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Adults

Dealing with cyberbullying and online abuse as an adult

As we become more and more dependent on technology and the internet, incidents of cyberbullying, online harassment and abuse are continuing to increase. Although most cases that we hear about in the media are tragedies involving teenagers – it has become as much of a problem for adults, as it is for children. In fact, adults can be far more adept at hiding their online identity – and far more malicious and sophisticated in the way they use technology to harm others.

The real life impact of an internet based, adult hate campaign can be devastating – cyberbullying, reputation attacks and harassment online have all seen lives lost, careers and businesses damaged, social and professional reputations destroyed, and entire families broken beyond repair.

Unfortunately, removing ourselves from the internet and the connected online world is not a realistic option. Even if we personally choose not to use the internet, that doesn’t stop others talking about us online, and if they wanted to – damage us online too.

This section will help you understand some of the most common examples of online abuse, and how to deal with cyberbullying and online harassment as an adult. For further help with cyberbullying or any other kind of online abuse, visit our Global Support Service.

Prevention Of cyberbullying and harassment online

There are ways to help prevent cyberbullying and online abuse. These methods will not necessarily stop it from happening completely, but they should make it more difficult for the perpetrators to initiate any form of hate campaign against you.

You can change your privacy settings on your social media accounts in order to limit what other people can see, this will stop people gaining access to your personal information and anything they could use as “ammunition” for their online abuse (online bullies often take content from their victim’s social media accounts and ‘re-purpose’ it in a different context).
You can also ensure everybody you have on your social media accounts are friends, family or people that you trust. If somebody requests to be your friend online and you don’t recognize them and they have no mutual connection to you, it is worth considering that they could possibly have another agenda.

What to do if you are being cyberbullied or harassed online

If you are affected by any kind of bullying or abuse online, the important thing to remember is to keep calm and that we can help you! Visit our Total Access Support section to find out about all the different ways that we can help you with your particular problem, or alternatively you can use our Global Support Service for access to an international network of trained support advisors.