Earlier this yr, our world Connected Family Study revealed the web habits of fogeys and their kids. What we discovered known as for a better look.
One discovering that leaped out, particularly, is—cyberbullying happens way more typically than mother and father suppose. And in lots of instances, kids are holding it from their mother and father.
Now with our follow-on analysis, we got down to reply lots of the questions households have about cyberbullying. Where it occurs most, who’s most affected, and are kids cyberbullying others with out even understanding it?
Our report, “Hidden in Plain Sight: More Dangers of Cyberbullying Emerge,” gives insights into these questions and a number of other extra. We’ll cowl the highest findings right here on this weblog, whereas you may get the complete story by downloading the report right here.
Worries about cyberbullying have solely grown in 2022—they usually seem justified.
Even as stay-at-home mandates in 2020 and 2021 noticed kids uncovered to extra cyberbullying whereas they spent extra time on-line, our ten-country survey discovered that issues about cyberbullying in 2022 are even larger as we speak:
- 60% of kids stated they have been extra frightened this yr about cyberbullying in comparison with final yr.
- 74% of fogeys are extra frightened this yr about their little one being cyberbullied than final.
And simply as the extent of concern is excessive, the findings present us why. Families reported alarming charges of racially motivated cyberbullying, together with excessive charges of assaults on the main social media and messaging platforms.
Additionally, kids shared insights into who’s doing the bullying (it’s largely individuals who know them) and greater than half are those doing the bullying—they usually don’t even understand it.
Further findings embrace:
- Cyberbullies are aiming racist assaults at kids as younger as ten.
- Millions of kids have deleted their social media accounts to keep away from cyberbullying.
- Despite its efforts, Meta’s social media and messaging platforms have the very best stage of cyberbullying.
- A rising variety of mother and father flip to remedy to assist their kids cope with cyberbullying.
Regional and cultural backdrops give cyberbullying a particular really feel.
Our analysis additional revealed how the face of cyberbullying takes on completely different kind across the globe. From nation to nation, the influences of polarized politics, racial relations, and completely different traditions in parent-child relationships form and re-shape the types of cyberbullying that kids see.
Each of our ten nations surveyed set themselves aside with tendencies of their very own, a few of them together with:
- United States: Despite among the most engaged mother and father, kids within the U.S. expertise among the many highest charges of cyberbullying in its most excessive kinds, reminiscent of sexual harassment, compromised privateness, and private assaults.
- India: Cyberbullying reaches alarming highs as greater than 1 in 3 children face cyber racism, sexual harassment, and threats of bodily hurt as early as on the age of 10—making India the #1 nation for reported cyberbullying on this planet.
- Canada: Canadian kids expertise cyberbullying largely on par with world charges—but their mother and father act on it much less typically than different mother and father. Meanwhile, Canadian kids are the least prone to search assist when it occurs to them.
- Australia: Australian cyberbullying charges dropped considerably since our final report, but Snapchat stands out as a main platform for cyberbullying, greater than anyplace else on this planet. And of all mother and father worldwide, Australians really feel most strongly that know-how corporations ought to do extra to guard their kids.
Cyberbullying in 2022: The details affirm your emotions.
These new findings mirror the issues of fogeys and youngsters alike—cyberbullying stays a pervasive and doubtlessly dangerous truth of life on-line, significantly as racism and different extreme types of cyberbullying take rise.
Without query, cyberbullying endures as a persistent rising ache that the nonetheless comparatively younger web has but to shake.
The answer is arguably simply as advanced because the elements that give cyberbullying its form—cultural, regional, technological, societal, even governmental. Addressing one issue alone received’t curb it. Significantly curbing cyberbullying for an web that’s far safer than it’s as we speak requires addressing these elements in live performance.
While we acknowledge that tall order for what it’s, and as a pacesetter in on-line safety, we stay dedicated to it.
With these findings, and continued analysis to come back, our goal is to additional an understanding of cyberbullying for all—whether or not that’s educators, know-how innovators, policymakers, and naturally mother and father. With this understanding, applications, platforms, and laws can put protections in place that also enable for corporations to innovate and create platforms that individuals love to make use of. Safely and securely.