A new world study by computer security software company McAfee found that 60 percent of Canadian children as young as 10 years old have experienced some form of cyberbullying. Globally, that figure is only slightly higher, at 63 percent.
The study, titled “Cyberbullying at a Glance,” sheds light on cyberbullying trends based on survey responses from 11,687 parents and their children in 10 countries this summer, including 1,516 in Canada.
“Our findings reflect the concerns of parents and children alike,” the study authors write. “Cyberbullying remains a pervasive and potentially damaging fact of life online, particularly as racism and other serious forms of cyberbullying increase.”
Cyber bullying It takes place through digital devices such as cell phones, computers and tablets, through SMS, text messages, social media applications, forums and online gaming communities.
It encompasses known forms of bullying, such as insults, physical threats, spreading false rumors, stalking, and outing (revealing someone’s sexual orientation without their consent), but also includes methods such as doxing, which involves posting private or identifying information about someone online without your consent.
According to McAfee research, cyberbullying in Canada focuses on highly personal issues, with the top three being appearance, at 34%; clothing, with 22 percent; and friends, at 19 percent. The three main forms of bullying, both in Canada and globally, are insults, exclusion from chats and group conversations, and spreading false rumours. However, a growing number of parents report racially motivated attacks on children as young as 10 years old.
“Our survey found that more than 28 percent of children worldwide have experienced racially motivated cyberbullying, according to their parents,” the study reads.
Canada’s survey results are mostly in line with global averages, except when it comes to how parents and their children perceive and respond to cyberbullying.
“Canadian children experience cyberbullying largely on par with global rates,” Gagan Singh, chief product officer at McAfee, wrote in the study. “However, their parents act on it less often than other parents, and Canadian children are the least likely to seek help when it happens to them.”
According to the studyCanadian children and parents expressed some of the lowest levels of concern about cyberbullying, at 15 percent and 13 percent below the global averages, respectively.
Additionally, Canadian parents were among the least likely to take an active role in protecting their children from cyberbullying, with 78 per cent responding that they actively protect their children from cyberbullying compared to 85 per cent of respondents. parents around the world.
Canadian children are also less likely to trust their friends about cyberbullying or seek help. Globally, 32 per cent of children said they have sought help at some point compared to 21 per cent of Canadian children. Only Japan reported a lower figure of eight percent.
“What is troubling is that Canadian children are some of the least likely to seek help globally for cyberbullying,” Jasdev Dhaliwal, McAfee’s director of social and digital content, told CTVNews.ca in an email. “Canadian parents can support their children by starting an open discussion about cyberbullying in the home and finding resources to support their children.”
As for broader solutions, the study notes that cyberbullying is determined by cultural, technological, social and governmental factors.
“Addressing one factor alone won’t slow it down,” he says. “Significantly reducing cyberbullying for an Internet that is much safer than it is today requires addressing those factors together.”
Despite efforts by tech conglomerate Meta to provide family safety resources on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, cyberbullying persists at its properties at the highest rates. Globally and in Canada, cyberbullying is most likely to occur on Facebook and Instagram, followed by YouTube, TikTok and Twitter, according to McAfee.