Cyber Bullying Statistics for 2019:

FindLaw publishes the latest statisics for Cyberbullying for 2019. Following is the information as published on their website:

Helpful Cyberbullying Statistics

These 2019 statistics on cyberbullying shed some light on how large the problem is becoming across the nation — for students and adults alike:

• 73% of students under 18 years old report being bullied at least once in their life.
• The number of students who feel bullied is now nearly double what it was in 2016.
• 87% of minors have seen cyberbullying online in some form.
• One in six women have been stalked online, and one in 19 men report online stalking.
• Out of every 10 American adults, four report experiencing harassment online.
• 15% of people report being a cyberbully at least once in their life.
• 69% of people report harassing or abusing someone else online, though they did not identify it as cyberbullying.
• 64% of students report that being cyberbullied affects their ability to learn.

Cyberbullying Trends on Social Media

The online channels where cyberbullying occurs can change rapidly. A 2019 study from Enough.org shows popular social media channels and their percentage of users that have encountered bullying incidents:

• Instagram: 42%
• Facebook: 37%
• Snapchat: 31%
• WhatsApp: 12%
• YouTube: 10%
• Twitter: 9%

Keeping Our Children Safe On The Internet

This article from the Telegraph states “19pc of 3-year-old’s have their own tablet in Britain, the latest Ofcom data shows. But already at that age, 52pc of children go online for nearly nine hours a week, a figure that rockets to 82pc between the ages of 5-7….”

The Article also provides the NPSCC’s advise for parents on what to do if their child receives an inapprorpiate / sexual image online

more on that here

Boston report says 1/3 of students with disabilities face cyber bullying

Research conducted in Boston identifies more then 1/3 of High School students with disabilities face cyber bullying over the past year.  The report also states that of these more then 1/3 had suicide tendencies.  That means more then 1 in 10 of these youngsters were having suicide tendencies as a result of what they faced….

More on that article here..

Secret codes that kids/ teenagers use and parents need to know

Thank you Parentlogy for this post and information.

If you come across words in your kids texts and instagram or snap chat posts that you may not be aware off.  You may want to check them below. We will keep adding to this list as we get more information.

1. KMS/KYS – Kill Myself/Kill Yourself

2. WTTP – Want to Trade Pics? ( Be mindful this usually implies inappropriate pictures)

3. FWB – Friends with Benefits

4. TDTM – Talk Dirty to Me

 5. 99 – Parents are gone

6. MOS/POS – Mom/Parent Over Shoulder

7. Thirsty – Desperate for Attention

8. Lit/Turnt Up – Party Hard, Get High or Drunk

9. Zerg – to Gang Up or Bully on Someone (Usually Online)

you can find the rest of the post here.

 

Research links cyber bullying to increased rates of depression amongst teenagers

Research links cyber bullying to increased rates of depression.

“Nearly one-third of teens have experienced symptoms of depression, which, in addition to changes in sleep pattern, include persistent irritability, anger and social withdrawal.

And nearly 15 per cent of U.S. high school students reports being bullied electronically. At severe levels, depression may lead to disrupted school performance, harmed relationships or suicide.”

More on the article can be seen here. 

Malaysian Teen commits Suicide after Instagram Poll encourages her to take her own life..

A 16-year-old Malaysian girl killed herself after more then 69% of respondents encouraged her to kill her self when she posted a Die or Live D/L poll online on instagram.

More details available here .

Where it is important we teach our kids to be strong, it is equally important we teach our kids the importance of Mental Health. We should teach them to never ever take a D/L survey lightly, for you never know the state of mental health of the person posting the survey.

Safer Tomorrow tracking news about bullying.

Safer Tomorrow is now starting a new initiative providing news about buIllying, cyber bullying and violence and aggression from all over the world.  It will allow researchers, teachers, academics, parents to get an idea of what is going around in the world.

The figures coming from schools become more and more concerning every year, this will allow me track the news as it comes out.  The posts will include snipits of the articles with links and a brief intro. 

Feel free to tag/ leave a comment if you find it useful.

Bullying ‘intolerably high’ and beyond schools’ direct control – ERO report says

Article coming out of NZ on TVNZ Site.

The article is quite concening. It identifies the high levels of bullying at the primary school level, with the rates of verbal and or social bullying being quite high.

Read on below..

“The report – which surveyed 10,940 in 136 schools at the beginning of last year – said nearly half of primary school children and a third of teenagers reported being bullied in the past month when they responded last year.

 

However, the true rate of bullying might be even higher because a quarter of the students who said they had not been bullied also reported that they had been subjected to negative behaviour such as being threatened or assaulted.

 

“The prevalence of bullying in New Zealand schools is intolerably high, and the impact of bullying on student wellbeing and achievement is significant,” the report said.

 

The report found boys were more likely to be bullied than girls but gender-diverse children suffered most, with 58 per cent saying they had been bullied at school. Bullying rates were also high for Māori students (42 per cent) and Pākehā students (40 per cent).

Name-calling, put-downs and teasing were one of the most common forms of bullying with 36 per cent of children saying they were subjected to such abuse at least once a month, and some said they experienced it every day.

 

The most common forms of bullying:

Ignored/left-out – 38%

Name-calling/teasing – 36%

Lies/bad stories – 29%

Forced to do something – 22%

Assaulted – 21%

Items stolen or damaged – 21%

Phone or computer messages – 12%

Threatened – 17%

Nearly one quarter of students said they had been hit, pushed, kicked, punched or choked at least once a month, and 12 per cent had suffered cyber-bullying via their phone or computer in the past month………..

Cyber Bullying – Some Precautions

Mallory Grossman, a 12 year-old 6^th Grade New Jersey middle school student died in a “suspected Suicide” in June 2017. Her parents stated that she was being bullied on social media and her friends concurred by saying she was being bullied on Snapchat.

To understand more about cyber bullying click here.

Every day in the US there are 5240 suicide attempts by children in 7^th-12^th Grade. According to the CDC although there are many triggers such as teen depression, academic pressure, family relationships etc. Bullying remains the number two cause of teenage suicide. The steps below identify some of the precautions parents can take in an attempt to keep our children safe from cyber bullying.

Precautions Against Cyber Bullying

• Have access to your child’s PW and Account Logins. (Make this a requirement before you hand them their first device).
• Have a device curfew at night. All devices need to be charged in an adult’s room i.e. the parent or guardian. This prevents and protects preteens and younger teenagers from being surrounded with and exposed to social media and hence potential cyber bullying all the time.
• Monitor your child’s devices and keep yourself updated on app’s being used by today’s youth.
• Block/ unfriend the person’s email or phone account who has been “bullying” your child.
• Remember to tell them “this is not your fault! So don’t hide it.”
• Teach your children words can hurt and kill so be careful of what you say to other people.

Media Articles on Cyber Bullying and Grooming

The man responsible for Amanda Todd’s suicide was sentenced to 11 years in prison by the Dutch Court. Amanda, the teen from British Columbia, committed suicide in 2012 at the age of 15 after being blackmailed and bullied online.

11-year-old Tysen Benz died in Michigan, three weeks after attempting to commit suicide. Tysen had received a prank on his phone that his ” girlfriend” was committing suicide.

In November 2015 Kayleigh Haywood was brutally raped and murdered in the UK after being groomed for 15 days by a stranger through social media. Her brave parents agreed to have Kayleigh’s story converted into a short film to save the life of other teens.

11-year-old Asad committed suicide in September 2016 in Bradford, UK after being bullied in school. Cases such as Asad’s are unfortunately becoming more frequent.

14-year-old Breck Brednar was murdered in 2014 after being groomed through an online video game chat. This is his mother’s story.

13-year old Emilie Olsen shot herself in December 2014 after facing years of bullying in school.