A new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project entitled Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Networks confirms much of what we already know about cyberbullying. Most kids aren't bullied and most kids don't bully either online or off.
While most teens (88%) say they have witnessed or experienced "someone being mean or cruel online," the study concluded that "[m]ost American teens who use social media say that in their experience, people their age are mostly kind to one another on social network sites." Nearly seven in ten (69 percent) of teens said that peers are mostly kind while 20 percent said peers are mostly unkind with 11 percent saying, "it depends."
The numbers track very closely with previous scientific surveys on bullying and cyberbullying. The largest source of bullying (12 percent) was in person, followed by text messaging (9 percent). Eight percent said they had been bullied via email, a social networking site or instant messaging and 7 percent were bullied via voice calls on the phone. Girls are more likely to have experienced what we typically call "cyberbullying," while boys and girls are roughly equal when it comes to in person bullying.
Source: CNET News
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-57320587-238/online-bullying-still-way-less-common-than-in-real-life/
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