CHILDREN harassed online suffer from serious health and socialization problems, like dejection, eating disorder and terror dreams, according to Kaspersky Lab ZAO, citing a study.
The Russian cyber-security firm said on August 25 a study it conducted iconKids & Youth revealed parents were clueless that the impact of cyber bullying is more serious than they assume.
Children age 8 to 16 are more on guard against this online threat than their parents, Kaspersky Lab said. Some 16 percent of respondents were more affected when harassed online than when harassed offline.
Some 13 percent of children and 21 percent of parents, however, take cyber bullying harmless, according to Kaspersky.
“Parents should not downplay the dangers of cyber bullying,” Kaspersky Lab said. “Despite the fact that the study found only 4 percent of children admitted to being bullied online, in seven out of 10 cases the consequences were traumatic.”
The parents of the 37 percent of the victims confided their children demonstrated lower self-esteem, Kaspersky Lab said. Some 30 of the parents noticed their kids showed less interest in their studies, while 28 percent observed depression.
According to Kaspersky Lab, “25 percent of parents stated that cyber bullying had disrupted their child’s sleep patterns and caused nightmares (21 percent). Another 26 percent of parents noticed that their child had started avoiding contact with children, and 20 percent discovered their child had anorexia.”
The study also revealed that 20 percent of children saw their peers being harassed online, “and in 7-percent cases even participated in it.”
The study found out that children usually hide their experience online from their parents.
“In an effort to protect our children from danger, we mustn’t forget that they not only live in the real world, but also in the virtual world, which is just as real to them,” Andrei Mochola, Kaspersky Lab consumer business head, was quoted in a statement as saying.
Talking to children, the use of parental control software that alerts parents when a threat is detected can protect them from cyber bullying, Mochola said.