The Anti-Bullying panel was held on Sunday at Summer in the City 2015 in Panel Room C. It featured creators including Charlie McDonnell, Helen Anderson, and Bethan Leadley. It was chaired by Lindsay Atkin.
Over the course of the hour, the panellists discussed their own experiences with bullying, ways they tune out online hate, and who you can speak to if you are getting harassed or bullied online or in real life.
Top 5 tips we learned about dealing with bullies:
1. Mute, block, and report: If you’re being bullied online, you have the power to blacklist certain words so they don’t come up on your feeds, block individuals who are being aggressive for no reason, and report any activity that makes you feel uncomfortable.
2. Create a private space: Jimmy Hill pointed out that utilising privacy settings can make you feel safer online. With social media such as Facebook, you have the ability to chose who can see what you are up to. Beckie0 and Bethan agreed, and also warned against anonymous sites like Ask.fm.
3. You can make a difference and promote positivity: Throughout the panel, Bethan spoke very candidly about various challenging experiences from her younger years, expressing that she felt it was important to be an advocate for anti-bullying so that anyone who is currently experiencing similar things won’t feel so alone. “I make videos on topics I wish I had when I was younger,” she said. Helen agreed with that admitting that sometimes she feels like a “big sister” to her audience and therefore feels a responsibility to promote positivity and give advice about being a teenager – which all agree is not easy. Even if you don’t have as large of a following as either of them, you can share their videos or tweet out messages promoting anti-bullying.
4. Make note of what is happening: Lindsay suggested that if you are being bullied in the workplace, at school, or at home, create a log of your experiences which will stand as evidence if you need it. She admitted that she had experienced bullying in the work place and didn’t write anything down, which made solving the problem more difficult.
5. Talk to someone: All agreed that if you are being bullied there are plenty of resources out there to get you help. Whether it be a close friend or family member, or recognised organisations such as Childline, there are people out there who care and want to make things better for you.
Photos: Michael Dean.
Want more from Summer in the City 2015?
Check out our Summer in the City tag, where you’ll find all of our coverage. Also, why not take a look back at our Photo Recaps from Friday, Saturday and Sunday?
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- Women Who Game Panel at Summer in the City 2015
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