As part of our 'Youth Stories' campaign, we will be posting real life testimonials from youths that have suffered at the hands of bullies, fallen victim to knife crime, street crime, abuse etc.
The first story in are series features a testimonial from TYLP's trustee Carney Bonner, written in his own words to raise awareness on cyber bullying.
Carney
I’m Carney Bonner and I run a charity called is called ‘Keeping it Safe Online’. Which is part of my charity called The Carney Charles Foundation I want to tell you my story about how Cyber Bullying affected me.
I am a friend, a best friend, a brother and a son. When I was 14 I fell victim to one of the worse possible form of bullying-cyber bullying and it is something that can affect everyone
I spent a year of my life being bullied, it knocked my self confidence.
I became quiet and never spoke to anyone.
I didn’t know who to turn or what to do
When people are telling you – you are nothing – you should die – no one wants you around –
You feel responsible
I started to self harm because I had people saying to me that I was nothing and I should kill myself.
I’m not looking for people to feel sorry for me. I made a come-back , I told a school councillor. She helped me re build my self esteem- and now I want to help others who are going through the same.
That is why I started my campaign
What is cyber bullying
The latest figures from Beatbullying show that nearly one-in-three 11-16 year olds has been targeted, threatened or humiliated on their mobile phone or the internet.
This means- it can happen to anyone, but what does Cyber Bullying actually mean?
Cyber bullying can be texting someone a horrible text, sending abuse on Msn, or taunting people on Facebook.
people who do this may think it’s a bit of harmless fun but it actually destroys lives.
Keeping it safe online is trying to stop the problems of cyber bullying and make a stand together to show people that cyber bullying is not acceptable.
Bullying is bullying at the end of the day and just because people can't see their victim doesn't mean that it doesn’t hurt.
So what should you do if someone is bullying you online
First Take Action
Second ‘Report, Don’t retaliate’- it will only encourage the bully
How to Report bullying
You can report bullying online and in the real world.
I felt embarrassed about being the victim of bullying- but shouldn’t have. It can happen to anybody. In the end I turned to a school councillor who helped me, but you can turn to anyone that you trust, mum and dad, guardians, youth workers, teachers, older brothers or sisters.
I’ve put the ‘report’ links below for Facebook, twitter, msn, Bebo, youtube,
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/report#!/help/?page=843
- MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=help.reportabuse
- YouTube: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/request.py?contact_type=contact_us
- Bebo: hhttp://www.bebo.com/Safety.jsp
- Twitter http://support.twitter.com/
- MSN http://help.uk.msn.com/windowslivehotmail/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4374062
There are also places to go online for help. Beat bullying run a cyber mentors scheme. They’ve got trained Cyber mentors online between 7.30 am til late. So there is always someone you can talk to.
Check out
Finally You can ‘Block the bullies’, and always make sure you keep the evidence
For example on facebook you can block anyone that you don’t want to contact you.
If you are receiving emails or messages. Don’t Delete them, move them to a separate folder as evidence and better still print them out.
Also always make sure your details are on private-that way no-one can reach you or contact you. If you don’t want them to.
It is well worth your while spending some time doing this.
Keep it safe online
You can also contact me and my team and we can remind of anything you need to know,
Go to my battlefront page battlefront.co.uk/carney and you LIKE the facebook, follow me on twitter and Subscribe to my youtube to keep up to date and in contact. Or email us on keepingitsafeonline@gmail.com
I didn’t know what to do or who to turn to when I was being cyber bullied. And for a time it ruined my life but I got help but now I feel stronger.
I want to help others who are going through what I went through. Together we can Keep it safe online.
The event taking place on Monday 7th May will be held at The Running Horse Pub located on Wootton Bassett Road, Swindon. Aiming to raise money and awareness for The Youth Life Project, the charity is urging the local community to come down on the day and enjoy the festivities.