every tenth child in Russia has experienced online bullying at least once

Half of Russian children have accounts on social networks, and every tenth child has experienced bullying on the Internet at least once, a survey by VK Dobro and Children of Mail.ru showed. At the same time, 56% of children tell their parents about cyberbullying. Experts interviewed by Kommersant argue that there could be even more aggression – just not everyone is able to recognize it.

11% of Russian children have experienced bullying on the Internet at least once. Another 22% have experienced this phenomenon several times. This follows from the results of a survey by VK Dobro (formerly Dobro Mail.ru, a service that helps users participate in charitable projects throughout Russia) among 2382 Russian parents, users of the Mail.ru Children project (VK project). Children who were victims of online bullying in most cases spoke about it themselves – 56% of parents answered this way. A quarter of adults are interested in what kind of reaction their child receives in social networks. Another 19% independently monitor comments under posts.

Aleksandra Babkina, director of VK social projects and author of the Anti-Cyberbullying Day project, notes that in 2019, 76% of children did not tell adults about online bullying. The fact that more than half of the children are already discussing cyberbullying with their parents, according to her, speaks of positive changes in society: it has become more serious about the problem, and parents are more attentive to their children.

Among the manifestations of online aggression, the authors distinguish, for example, one-time aggressive comments, condemnation of actions and appearance (shaming), sarcastic statements, ridicule, and aggressive harassment on the Internet.

After a child experienced cyberbullying because of their creativity (creative photos and videos, illustrations, texts and music), 43% of adults had a conversation with them about not responding to such comments. Another 38% supported the child and discussed together how best to proceed. 13% of parents said that after discussing the situation with the elders, the child responded to the aggressor.

The founder of the Travli.net project, Olga Zhuravskaya, believes that the data obtained in the study are even underestimated: according to project experts, every third child faces bullying on the Internet. She explains that both parents and children do not fully understand what bullying is, which is often not taken into account in surveys. According to her forecasts, cyberbullying will not decrease, as the “socialization of children online” is still at a low level. Ms. Zhuravskaya emphasizes that once bullying has already begun, it is “very difficult to stop,” so prevention is the best remedy. “In the project, we teach children what cyberbullying consists of, what is better not to do. We say, for example: “You are going to send a photo to your friend. Imagine for a second that the whole class sees this photo. If you don’t want them to see, then don’t send the photo. This is the only protection.”

In general, as the VK study showed, half of Russian children (55%) have accounts in social networks. However, only 70% of the parents surveyed are subscribed to their child’s page. 40% answered that their children do not post anything on social networks. If a child posts something, it is most often personal photos and videos (31%) or creative content (19%).

Parents whose children are creative on social media said they ask adults for their opinion on their content (45%). The majority (55%) help them psychologically. One in four (25%) is involved in content creation: taking pictures, making videos, giving advice. 18% help financially.

The majority of adults surveyed (57%) have a positive attitude towards the creativity of their children in social networks. Another third (33%) expressed a neutral position. Only 6% of parents do not support children. They explain this by the fact that a child can become a victim of scammers or haters (67%) and that such activities negatively affect children (33%).

Fears that a child’s creativity will cause ridicule and harassment are often demonstrated by parents who have had a similar experience or are wary of the world as a whole, expecting rather negative reactions, says psychologist, co-founder of the online school of psychological professions Psychodemia (part of Ultimate Education) Mary Danina. According to her, such a position inevitably affects the worldview of the child, who may be afraid to express himself in society and react painfully to criticism. “Instead of forbidding a child to create on the Internet, it is important to teach him the rules of online safety, as well as show how to deal with feedback, especially unpleasant. It is important to say, however, that accessing the Internet too early can be harmful for a child, no matter what they are doing there. In order to successfully exist in the virtual space, a child needs a certain maturity and well-formed social skills,” emphasizes Ms. Danina.

The younger the child, the more parental participation is needed in the process of his self-realization on the Internet. For example, an eight-year-old girl can independently shoot a video for TikTok, and her parent can publish and moderate comments, advises Maria Danina. The older the child, the more freedom and autonomy can be given to him, explaining what to look for and what to avoid. “Any kind of bullying is bad, no matter if one child out of five or out of three experiences it. But in an impersonal digital space, this is rather inevitable. And, of course, this has a bad effect on the mental health of the child, especially during sensitive periods, when peer relationships become more significant for him than relationships with parents, ”comments Maria Danina.

According to the founder of the Union of Fathers, Yuri Solenov, in order to shape the culture of a child’s behavior on the Internet, the parent himself must figure out how to use the network, and not rely on parental control applications alone. It should be noted that another VK survey conducted among adult Russians showed that every second (58%) Internet user faced cyberbullying, and every fourth (24%) was subjected to passive aggression. At the same time, bullying has no gender and age – anyone can become a victim.

Natalya Kostarnova