Anti-Bullying Week: The facts about cyberbullying

Cyber bullying is a growing issue that affects many different people, but particularly school children. In the theme of Anti-Bullying Week — All Different, All Equal — social media can be excellent for connecting people of different cultures, but it can be dangerous depending on how it is used, or how opinions are shared.

So, why is cyber bullying so common? It’s easy to hide behind social media; many children say things online that they wouldn’t say in real life because they are behind their phone or computer screen.

Currently, over 25% of adolescents and teens have been bullied through their phones – that is one in four people. Also, 15% of young adults – that’s one in seven people have bullied another person online – sometimes intentionally, sometimes without them even realising e.g. liking a negative comment online without even thinking. 60% of 8-17 year olds responded to an online poll – they bullied somebody to fit in with a social group. 40% cyberbullied to protect themselves from being targeted.

These facts and figures show how common cyberbullying is, make sure your pupils know they are never alone and they can talk to their teachers about any of their problems. This will help to reduce those enormous figures!

Any easy way for your school to get involved in Anti-bullying week and show your support is to tweet using the #’s #AntiBullyingWeek and #AllDifferentAllEqual.