A study led by Dr. Andrew Przybylski of the University of Oxford found that cyberbullying – bullying that takes place over the internet – is not as prevalent as feared. The study comprised a survey of over 110,000 people and it found that just one percent of adolescents reported being bullied online but not in person.
Furthermore, the study found that those who were bullied online reported a lower emotional impact from the bullying online as opposed to bullying that happened face to face.Dr. Przybylski said, “There is a vanishingly small percentage of people who are bullied only online”. He went on to add that: “It has crystallised in the public imagination, and it’s easy to get drawn into these fears, but just because it is new it does not mean it’s a new behaviour.”
Dr. Przybylski said that cyber bullying is merely a “new avenue to victimise those already being bullied in traditional ways, rather than a way to pick new victims” and urged efforts to be directed at building resilience as opposed to managing online behaviour.“The report can be read here.
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