Survey: 29% of Asian children depressed due to cyberbullying

The pan Asian survey was conducted by Telenor Group to mark Safer Internet Day today. The survey asked 320 parents and adults about the visibility of cyberbullying from Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand and other Asian countries. Zainab Hussain Siddiqui, director of Social Responsibility, Telenor Group, said: “In the lead up to Safer Internet Day, we conducted this survey to understand how cyberbullying affects children in Asia, and what both adults and children can do about it. “The results show that across Asia, we see examples of awareness-building efforts.” The results show increased awareness building of cyberbullying, the effects of cyberbullying vary, cyberbullying on online gaming sites, education on appropriate websites and awareness of cyberbullying on social media. Parents said they are more aware of how to spot signs of cyberbullying and where to report them, the survey results showed. A majority of the respondents (46%) said they speak to their children all the time about online behaviour, followed by 39% who discussed this sometimes. But still, 12% parents said they had never spoken about this topic. Being the target of hostile and rude comments and profanity online was the most common form of cyberbullying incidents that respondents’ children had experienced (22.5% of respondents). The next largest group said they “did not know” if any of the listed cyberbullying incidents had occurred to their children. The third largest group said their children had not experienced cyberbullying as they have been “trained how to respond and defend themselves” against this type of activity. When asked how cyberbullying experiences affected the child, 29% of respondents said cyberbullied affected their children negatively and they were depressed; 24% said that the situation made the child more alert and able to defend themselves online; and 7% said the online bullying inspired the children to then help other victims. Children playing games online reported a higher rate of cyberbullying. The survey showed 79% said their children or those they know have been threatened with physical harm while playing online games specifically on websites or on social media. This was followed by 41% who said the child was the target of offensive comments including name calling, racist or sexist remarks. Cyberbullying can addressed through education. Of the respondents, 55% said their children had given personal information to strangers online, followed by 51% who said the children had visited websites they were not supposed to.