Simon Harris: Cyberbullying report an 'alarming wake-up call for our country' 

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said social media companies need to 'step up' to help protect young people. Picture: Brian Lawless

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris says a report which shows that a quarter of primary school children have experienced cyberbullying is “alarming”.

The latest ‘Trends and Usage Report’ by national charity CyberSafeKids found that 25% of primary school children experienced cyberbullying in the past 12 months. This figure jumps to 40% of secondary schools students.

“I think it is an alarming wake-up call for our country,” Mr Harris said. 

“More and more now we’re seeing activities that used to take place in person taking place online, be that criminality, also crucially be that the issue of bullying.

“Bullying is now often with a young person, with a child, with somebody as young as eight, on an almost ever-present basis.”

The report found that girls are more likely to be victimised online compared to boys, but that boys are less likely to come forward. 

It also found that over a quarter of young children surveyed had experienced something online that had upset or scared them or made them wish they had not seen it.

However, a third of this group did not tell an adult, sibling, or friend about what they saw and instead kept it to themselves.

“I think, as parents, we need to be empowered in terms of the pushback in relation to smart devices,” Mr Harris said.

“Not just smartphones, but also so-called smart gaming devices and others, that expose our young people to a world that sometimes we can be unfamiliar with as parents, that can be very stressful and sometimes frightening to actually be there.”

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Mr Harris said that social media companies need to “step up” to help protect young people.

He pointed to the fact that a new online safety commissioner is being appointed and that regulations are now in place but said social media companies need to act on this.

Mr Harris said that while sign-ups for certain platforms were age-gated, there was not enough enforcement of these age restrictions.

“I think it’s very interesting that a number of these platforms set minimum ages, in which you’re not meant to be on the platform if you’re under X age. Is that enforced? Clearly not.

“Does everybody know of children who are a much younger age on those platforms? Yes they do.”

He said collaboration with the tech firms was needed, but that action should be taken if needed.

“So yes, collaborate with the industry, but also where necessary take action because this is a real ticking time bomb for the mental health and wellbeing of our young people.”

College bullying

Meanwhile, a separate report, published on Tuesday, shows that just under one-fifth of students in colleges and universities across the country have experienced bullying either online or in-person in the last academic year.

A survey carried out by DCU’s Anti-Bullying Centre also found that the most common negative experience for young people was being “gossiped about”, both in-person and on social media.

It also found that LGBT+ people, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities were the most likely to experience bullying or cyberbullying at third-level.

Mr Harris said there were comparisons between the two reports, as it shows that more and more bullying was now moving online rather than being in-person.

The report itself was compiled following an anonymous online survey of 2,573 students at a third-level institution.