The internet allows us to have fun, play and stay connected with our friends, so showing respect to our friends and being kind to them online is just as important online as it is offline.
In this video we meet Vicky who is excited about her birthday party coming up. While talking about her upcoming birthday party to her classmates she notices her friends huddled discussing something.
Vicky thinks it's about her party and tries to find out. The girls have a surprise for Vicky but it’s not one she was expecting.
Key safety points
- A hurtful message on social media can be viewed many times and leave a lasting effect.
- Because mean messages on the internet can be viewed repeatedly, a single mean message on the internet is considered cyberbullying.
- Exclusion is a form of bullying. It is always wrong to deliberately hurt another person's feelings by ignoring or blocking someone from a popular group such as a school or class group in WhatsApp or SnapChat or deleting them from friendship lists.
- Positive words can have an uplifting effect. Everybody has the power to make people who experience hard times feel good. All that matters is how you choose your words and how you choose to act online and offline.
Activity: What Can you Say?
At the end of the video it's clear that Siobhan felt bad about what she and her friends did but she didn’t do anything to stop the bullying.
In this activity write a text message that Siobhan could send to either Vicky or to the other girls to help resolve the situation.
MySelfie and the Wider World
These lessons have been designed for 5th and 6th class pupils. More MySelfie and the Wider World lesson activities are available at https://www.webwise.ie/myselfie-wider-world/
About Webwise
Webwise is the Irish Internet Safety Awareness Centre, part of the Professional Development Service for Teachers, a Department of Education & Skills-funded support service.
Webwise is co-funded by the Department of Education & Skills and co-financed by the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility.
