A Third of Students Under 18 Claim to Have Been Cyberbullied

We surveyed more than 1,000 students and the results were alarming.

Having a joke with mates on the internet is a pretty usual occurrence. The internet is filled with things to laugh at: memes, cute animal videos, that mess of a panoramic photo you tried to take, and so on.

Unfortunately, it's also a place where people tend to forget that there are humans on the other end of those usernames or profiles and resort to trash talking one another.

Student Edge conducted a survey with 1,265 students to ask them about their habits and precautions online.

Interestingly, two thirds of the students were using Snapchat every day compared to 54.8 per cent for YouTube, 54.6 per cent for Instagram and 45.2 per cent for Facebook. It also showed that nearly half first started using social media by the age of 11 or 12.

Despite the early age that many began using social media, 68 per cent admitted that their parents don't have any rules about their usage. Forty per cent also admitted they are sometimes distracted from their assignments by social media and video-hosting sites like YouTube, and use self-imposed time limits in order to prevent procrastination.

Surprisingly, 68 per cent said that they had never experienced cyberbullying. (However, as you read below, "cyberbullying" can mean a lot of different things.) Of the 32 per cent who had been bullied online, 56 per cent of them also admitted that their time on the internet was "sometimes negative" despite 65 per cent of them also agreeing that they love it and use it all the time.

When it came to dealing with the cyberbullying, 35 per cent of students saved the evidence and more than 50 per cent ignored or blocked them.

Fifty per cent of students thought the best person to speak to about being cyberbullied was a parent or guardian, while 23 per cent preferred a friend.

Despite cyberbullying affecting a third of these students, it fell behind privacy, security/identity theft and scams in terms of their greatest concerns.

So, what is cyberbullying?

The Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner explains that cyberbullying doesn't just have one face. It can in the form of abusive texts, imitating, humiliating and excluding others, as well as gossip.

The Human Rights Commission extends this even further, explaining that fake accounts made in other people's names or hacking social media sites and changing the information about you can also constitute bullying.

What can you do if you or a friend are being cyberbullied?

The Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner recommends you tell someone a bit older who you trust straight away, like a family member or teacher. Blocking or ignoring cyberbullies is the best way to deal with them in the meantime (while gathering evidence, such as screenshots of comments or conversations. After that, report them or the page on the social media site and they'll usually take it down as soon as possible.

Most importantly, spend time with friends or do something you love to forget about the hurtful things that have been said online. Being bullied, online or in person, is never a great experience, but through having a great support network of friends and family, you can get through this.