What is cyberbullying and why you need to know about it

Cyberbullying is the use of technology to threaten, harass, embarrass or target another person, through messages, social media, gaming platforms or forums. Indian children face the highest online risk exposure in the world, with 22% experiencing cyberbullying. Protection starts with education, monitoring, open communication and knowing when to block and report.

Indian kids are among the most cyberbullied in the world, and many parents would not know if it were happening to their own child. That combination is what makes this worth twenty minutes of your attention.

Children were already deep in the digital world before the pandemic; since online classes, exams and assignments arrived, the exposure has multiplied, along with video games, YouTube and everything else the internet offers. More access means more doors open to threats, and children rarely know how to protect themselves. Research with parents of 10-to-18-year-olds found 21% of children have been cyberbullied, and a McAfee study found Indian children have the highest online risk exposure and are among the youngest to reach “mobile maturity.”

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is using technology to threaten, harass, tease, embarrass or target another person. It travels through texts, apps, forums, any device with an internet connection. It looks like:

• Spreading rumours or posting embarrassing or obscene photos and videos of someone on social media
• Sending hurtful, abusive or threatening messages, images or videos
• Impersonating someone through fake accounts and sending mean messages in their name
• Demeaning someone with personal attacks online

And it happens wherever children gather digitally: social media, online gaming communities, messaging apps, direct messages and chats, forums and message boards, and email.

Why India in particular?

McAfee’s “Life Behind the Screens” report found smartphone use among Indian 10-to-14-year-olds is 83%, well above the 76% international average, while parental concern runs lower than the global norm. The result is a security gap: 22% of Indian children have experienced cyberbullying against a global average of 17%, yet Indian parents’ concern about it (47%) trails the global average (57%). The exposure is highest exactly where the watchfulness is lowest.

How bad does it get?

The reasons mirror offline bullying: appearance, social background, skin colour, personal disputes, the power game. The numbers are hard to sit with. Mean comments are the most common form (around 22.5% of cases); 35% of bullies have shared screenshots of someone’s post or photo to mock them; 61% of bullied teens say it was about their appearance; seven in ten young people experience cyberbullying before 18; 42% of LGBT youth have experienced it. Victims of cyberbullying are 1.9 times more likely to attempt suicide, and 68% experience mental health problems.

There is one genuinely hopeful figure: globally, 73% of children turn to their parents first for help with online safety, ahead of every other resource. You are the front line, whether or not you feel prepared for it. Yet while 56% of parents protect their own phone with a password, only 42% do the same for their child’s.

How can you protect your child from cyberbullying?

1. Educate them about cyberbullying before they meet it, so they recognise it when they see it.
2. Monitor their internet usage, with their knowledge rather than as surveillance.
3. Ask them to tell you the moment something online feels like bullying.
4. Block the bully on every platform involved.
5. Communicate and support; how you respond to the telling decides whether they tell you next time.
6. Keep a check on the sites they access.
7. Inform the school if the bully is a schoolmate.
8. Be part of their online world: know the games, the apps, the group chats.
9. Report to the relevant authorities, so the same bully cannot simply move to the next child.
10. Know the anti-bullying laws and guidelines, including UGC rules against ragging and bullying; your school and local authorities can point you to them.

The best filter your child will ever have is the certainty that they can hand you their phone, show you the worst message on it, and be met with help instead of blame.

Do not be a bystander when another child is the target either; the habits that protect your child protect all of them, and teaching children to stand up to bullying works online just as it does in the playground.

Dr. V.S. Gayathri is a Certified Dyslexia Therapist, an Orton-Gillingham trained literacy specialist, and the founder of Flourishing Kids. She has delivered over 4,000 hours of one-to-one reading and spelling intervention, helping children across multiple countries build stronger literacy skills. If online cruelty is denting your child’s confidence or learning, get in touch for a free 15-minute conversation.