India Ranks Third in Cyber Bullying

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The report puts India third on the list behind China (70 percent) and Singapore (58 percent), stressing on the need to increase education about online behavior in India amongst all stakeholders.

The survey was conducted in 25 countries between January 11 and February 19, among more than 7,600 children of ages 8 to 17, and focused on how kids are treating one another online and whether parents are addressing online behaviors. The children were asked whether somebody was unfriendly or mean towards them on the Internet or if other children had made fun or teased them.

Globally, the survey also revealed that children want to talk to parents about the issue, but only 29 percent of kids say their parents have talked to them about protecting themselves online. Further, according to the results, there is not one common step taken by parents to address the problem, with only 17 percent having communicated a clear set of rules for negative online behaviors.Jacqueline Beauchere, Director of Trustworthy Computing for Microsoft said “Protecting children from online bullying is a shared responsibility. Everyone plays a role: parents, educators, school counsellors, coaches, online safety advocates, industry, law enforcement, government and children themselves,” reported Business Line.

The report also revealed that 54 percent of kids worldwide say they worry about being bullied online, and nearly 1 in 4 say they have experienced online bullying. In addition, 24 percent admitted to having bullied someone else online.

Online bullying is still less frequent in comparison with off-line bullying in almost all the countries included in the report. Worldwide, 72 percent of kids surveyed said they have been bullied off-line, compared with 37 percent who say they have been bullied online.

In United States online bullying was noted to be relatively low, with just 29 percent of kids saying they have been bullied online. But 83 percent said they have been bullied off-line.