Shifts in the digital world mean workers and families must adapt to stay safe (and sane) online. For 2025, there are three major adaptations that need to happen fast. - BY Malibu Kothari
As online guardrails are rolled back, companies and individuals are seeing a resurgence of online safety and cyberbullying issues. In the recent past, some of these issues could be raised with fact-checkers and nominated online safety guardians. Unfortunately, as social media platforms like Facebook and X eliminate third-party fact-checkers in favor of unfiltered speech, and Canada faces a leadership crisis at the top of government, the burden of staying safe and protecting others increasingly rests with individuals and internal corporate safety departments.

What’s the best path forward? There are three major behavioral and operational adaptations that need to happen as quickly as possible. If they can be swiftly implemented, companies and individuals should be able to protect themselves against the worst of online harassment and safety issues. It won’t be a perfect solution, but as the Internet moves more toward Wild West status, it’s a way of fighting back against the chaos, risk, and mental angst of the digital universe.

Designate Trusted Spaces But Be Aware Of Their Limitations

Online spaces, ideally, would be welcoming, collaborative environments of information sharing and engaging discussion. This is true of the broader web but also of internal messaging boards and forums, where employees may feel especially shocked to experience the negativity, trolling, and harassment that reflects the worst bits of the Internet.

The potential for poor online experience – even on internal company channels or through work emails – is why companies can designate trusted spaces for staff but must also have a clear system in place for dealing with inappropriate or unacceptable behavior.

Upfront, this means creating shared standards for how co-workers are expected to treat one another and ensuring that each member of the organization is aware of these standards. This is especially important when the standards go above and beyond the bare minimums Canadian law requires.

Backing up the standards must be a clear system for reporting harassment, hacking, or bullying and a clear set of consequences. According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), being able to report incidents and feeling confident some action will be taken to mitigate the situation is an ideal outcome for workers experiencing bullying or online harassment. It may seem beyond basic to rational people that threatening or slur-filled emails and chat messages do indeed merit disciplinary actions, but there are still people out there who seem surprised that they can’t say anything to anyone at any time and get away with it.

Be Intentional About

Online Time
A second behavioral step that can be taken is to be more intentional about online time. Just as the tactic of using the WAIT (Why Am I Talking?) question works to keep offline conversations balanced, applying WAIT (Why Am I Typing?) to online time can also help prevent individuals from finding their lives consumed by unwanted online experiences.

Particularly for organizations that have multiple internal message boards or intranet systems, it can be helpful to train employees on the responsible and appropriate use of those tools. Yes, it’s fun to use company chats to share memes, chitchat with co-workers, and share personal stories. However, where there are opportunities to be misunderstood, have things taken out of context, or cross personal boundaries, those things become less “fun” and more grounds for a personnel conversation.

So, encourage team members to keep work conversations focused on work and work only. This can also provide a useful time to create healthy organizational boundaries around online vs. offline hours for the organization as a whole, which can help prevent the kinds of burnout, anxiety, and stress that give rise to harassment and bullying incidents in the first place. When team members are rested, they tend to give each other more patience and grace in interactions, helping the whole organization function more smoothly.

Revisit Multi-Factor

Authentication
Along with training internal teams and setting internal standards, both companies and individuals will want to review their protections against the outside world. Hacking incidents are on the rise. In fact, as of 2024, cybercrime is a $9.5 trillion USD industry, a sum that is nearly 5x bigger than the entire GDP of Canada.

Passwords alone no longer adequately shield people and systems from hackers. Instead, multi-factor authentication systems create a higher barrier. While some workers choose to disable these systems on frequently used tools, the small inconvenience of the additional step can be the difference between securely accessing online tools and having one’s account hacked and used to distribute x-rated materials or the kinds of online comments that get one canceled out of polite society. Given the low cost of use and the high ROI in hack prevention, all systems and tools that offer the option to turn on multi-factor authentication should make that choice immediately.

Final Thoughts: Is Less Actually More?
The mental health impact of online harassment, hacking, and cyberbullying is massive among Canadian workers. While shifting conversations to more trusted spaces, being more intentional about online time and online sharing, and leaning on multi-factor authentication tools can help, the pendulum of online interactions is moving more “Wild West” at the moment. Companies and individuals alike need to be vigilant and ready to respond promptly when incidents occur.

It may also be time to decide if less online use is more impactful than a perpetually online life. Social media platforms and other online algorithms nudge us all to be available and responding 24/7 to digital stimuli and online situations. However, that may not ultimately be the best path forward for anyone’s mental health. So, as 2025 unfolds, workplaces and individuals may find the most benefit in face-to-face communications, in-person meetings, written notes, and even phone calls. The reminder that behind the screens are real humans may make us all collectively kinder and more mindful, providing a fresh layer of protection and security against the cyberbully world at large.