One in three kids is cyberbullied. The Epidemiology Laboratory of the Institute of Clinical Physiology of the National Research Council of Pisa says so, in the ESPAD®Italia 2024 study. The Istat data on acts of bullying are no longer comforting. How does this phenomenon work?
In Italy, according to the data reported by the ESPAD®Italia 2024 study, one in three kids has been cyberbullied at least once. And the victims? Imagining a class of 25 students, 2 suffer bullying or cyberbullying several times a week, 5 several times a month and 17 have suffered it at least once in the last year. The ISTAT numbers confirm it: the 68.5% of young people between 11 and 19 years old declares to have right away an offensive, aggressive, defamatory or exclusionary action, online or offline, in the previous 12 months; for 21% several times a month, for approximately 8% at least once a week.
Not it is therefore a question of isolated cases: bullies and victims are classmates, friends, brothers, children. And the consequences are serious: shame, isolation, anxiety, depression and, in the most extreme cases, suicide. Let’s see then what is cyberbullyinghow it differs from traditional bullying, what forms it takes, how to defend yourself and how to avoid becoming perpetrators.
What is cyberbullying and the difference with bullying
Cyberbullying is the digital version of bullying: intentional aggressive behavior (insults, threats, harassment, denigration) repeated over time against a person considered “weak”, but carried out through social media, chats, emails or messages. The fact that it happens online creates fundamental differences.
The first concerns the physical barriers. Once upon a time, when you returned home from school, you were safe at least for a few hours. Today the bully follows you on your smartphone, in the evening, on Sunday, on holiday: he never stops.
Then there is theanonymity. Live the bully must show himself; online can hide behind a fake profile, which makes attacks easier to carry out and more difficult to detect. As several experts point out, anonymity, the speed of diffusion of content and the impossibility of “escaping” from digital make persecutory acts even more obsessive.
filodiritto
Third point: the awareness. Not seeing the victim, the cyberbully fears the consequences less and feels untouchable, ending up adopting behaviors that he would never do in person. He also doesn’t perceive the damage: he doesn’t see anyone crying or running away. This is why many kids don’t even realize they are cyberbullies: they laugh or comment on a “funny” photo of a friend, without understanding that for the victim that message is a punch in the stomach.
Finally, the public. In traditional bullying there are few spectators; online a video can go viral, reach thousands of people and be reshared even months later. With consequences that can be devastating.
The different types: outing, denigration, exclusion
Cyberbullying takes different forms. The one suffered by Carolina is theouting or deception: the dissemination of private information or intimate or offensive material. Then there is the denigration, that is, gossip and slander to damage the reputation of the victim, and theexclusionthat is, purposely isolating someone from the class WhatsApp group, from a community or from an online game.
The most widespread form, however, are i offensive messages reiterated over time, in comments on social media or in group chats, until cyberstalking, the continuous sending of insults even in private.
According to the CNR there is also a gender difference: i Boys they tend to use direct threats and public insults on social media, in front of a large audience; the girls they prefer shapes indirect, such as exclusion from online groups or sharing personal photos, videos and messages without permission.
The data and what victims can do to protect themselves
In general, the data tell us about a widespread phenomenon. As we said at the beginning, according to the data ofISTAT The 68.5% of young people between 11 and 19 years old right away at least one aggressive or defamatory act in the last year, the 21% suffers it several times a monthwhile for the8% the frequency of harassment is weekly.
What to do if you are a victim? The first step, the most difficult but the most important, is talk about it: with friends and with an adult, be it a parent, a teacher or the school teacher. We need help and listening. The second is collect evidence: Screenshots of messages, comments and profiles that harass us are essential to get the content removed and accounts closed.
Then we move on to report, at multiple levels: to the platform, to the Privacy Guarantor and, in case of threats, defamation or dissemination of intimate images, to the Postal Police or to a lawyer. Finally, the psychological support: managing negative emotions is not easy, at any age, and talking about it with a professional, together with the parents, can make the difference. In case of immediate need, they are active day and night Telefono Azzurro in 19696 and theChildhood Emergency at 114.
Anyway, so far we’ve talked about the victims. But if one in three kids admits to having cyberbulliedin our class of 25 that means about eight. Cyberbullies, therefore, are not “monsters”: they are normal kids, who often have never considered themselves such. It could be a classmate, a brother, a son. Or it could be us.
“It was just a joke”, “I just laughed”, “I just forwarded the photo”. But for those who receive, they are never “alone”: every like, forward or laugh adds to the others. Then there is another figure: according to the CNR almost a quarter of the students, 23%, equal to almost 600,000 young people, have held the dual role of victim and perpetrator. Often those who hit have been hit. This is why even bullies must be helped, not just punished.
In short, cyberbullying is also fought by looking at ourselves. Before writing a comment, forwarding a photo or laughing in a group, let’s ask ourselves: Would I say it looking at his face?
