- Cyberbullying occurs on every social media platform, but mostly on YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and Facebook.
- Kids of all ages become victims of cyberbullying, but the risk increases as they grow older.
- Cyberbullying is more prevalent than most people think. Read our article on 5 shocking cyberbullying facts every parent should know to learn more.
Bullying takes on many forms, but today, a new kind of bullying has emerged – cyberbullying. It’s slightly different from what we were used to in our youth, but the consequences are just as grim, if not more.
Cyberbullying happens online and digitally. There’s no shoving or physical harm involved, so it’s not as easy to spot as physical bullying. What’s worse, it can happen even if your kid doesn’t leave the house. A hateful message or over-the-line teasing sent to their inbox, a demeaning video of them going viral, or degrading rumors spreading online are all types of cyberbullying.
As parents, it’s scary to think that our kids might get bullied right under our noses. That’s why we have to arm ourselves with knowledge about cyberbullying to better protect them. Let’s start with 20 critical cyberbullying facts you need to know.
Pro Tip: Limiting your child’s social media use, using tools like Norton, can help prevent cyberbullying. Learn more about Norton’s parental control features in our Norton review. It can protect your family against more than just malware.
Table of Contents
What is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is bullying that happens through digital devices such as phones or computers. It often happens over social media, text, email, instant messages, and gaming. Cyberbullying often takes the form of sending or sharing harmful or mean content about someone to embarrass them. Sometimes this content is shared anonymously, making cyberbullying feel even more threatening.
Given the broad definition of cyberbullying, numbers and statistics around it can sometimes vary wildly. There are also different interpretations of what it really is and most studies rely on victims self-reporting instances of bullying committed against them. We were all children once, and we know that a lot of kids don’t resort to telling on their bullies in fear of further harm. All those factors create discrepancies in cyberbullying statistics. The bottom line though is that cyberbullying is quickly becoming a major problem in our society.
Here are some statistics to prove that:
Prevalence of Cyberbullying
- According to our cyberbullying research, in which we studied parents of kids between the ages of 10 and 18, 21 percent of parents claimed that their children have been cyberbullied.
- 56 percent of these reports occurred from January to July 2020. We believe this increase correlates with the increased time spent online during COVID-19 lockdowns.
- Cyberbullying affects more than just kids. In a 2020 study, it was found that 44 percent of all internet users in the U.S. have experienced harassment online, which can be considered a type of cyberbullying. The most common type of online harassment was name-calling, making up 37 percent of all harassment
Higher Risk
- Of all the social networks, kids on YouTube are the most likely to be cyberbullied at 79 percent, followed by Snapchat at 69 percent, TikTok at 64 percent, and Facebook at 49 percent.
- We also found that, as a child’s age increased, so did the likelihood of cyberbullying. As the child aged in two-year intervals between the ages of 10 and 18, their likelihood of being cyberbullied increased by 2 percent.
- Children from households with annual incomes of under $75,000 were twice as likely to be cyberbullied than kids from houses with annual incomes of over $75,000 (22 versus 11 percent).
Cyberbullying Impacts
- Cyberbullying can bring up various emotions from the victim, but the most common response is to feel angry. Over half of teens who have experienced cyberbullying felt resentment towards their bully, while about a third felt hurt. 15 percent of them felt
- Cyberbullying also affects how a victim feels about themselves. Two-thirds of cyberbullying victims said that getting bullied online had a negative impact on how they felt about themselves, bringing up feelings of insecurity and low self-worth.
- Lastly, studies show that cyberbullying can have lasting mental, physical, and social impacts. Nearly a third of cyberbullying victims said the incidents affected their friendships, whereas 13 percent said it affected their physical
Taking Action
- The most effective way to prevent cyberbullying, teens say, is to block the bully, according to the National Crime Prevention Council.
- Out of teenage cyberbullying victims:
- 36 percent asked the bully to stop cyberbullying them.
- 34 percent blocked all communication with the bully.
- 29 percent did nothing.
- 11 percent talked to their parents about the incidents.
- Almost two-thirds of tweens said that they tried to help someone who was being bullied online, and 30 percent had tried to help multiple times, according to the Cyberbullying Research Center.
As teens and young adults spend more of their time online, cyberbullying has become a major issue. The fact that perpetrators hide behind screens does not make the effects of cyberbullying any less damaging to those involved. Teens themselves agree that cyberbullying is a major problem but do not feel like those in charge are doing enough to address it. Anti-bullying organizations and campaigns aim to educate and empower people to prevent and handle cyberbullying, but the overall feeling from today’s youth is that social media companies and our elected officials should do more to prevent cyberbullying and protect kids online. For more information on how to prevent and handle cyberbullying, check out our cyberbullying resources.
Sources:
- Statista. (2020). Increased time spent on media consumption due to the coronavirus outbreak among internet users worldwide as of March 2020, by country. statista.com/statistics/1106766/media-consumption-growth-coronavirus-worldwide-by-country/
- Pew Research Center. (2020). Parenting Children in the Age of Screens. pewresearch.org/internet/2020/07/28/parenting-children-in-the-age-of-screens/
- Security.org. (2022). The Best VPN of 2022. security.org/vpn/best/
- Morning Consult. (2020). YouTube, Netflix and Gaming: A Look at What Kids Are Doing With Their Increased Screen Time. morningconsult.com/2020/08/20/youtube-netflix-and-gaming-a-look-at-what-kids-are-doing-with-their-increased-screen-time/
- Statista. (2021). U.S. internet users who have experienced cyber bullying 2020. statista.com/statistics/333942/us-internet-online-harassment-severity/
- Security.org. (2022). The Best Identity Theft Protection Services of 2022. security.org/identity-theft/best/
- National Crime Prevention Council. (2021). Stop Cyberbullying Before it Starts. archive.ncpc.org/resources/files/pdf/bullying/cyberbullying.pdf
- Cyberbullying Research Center. (2021). Tween Cyberbullying in 2020. i.cartoonnetwork.com/stop-bullying/pdfs/CN_Stop_Bullying_Cyber_Bullying_Report_9.30.20.pdf
