Teenagers working on a cyber-bullying project have told how ‘nearly everybody they know’ has been subject to online abuse of some description.

A new report reveals that young people are experiencing greater bullying on social media platforms and are encountering more harmful images and content because they are spending increasing amounts of time online on their smartphones and tablets.

One-in-five children in Ireland say they have been bothered by something online in the past year – double the figure reported in a survey in 2011.

The new Net Children Go Mobile report, launched to mark Safer Internet Day finds that Instagram is the most popular media-sharing platform, with some 42pc of 9-16 year olds using it to share their photos.

Brian O’Neill, Director of Research, Enterprise and Innovation Services at Dublin Institute of Technology, who compiled the report along with Thuy Dinh of DIT, said that young people are doing more of everything online.

“Because internet use is now a much more private experience with less direct parental supervision, parents more than ever need to communicate with their children about their online experiences,” he said. Speaking at the launch at Dublin Castle, Damien English, TD urged young people to “think twice” before they acted on an urge to post something online that might be hurtful.

“Just hold back – think of the impact it might have on somebody’s life,” he said.

Teens from the Dublin City Comhairle na nÓg youth council told the Irish Independent that almost every young person they know has been subjected to some form of online bullying.

Irish Independent