A new study by Stellenbosch University and Artefact South Africa has called for targeted prevention and support strategies to address cyberbullying among teenagers.
Researchers Daniel le Roux and Camryn Twaddle found that 63.9% of pupils surveyed had been involved in cyberbullying.
“The most common behaviours reported by those who admitted to cyberbullying others were sharing secrets without permission, insulting someone, and sending embarrassing or hurtful messages,” said Twaddle.
“The least common cyberbullying behaviours involved impersonation, such as creating an account on behalf of someone else or creating a humiliating website.
“Girls reported being insulted and having rumours spread about them, while boys were more likely to report threatening others online and sharing inappropriate photos and/or videos of others without their permission,” she added.
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The study found that girls and boys experienced different forms of online abuse, with TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat most commonly linked to cyberbullying:
“TikTok was the platform where teenagers most often reported experiencing different forms of cyberbullying, including threats, insults, rumours, embarrassing or hurtful messages, having secrets shared without permission and inappropriate videos and/or photos shared,” Twaddle said, adding that “Instagram was used to take over the password of an account, insulting someone, sending embarrassing or hurtful messages and sharing secrets.”
Snapchat showed a pattern similar to Instagram’s, but was also linked to the sending of embarrassing or hurtful messages.
According to the study, WhatsApp was linked only to insults and rumours.
The researchers say social media use also differed between boys and girls.
“Girls were more likely to report using WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, while boys were more likely to report using YouTube, Discord, Reddit and X,” Twaddle explained.
Additional reporting by ECR Newswatch
