Figures reveal the worst social media websites for cyberbullying, according to teenagers.
UK anti-bullying and pro-equality charity Ditch the Label work with young people aged between 12 and 25 and help them to overcome bullying.
Earlier this year, they surveyed young people for their Annual Bullying Report, and found that 71% of teens believe that social networks do not do enough to prevent cyberbullying.
Sadly, 23% of participants think that cyberbullying “is just part of growing up.”
The figures revealed by the anti-bullying group reveal that 42% of young people have experienced cyberbullying on Instagram.
This was followed by Facebook (37%) and Snapchat (31%).
WhatsApp was fourth on the list with 12%, followed by YouTube (10%), Twitter (9%), and Tumblr (3%).
Surprisingly, 69% of all respondents admit that they have done something abusive towards another person online.
35% sent a screenshot of someone’s status or photo to laugh at them in a group chat, 25% ‘trolled’ somebody in an online game, while 17% liked or shared something online that openly mocks another person.
Some 5% of respondents even created a fake ‘catfish’ profile and used it to annoy or upset somebody.
Professor Sheri Bauman says; “More than a quarter of participants use social media “constantly” and another 16% access it “several times an hour”.”
“That means that about 43% of youth are engaged with social media often enough that we might worry that their use has become “addictive” or at least “compulsive,” and slightly over a third of survey participants said they would experience negative feelings (stress, anxious, lonely) if they could not access social media for one day.
“The 39% who think they could ignore social media for longer than that may be like other addicts, convincing themselves that they don’t have a problem. When put to the test, however, it’s likely that many would succumb to the attraction of social media more quickly than they think.”
