Study Finds Online Bullying May Be Overexposed
Real-Life Bullying More Likely to Occur
We hear a lot about online bullying in the mainstream media. But is it really a big problem for American teens? A new study suggests that may not be the case. In fact, researchers found that online bullying is still a lot less likely than face-to-face bullying.
The study was conducted between April and July 2011 by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. It featured interviews with 799 U.S. teens and their parents or guardians. The teens ranged in age from 12 to 17.
The first thing the study found: a lot of teens are online -- 95 per cent, in fact. About four in every five, or 80 per cent, are also using social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter.
So, how much bullying are these teens facing online? Not that much, it seems. Only about one in every five of the teens interviewed said they had faced "meanness" online. Seven in ten said their experiences were positive, while another one in ten refused to commit, saying only that "it depends".
However, this doesn't mean teens aren't seeing bullying online. About 88 per cent reported they'd witnessed mean or cruel activity on a social networking site. Still, only about one in ten said they saw such behaviour "frequently". Roughly half said they had seen meanness online only "once in a while".
Importantly, the study found that most bullying was seen in real life. Twelve per cent of teens said the bullying they faced was in person, while only seven per cent said that bullying came through email, social networking or online instant messaging.
For the vast majority of teens, online experiences are good ones. "For most teens, these are exciting and rewarding spaces," said Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Internet Research Center.
"But the majority have also seen a darker side...And for a subset of teens, the world of social media isn't a pretty place because it presents a climate of drama and mean behavior."
That's why Facebook online safety manager Nicky Jackson Colaco says that keeping track of teen activity online is important. "We believe that educating teens about safety is a responsibility shared by policy makers, safety advocates, parents and services like Facebook," Colaco said.
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