getting attention, they can ignore and block them. If any of the troll’s content is illegal or hateful, they can also report this. Most forums, social media platforms and messaging services have in-house tools for reporting offensive content.
Cyber bullies may need a more collaborative approach. This is why 2020 Dreams help children and teens to recognise when they need additional help, and know where to find it.
2020 Dreams Online Trolling and Cyberbullying Workshops
Our 2020 Dreams Online Trolling and Cyberbullying Workshops are designed to help young people of any age to understand why trolling and cyber bullying happens, and to learn practical skills for dealing with it.
Our facilitators have lots of experience in the area of cyber safety and are skilled in student engagement. We regularly deliver popular workshops throughout the UK, following a proven formula which maximises the benefits students get from our workshops. For example, we use role play techniques to help young people develop the empathy to avoid becoming cyber bullies in the first place. They can also rehearse skills for escaping online trolling and cyber bullying.
We also hold student-led forums, giving teens and children the chance to discuss shared experiences, which can help them to pass on tips and realise they are not alone.
To enable schools, PTAs or other organisations to run their own high quality cyber bullying workshops, we offer both in-house and online staff training.
To book a workshop or to find out more, please contact our supportive team, either by emailing hello@2020dreams.org.uk or by calling 0800 471 4983.
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