25% Primary School Children Cyberbullied In Past Year - Report

Tuesday, 5 September 2023 17:38

By Caoimhe Harney

Girls are more likely to be victimised online than boys

Research by CyberSafeKids has found 25 per cent of primary children and 40 per cent of secondary school students have been bullied online.

The survey of 5 thousand young people, aged between 8 and 16, found only 52 per cent of primary school pupils, and 39 per cent in secondary school would tell a parent or teacher they were experiencing online abuse.

Cyberbullied children as young as eight years old are suffering in silence with almost half of primary age children not telling their parents and almost a third of them telling no one.

The latest ‘Trends and Usage Report’ from national charity CyberSafeKids charts more than 5,000 children and young people’s usage of smart devices and access to the online world through apps and gaming.

More than a quarter (26%) of the young children surveyed saw or experienced something online in the last year that upset or scared them or made them wish they had never seen it.

However, almost a third of them chose to keep it to themselves and did not tell an adult, sibling or friend about what they saw.

Forwarding on upsetting content was more common among older children, with almost one in 10 saying they sent content that bothered them to someone else or a group.

The report also found:

Girls are more likely to be victimised online than boys but boys are less likely to come forward;
Almost two-thirds (62%) of teachers dealt with online safety incidents during the last school year;
Almost a third of 8- to 12-year-olds and three-quarters of 12- to 16-year-olds are allowed online whenever they want;
More than 60% of children had been contacted by a stranger in an online game.

CyberSafeKids, CEO, Alex Cooney spoke with Caoimhe Harney on Tuesday afternoon's Kildare Focus, she said parents should "hold off" getting their children smartphones, listen back here: