Poll: Young Americans say online bullying is a serious problem

Teens and young adults say cyberbullying is a serious problem for people their age, but most don’t think they will be the ones targeted for digital abuse.

That’s according to a new poll from The Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV, which also finds that about half of both young people and their parents view social media as having a mostly negative effect on the younger generation.

Matty Nev Luby, 15, said she’s learned to navigate Instagram and other social media apps by brushing aside anonymous bullies.

“When I see a really mean comment about my appearance or something I did, if someone said that to me online, it means nothing to me, but if I pictured someone I know saying that, I would be really upset,” Luby said.

Roughly threequarters of 15 to 26yearolds say that online bullying and abuse is a serious problem for their peers. Seven percent of young people say they have already been a victim of cyberbullying, with young women (11 percent) more likely to say they were bullied than young men (3 percent).

“People will make fun of their outfits or weight, their choices,” said Luby, who lives in a suburb of Hartford, Conn., and has been dabbling in social media since she was 12.

Her popularity on the lipsyncing app Musical.ly, which merged this summer into the Chinese videosharing app TikTok, helped win her some modeling contracts. Now she’s mostly fo cused on Instagram, where she follows makeup artists and fashion trends. Her mother, Kerrylynn Mahoney, said she is impressed by her daughter’s ability to keep bullies at bay.

“Her responses blow my mind,” Mahoney said. “I’d be ‘fists up’ at her age. She’s like, ‘I’m sorry you feel that way. You should think in a more positive way; we’d have more peace on earth.’ ”

But she’s also vigilant about monitoring her daughter’s accounts, blocking any followers who seem creepy or fake and trying to steer her away from fixating on pages that degrade women.

“I have to constantly keep her grounded,” Mahoney said. “I’m thankful she’s aware that this is not real. It’s our jobs as parents to reel them back in.”

The poll shows majorities of both young people and their parents think parents have a responsibility to help prevent online harassment.

The longdocumented problem with online bullying is that it is relentless. It doesn’t let up when kids get home from school, safely in their homes, or even when they move away from their tormentors. Still, like Luby, many young people tend to be more resilient to trolling from strangers online.

“If they don’t know who it is, it doesn’t seem to bother them as much,” said Justin Patchin, a criminal justice professor at the University of WisconsinEau Claire and codirector of the Cyberbullying Research Center. “What concerns them is when it’s some kid at school.”

Patchin said that among adults, the people perpetuating harassment tend to be strangers, not people they know.