The Alliance against Cyberbullying has analysed the phenomenon of cyberbullying for the fourth time in cooperation with the Techniker Krankenkasse 2022. To this end, 355 teachers, 1,053 parents and 3,011 pupils were surveyed. The focus of this year’s survey was on the question of how cyberbullying has developed in the course of the pandemic-related changes to everyday school life.
Cyberbullying is still widespread. 16.7% of pupils aged between eight and 21 stated that they had already been the victim of cyberbullying. Compared to the previous survey in 2020 (17.3%), this is a slight decrease. However, in the first survey in 2017, only 12.7% of pupils were affected by cyberbullying.
In the perception of 65% of pupils, cyberbullying has actually increased since the coronavirus pandemic. This is due in particular to a drastic decline in prevention measures at schools during the pandemic. Teachers reported an average decrease of 40% in training courses on dealing with cyberbullying and “anti-violence training”.
Cyberbullying takes many forms. The most common are insults (78%), false allegations and slander (59%) and targeted exclusion (59%). However, threats and blackmail (40%) and the publication of compromising images (34%) are also common. The impact on the victims’ psyche is sometimes severe. 58% feel personally hurt, 34% are frightened. 29% of those affected report long-term psychological stress and 24% have even expressed suicidal thoughts.
