3 October 2017
By Rebecca Avery
Demos study finds that a quarter of young people have bullied or insulted someone online #esafety
A report based on a 9 month mapping period involving 668 16-to-18 year olds, published on the 2nd October 2017 think-tank Demos found:
- 26 per cent of the 16-18 year olds surveyed say they have ‘bullied or insulted someone else’ online
- 15 per cent of the young people surveyed said they had ‘joined in with other people to “troll” a celebrity or public figure
- Boys are significantly more likely to say they have bullied or insulted someone online than girls (32 per cent compared with 22 per cent) or ‘trolled’ a public figure (22 per cent compared with 10 per cent)
- 93 per cent of those who said they had insulted or bullied someone else online, said that they had themselves experienced some form of cyber-bullying or abuse
- 88 per cent of the teenagers surveyed had given emotional support to someone online
- Just over half of young people surveyed (51 per cent) have posted about ‘a political or social cause that they care about’
- Young people with stronger traits of empathy and self-control are considerably less likely to engage in cyberbullying
- Yeah because teachers aren’t the same age as us, so they don’t really understand how to use [social media]. And a lot of kids in school don’t listen to their teachers.
- It’s just constant; block it, ignore it. That’s what they teach you, but that’s like… Well, it’s like teaching a human how to walk, like it’s just straightforward.
- Yeah, sometimes they show cheesy videos as well, what happens. Those really tacky videos. Yeah, it’s a bit cringe, yeah.
Recommendations
Alongside recommendations for Government, parents and social media companies, the report recommended that schools should:- deliver Digital Citizenship education which contains a strong emphasis on the moral implications of online social networking, with a focus on participatory approaches which seek to develop students’ moral and ethical sensitivity.
- A focus on digital citizenship rather than solely focusing on 'risk' and 'safety' is likely to have a more beneficial impact in the long term. Such approaches could include:
- structured opportunities for personal and group reflection;
- peer-led learning and mentoring;
- consideration and discussion of moral issues;
- involvement of parents, guardians and families.
- Links to classroom materials (inlcuding some of those featured in the report) can be accessed on Kelsi.
- The UKCCIS Education group have recently published a consultation document reagrding the use of external visitors to support online safety education.
- A focus on digital citizenship rather than solely focusing on 'risk' and 'safety' is likely to have a more beneficial impact in the long term. Such approaches could include:
- develop school-home links around digital citizenship, supporting parents to close the 'digital literacy gap' and develop effective parental mediation approaches.
- The report identifies that the home is crucial for developing young people's good character, however it recognises that there is a mismatch in knowledge and attitudes towards social media between parents and children. This means many parents feel unable to effectively mediate their children’s online behaviour.
- Schools could provide support to parents, to raise their levels of digital literacy and to help them adopt mediation approaches that engage positively with social media.
- Suggestions for schools regarding engaging families in online safety can be accessed on Kelsi.
