Research reveals 60% of children surveyed would not tell their parents if they were cyberbullied
Of the children surveyed:
- 60% said they would never tell their parents if they were cyberbullied, and do not know how to have this conversation
- 62% have seen other people being cyberbullied
- 53% have been cyberbullied themselves (once or many times)
- 18% have been cyberbullied in a way that really affected ability to learn and feel safe at school
- 25% responded that they had cyberbullied others
Barnardos Online Safety Programme ran a survey and hosted seven focus groups with more than 340 children aged 8-12 in schools across Ireland in June 2022. The charity found that 60% of children surveyed said they would never tell their parents if they were cyberbullied and revealed they weren’t sure how to have this conversation with their parents should they need to.
The survey was undertaken as a part of the Barnardos Online Safety Programme to help inform its work with children, parents and teachers. This September marks the 4th year of a five year partnership between Google.org and Barnardos to roll out online safety workshops across the country.
Barnardos CEO Suzanne Connolly said: “It is very concerning to hear that many of the children spoken to wouldn’t tell their parents if they were being cyberbullied. This shows how important it is that we roll out our preventative online safety workshops for both children and their parents alike. Our goal is to help parents and children have an open dialogue about online safety.
“It is vital that the views and experiences of children who have directly faced cyberbullying continue to inform the development of the Department of Education’s next Action Plan on bullying and are involved in measuring its success. Given that over half of children (53%) have experienced cyberbullying themselves and almost half (48%) said they would tell nobody if they were cyberbullied we feel the Action Plan, which we hope to see published soon, should recommend online safety learning be an essential part of the school curriculum.”
Young person aged 10 – ‘If it was just for a day or two I probably wouldn’t but if it was going on a while I probably would’.
Young person aged 9 – ‘See that’s the thing – sometimes you just don’t know – it’s easier to say I’m going to talk to them than actually doing it’.
Ryan Meade, Public Policy Manager, Google Ireland said: “At Google we created Be Internet Legends to help young people be safe, confident explorers of the online world. This includes being comfortable talking about any negative experiences with a trusted adult. We are delighted to support Barnardos Online Safety Programme which has already reached over 40,000 children and families with these and other important fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety.”
For more information on the Online Safety Programme (OSP) or to see how your school can book, please see www.barnardos.ie/osp or email onlinesafety@barnardos.ie