A McAfee study on teen cyberbullying found 87% of kids witnessed it online, with attacks targeting appearance (72%), race or religion (26%), and sexuality (22%). Many teens overshare personal information like GPS location and home address, putting themselves at risk.
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Well, bullying, it has always been a problem that kids have to deal with, but now with social media, this issue has really exploded. These hurtful comments and public shaming is more than what many of us have had to deal with when we were young. Wayfair News reporter Myra Ansari joins us now with more, and there is a study out, Myra, that really brings some alarming numbers to this topic.
That's right, Shannon. While much of what kids do online is harmless, this new study found that 87% of kids have witnessed cyberbullying 3 times more than last year, and with kids being online On summer break right now, they have more time to be on the internet.
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, pretty much all of them.
Abby Johnston is 16 and just like your typical teen.
Social media is a big part of my life.
What she likes—
check my Twitter real quick—
is the ability to stay connected to friends and what's going on at school. But a new study by internet security company McAfee has revealed some troubling findings about what kids are exposed to on social media. The study, called Teens and the Screen, revealed that more kids are using technology to bully one another.
What happens in the digital world is as important as what goes on in the physical world.
Parents, if you think that the social media world is something you just can't wrap your mind around, well, Robert Siciliano says you have to get over that.
Think of it like this: you would not give your kids the keys to the car until you knew that they were safe and secure enough to drive. But parents are giving their kids access to the web and digital devices and the parents themselves don't know enough about this technology to do so.
We might not want to admit it, but parents— parents are smarter than we all think.
According to the study, 22% of kids said that they were bullied because of their sexuality. 26% said it was their race or religion, and 72% said it stemmed from their looks.
Really about physical appearance and, um, you know, like saying, "Oh, you're fat," or, "You're ugly," and "It's really sad because people, I mean, especially Instagram, that's all it is, is pictures." Because it's easy to hide behind a keyboard, bullying is easier than ever.
"When you type it, you can't necessarily see that person hurting." And the study also found that kids are oversharing their private information, like their phone numbers. Many leave the GPS turned on on their apps, and 14% give their home address. Now you also need to be aware of apps are on your child's phone. A lot of kids are using apps like Snapchat, a photo messaging app, and Tinder, which is a dating app. For parents, we've got advice on what you can do. Just go to wave3.com. In the newsroom, Myra Ansari, Wave 3 News.
