In 2010, 16 per cent of children said they had been bullied face to face, 8 per cent via the internet and 5 per cent on mobile phones. The 2014 Net Children Go Mobile report shows that cyberbullying is now more common than face-to-face bullying. Ask your kids – if they haven’t been bullied online themselves, they’ve probably seen it happen to a friend. Statistics vary, but regardless of the exact figures it’s likely that few families are unaffected. They may also be embarrassed or ashamed to admit it, or fear that the bullying will get worse if they tell someone.
This could be because they fear they may not be allowed to go online or may have their phones taken away. The bullies themselves are also at risk and may need help to understand and stop their bullying behaviour.Īnti-cyberbullying charity The Cybersmile Foundation reports that 90 per cent of kids who are bullied online don’t tell their parents or other adults. If the bullying is severe and goes on for a long time without being tackled, it can lead to low self-esteem, low self-confidence, anxiety, depression, social isolation, self-harm and – in extreme cases – suicide. Why is it so harmful?Ĭyberbullies can follow their victims around everywhere 24/7, so kids can feel there’s no escape – not even in their own homes. Sending nasty texts, publicly posting someone’s embarrassing private photos, excluding a person from an online game, or using someone else’s Facebook account to cause havoc with their friends – it’s all cyberbullying. It includes doing anything online or on a mobile device that threatens, intimidates, harasses, demeans, embarrasses or humiliates someone, or causes them to be excluded and isolated. Cyberbullying is bullying that’s carried out via technology, most commonly through social media.