Facebook, Twitter are new bullies' playgrounds —study

Facebook, and to a certain extent, Twitter, are turning out to be the top playgrounds of school cyberbullies, at least in the United States.

 

This was the finding of a study by security vendor McAfee, which also found only one in 10 parents are aware their teens are being targeted.

 

"Today’s schoolyard is Facebook, with slightly more than 92 percent of teens saying cruel behavior takes place on the site. Kids say bullies also make attacks on Twitter (23.8 percent), MySpace (17.7 percent) and Instant Messager (15.2 percent)," tech site Mashable said, citing from the study.

 

Also, the study found 25 percent of teens claim to be targets of cyberbullying, while two-thirds of teens witnessed cruel behavior online.

 

But the study also showed 65.8 percent of teens responded to the bully, with 35 percent responding in person.

 

While 15.4 percent avoided school, 4.5 percent would even settle the matter with the physical world.

 

"(T)eens will stand up to bullies online. When witnessing others being attacked, 40 percent of teens have told the person to stop, 20.7 percent have told an adult but 6.3 percent joined in," it said.

 

When being attacked themselves, 65.8 percent of teens responded to the attacker, with 35 percent responding in person, it added.

 

"Some of these online confrontations are hashed-out in the real world, where 4.5 percent of teens have been in a physical fight with an online bully, while about 15 percent avoided school," it noted. — TJD, GMA News