46% of children in Belfast experienced others being rude or swearing at them online

Belfast has the worst online bullying problem of any city in the UK, according to a new survey from ExpressVPN.

The consumer privacy and security company found that 37% of children from the local area said they had been bullied online. This surpasses the worst city in the US, Columbus, where 30% of children reported having been bullied.

With children's internet usage at an all-time high, ExpressVPN’s study polled 2,000 children aged four to 13 in the US and UK who have access to the internet. It studied over 2,000 adults that were parents, or guardians, to understand the extent of a child’s risk when using online services.

The survey found that 46% of children in Belfast experienced others being rude, or swearing at them online, and 26% had been exposed to scary videos.

The research uncovered that most parents in Belfast are concerned about their children’s online safety, with 79% of adult respondents citing fears about grooming. This was followed by concerns about bullying (69%), and cyberstalking (47%).

Despite 92% of UK parents admitting that they monitor their children's activity online regularly, when asked about what they experience on the internet, 30% of UK child respondents said they encountered someone being rude or swearing online, while 27% reported seeing scary videos and 21% seeing scary images.

Confirming parents’ fears, 17% of children admitted to being bullied online, but more worryingly, 13% of British children have had a stranger ask which school they go to, and 9% have been asked for their home address before.

The survey also found that while only about a quarter of parents say that they allow their four-to-13-year-olds to have a social media account, over half of their children admitted to using social media anyway.

“It's undeniably alarming how many children are experiencing bullying, inappropriate content, and harassment online. Parents often do everything they can to protect their children from this. Still, it’s not as simple as putting parental controls on their devices, and banning technology altogether isn’t a reasonable option,” explained Lauren Hendry Parsons, privacy advocate at ExpressVPN.

“Children today are digital natives. They are growing up around technology and using it well as a critical tool for life and learning in today’s society. As a result, kids can be more tech-savvy than their parents, evading parental controls on their devices or finding other ways to access digital services their friends are also using.

“For parents in 2023, the number one tool in your protection arsenal is education, together with a strong foundation of trust. It’s education on how they can be a responsible digital citizen, why it’s important to be open and honest about what they see or experience online, and how they can use the internet safely.

“But this isn’t always an easy conversation to have, especially in teenage years, so recruit the power of a cool aunt or uncle to help have these conversations, too. If your child can be empowered with age-appropriate knowledge about digital risks from multiple sources, they will become comfortable with having open conversations about it and better equipped to deal with situations that arise”.

The survey was carried out by Censuswide across the UK and the US in December 2022, with a total of 4000 respondents. In each country, 1000 parents of children aged four-13, and 1000 children between the ages of four-13 were surveyed.