Most victims of cyberbullying they do not seek help from the closest adults, afraid of what they might think about them and fear of losing access to digital technologies. The conclusion is from the Order of Portuguese Psychologists (OPP), which this Monday, World Day to Combat Bullyingspear one factsheet aimed at fathers and mothers, to help identify warning signs, ways to prevent it and how to act in cases where children are the target of this type of behavior.
O cyberbullying is “a way of bullying increasingly frequent and consists of the use of technology to harass, threaten, provoke or embarrass someone”, explains the OPP, adding examples of this practice such as “send cruel messages, make a post insulting someone, creating a fake page in someone’s name, posting a disrespectful image or video on social media.”.
According to a study of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto (FPCEUP), held in 2024, one in ten young people was a victim of cyberbullying very often in the form of comments, rumors or harassment. The survey, in which 1,262 young people participated, aged between 11 and 21, 50.4% of whom were male, from dozens of schools across the country, also revealed that 32.5% of young people do not talk to friends about unpleasant situations they experience onlinewhich may reveal the isolation in which some live, not seeking support from their peers.
The risk of isolation, hiding problems that could be serious from parents and friends, thus making it impossible to provide necessary help, is precisely one of the reasons that led the OPP to move forward with this document, considering that o cyberbullying “it should not be a normalized and accepted phenomenon, it is not part of ‘being a child’ or ‘growing up’, it does not make children ‘stronger’”. “It can happen anywhere, at any time, persistently. From the moment a child or teenager has a cell phone/computer/tablet, without supervision, they are at risk”, warn psychologists.
In these situations, prevention may actually be the best medicine. The recommendations made to parents by the OPP include, among others, “establishing rules and times for the use of digital technologies, depending on class, study and leisure times” and “getting to know the child or young person’s digital world”, respecting the minor’s privacy but bearing in mind the pages and people they follow on social media, as well as the way in which they occupy their time. online.
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