MADISON, Wis. — While bullying has long been a concern for parents and educators, the digital age has fundamentally changed how it happens and how severely it affects young people.
Dr. Ashvin Sood, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at SSM Health, explains that cyberbullying now reaches far beyond the schoolyard. “Bullying happened at school, but now we have social media, we have online communication. It’s changed the way that happens,” Sood said.
The shift to digital platforms has created new vulnerabilities for teenagers. Unlike traditional school bullying, where a victim can identify the perpetrator and adults can intervene, cyberbullying operates differently. Perpetrators can hide behind anonymous usernames and fake profiles, making it difficult for schools and parents to track them down. In many cases, schools must involve law enforcement to identify the source.
“If you think about school bullying, you can see the face, the person, you have adults right there that you could connect to, to find the perpetrator if the victim is being bullied,” Sood said. “But with online access, many individuals can hide behind a screen, can hide behind usernames, can hide behind fake profiles.”
The scale of cyberbullying has also expanded dramatically. Teenagers now interact with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of users online, multiplying the potential for harassment.
The statistics are sobering
According to Sood, 46% of U.S. teens between ages 13 and 17 have faced cyberbullying. The forms it takes vary widely. Cyberbullying can include harassment, spreading false rumors, receiving explicit images without consent, sending explicit images without consent, and persistent questioning about age, sex and location.
“These are all very different versions of cyber bullying that can occur,” Sood said.
Warning signs parents should watch for
Parents often struggle to recognize when their child is being bullied online because teens may not openly discuss it. Sood identifies two categories of warning signs: internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms.
Internalizing symptoms include social withdrawal, avoiding peer groups, and school avoidance. A child might say, “Mom, dad, I don’t want to go to school today. I’m feeling sick, my belly hurts, I’m having headaches.”
Externalizing symptoms can include increased aggression or retaliation. Children who are lonely, socially anxious, or socially vulnerable are at higher risk for online victimization.
“Those who have risk factors such as being more lonely, having perceived internal, having social anxiety, as well as social vulnerability, that predicts online victimization,” Sood said.
What parents can do
Sood emphasizes that digital literacy is the foundation for protecting children online. He compares it to playground safety: parents wouldn’t allow their children to play on an unsupervised, unsafe playground, yet many don’t monitor their children’s digital activities.
“We talk about being unlike a stranger danger, right? Or being on a playground, but we are not having a lot of conversations about what a digital playground looks like,” Sood said.
The first step is establishing constant daily conversations with your child about their online interactions. Parents should ask who their child talks with online, who they interact with, and what they’re doing on social media platforms.
Many parents don’t use parental controls because they don’t understand how they work. Sood encourages parents to learn these tools and implement them. “If we were on a playground and there aren’t any safety regulations, we probably wouldn’t let those kids play on that playground or be very vigilant of them,” he said.
Parents should also teach their children digital literacy skills specific to cyberbullying. This includes understanding what to do if someone posts a mean comment: Should they block the person? Leave the conversation? Unfollow the account? Children need to understand this terminology and how it works on different platforms.
If cyberbullying does occur, parents should know their options. Schools have zero tolerance policies for both in-school and cyberbullying. Parents can report incidents to their child’s school, which is often the first step in addressing the problem.
Legal authorities can also become involved quickly, particularly in cases involving artificial intelligence and deepfake technology. Sood notes that AI filters are increasingly being used to create and spread sexualized images of minors.
“Parents need to have that conversation of like, disclosing information and unfollowing accounts kind of have to be on top of that when your kid is getting ready to have an active social media life,” Sood said.
The responsibility ultimately falls on parents to stay informed and engaged. As social media companies continue to lack internal safety regulations, parents must take the lead in protecting their children’s digital lives.
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