Digital Parenting Tricks: What to do when your child is verbally aggressive online (one-to-one or in a group)?

We know how difficult it is for your children to navigate the social interactions online. Technology – smartphones, computers, tablets, you name it – makes it easier to be aggressive (even without a conscious intention to do so), by distancing oneself from the attacked person. And kids cannot see how their actions impact other people. Moreover, words communicated online remain there.

So, teaching children good online behavior is important to prevent real conflicts and later regrets.

Your conversations with your child might look a bit like this:

Do not post or press “Send” when you are angry. Actions taken when you are furious or upset will backfire. You are entering a cycle of aggression which means that your aggressive words will only trigger the other person’s aggression. They might say or post mean things about you. Are you sure you want that?

There might be consequences, like getting in trouble if a teacher or parent finds out about this. Be it online or offline, remember that aggression is never “just a joke”. Even if it seems like everybody is doing it (online games), it is still not ok.

Being aggressive is not the answer to your problems. Think before you react. And most importantly, think of a solution to end the quarrel, not to continue it. You are in charge of your online interactions with your peers, so act responsibly.

This article is part of the Digital Parenting Tricks series for the Bitdefender Parental Control* feature. Bitdefender worked with a psychologist to create a cheat sheet for parents and offer them some guidance on how to deal with some of the most troublesome digital challenges of our time. Because we want to use technology to find new ways to stand up to this kind of behaviour.