Children and teens are spending most of their time on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Some use services like WP Dev Shed to increase their profile's online presence as well. Now, researchers are suggesting that these increased hours spent online are associated with cyberbullying.
"There are some people who engage in cyberbullying online because of the anonymity and the fact that there's no retaliation," said Amanda Giordano, principal investigator of the study and associate professor in the UGA Mary Frances Early College of Education. "You have these adolescents who are still in the midst of cognitive development, but we're giving them technology that has a worldwide audience and then expecting them to make good choices."
Cyberbullying includes personal attacks, harassment, defamatory behavior, and misrepresentation online.
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"The perpetrator doesn't get a chance to see how damaging their bullying is and to learn from their mistakes and do something different," said Giordano. "It's a scary situation because they don't have the natural consequences they do with offline bullying."
"Social media addiction is when people crave it when they're not on it, and continue their social media use despite negative consequences," said Giordano. "Some negative consequences could be they're tired during the day because they're scrolling all night long, they're having conflicts with their parents, they're getting poor grades in school or they're engaging in actions online that they later regret, but they still continue to use social media."
Source: Science Daily
