Why it matters: Being a teen is tough, especially in the 21st century. As Pew's latest survey highlights, today's youth are having to put up with harassment 24/7, even when they aren't in the physical presence of bullies.
Adolescents have long had to contend with name-calling, rumor-spreading and other childish antics perpetrated by peers. Smartphones and social media have only amplified the problem and made it easier for bullies to humiliate their victims yet still, some may not realize how widespread the issue really is.
According to a recent survey from Pew Research Center, 59 percent of US teens have personally experienced at least one common type of cyberbullying. Name-calling, identified by Pew as the most common form of online harassment, has been used against 42 percent of respondents while one in three said they’ve had false rumors spread about them.
Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of opinions on how to tackle the issue of cyberbullying and who is to blame for its prevalence. The majority of teens polled believe elected officials, social media sites, bystanders, teachers and law enforcement are either doing a fair or poor job in addressing online harassment.
Most teens – 59 percent – believe parents are doing a good or excellent job of managing cyberbullying.
Pew found that boys and girls are equally as likely to be bullied online although the latter group is more likely to have false rumors spread about them and receive explicit images they didn’t ask for.
