Cyber Bullying Highest on Children in Bangalore

Daijiworld Media Network
(With inputs from Bangalore Mirror)

Bangalore, Jun 23 : Alarming results of a survey conducted on children aged 9 to 17 who have access to the internet revealed that the city topped in the number of kids being bullied online.

The survey was conducted by Synovate, a market research company in association with a security technology company across 10 cities namely New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Cochin. Around 500 children and 496 parents were quizzed.

The survey results were disclosed at a press conference to highlight online safety for parents and their children.

All children who took part in the survey in Bangalore admit that they have been victims of cyber bullying. Disclosure of information has led to strangers befriending them and luring them to meet up or even threatening to share their personal detals with others. Sharing of information in the virtual world has exposed the children to threats online.

According to the survey, 62% of the kids admitted to having shared personal information online out of which 58% shared their home address, 57% shared their school details, 40% shared personal photographs and 30% shared videos.

Only 57% of the parents who took part in the survey were aware of cyber hacking as a threat where as 20% had never heard of such terminologies.

Children within the age bracket of 9 to 12 spend more time with friends online than with friends in person.

Anindita Mishra, a parent and a tech savvy blogger classified parents into three categories namely those who are are not aware of online threats, who are partially aware and fully aware of it. There is also a gap between what parents believe that their kids know and what the kids actually know.

Bangalore beats all cities in providing the highest percentage of internet access from cyber cafes at 58 %. It stands second with kids exposed to adult content on the net after Mumbai.