A recent report released by the NAPD highlighted how parents may not be fully aware of the extent to which the children are suffering, with only 12pc reporting that a child of theirs has been a victim of cyberbullying and just 26pc of parents saying that they monitor their children’s activities online on a daily basis, while 15pc never monitor.

What parents need to know?

Before social media if you were being bullied in school you at least had the comfort of knowing that once you were at home you were safe, now chances are if you are being bullied in school you are probably being bullied online while you are at home too. Teenagers and children are active on all types of social media 24/7 allowing bullies to target at any time of the day.

It is important that parents monitor their children and teenagers online activity. Here are some alarm bells that you should look out for when monitoring your children or teens online activity:

If your child or teen is being bullied online they may become more introverted and withdrawn.

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Although teenagers can often have moodswings, if your teen seems to more moody than often it can be a sign that someone may be harrassing them online.

They may start spending more time online then before or refuse to go online altogether if someone is bothering them online.

If your child or teen is being bullied online they may  start to stay at home more than usual and stop hanging out with or meeting their friends.

One of the most common alarm bells that your child may be getting bullied online is that they may have a sudden loss of appetite or have problems sleeping.

If you notice any of these changes in your child or teens behaviour, support them and let them know they can trust you and you are there to help and most importantly let them know that what is happening is not their fault and that noone deserves to be bullied, not even online.

Jillian O’Toole