With students spending more time online—both in and out of school— concerns about cyberbullying and other problematic online behavior have grown. On average, kids ages 8 to 12 spend over 5 hours a day on screens (not including schoolwork), while teens ages 13 to 17 spend more than 8 hours daily (Rideout et al., 2022). This screen time includes activities like watching videos, playing online games, using social media, and browsing the internet.
While social media often gets attention for its negative impact, it can be a powerful tool for positive engagement. Many young people use platforms like Instagram and TikTok to express themselves, raise awareness about important issues, and connect over shared interests—whether through dance trends or personal stories about mental health. According to the Pew Research Center, many teens see social media as a way to show their creative side, stay connected with friends, and find support through tough times (Faverio et al., 2025). Interesting research has also found that TikTok is a promising platform to expose young users to evidence-based mental health resources (Motta et al., 2024).
Of course, social media and digital tools are not without their drawbacks, and the reality is that most of us have both positive and negative experiences on social media. Cyberbullying occurs when someone repeatedly and intentionally harms or causes distress to another person through the use of digital devices. There is typically an imbalance of power, making it hard for the victim to defend themself. This kind of behavior can take place on platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok; through text messages; in online games; or on forums. Cyberbullying can show up in many forms, such as:
- Cyberstalking: Sending repeated threatening messages or posts to someone to incite anxiety and fear
- Exclusion: Deliberately leaving someone out of online groups or activities
- Photoshopping/tagging: Altering photos of someone or tagging someone in photos with the intention of being cruel
- Denigration: Posting gossip, rumors, or other untrue statements about someone
- Impersonation: Pretending to be someone else to cause harm
- Trickery/Outing: Tricking someone into sharing sensitive information and then sharing it publicly
- Cyberflashing: Sending someone nonconsensual explicit images or videos
- Happy slapping: Filming someone and posting the video online
- Digital self-harm: Posting or sharing harmful content about oneself
While cyberbullying is different from in-person bullying—since it can happen any time and sometimes anonymously—students involved in "traditional" forms of bullying (i.e., bullying occurring in person, such as at school) are often also involved in cyberbullying. For young people, online and offline interactions are closely linked, making all forms of bullying deeply connected. In fact, cyberbullying is often an extension of what is happening in person–in the classroom, at soccer practice, at parties on the weekends. Over half of adolescents report that they have experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lives (Patchin & Hinduja, 2024).
One major challenge in addressing cyberbullying is that it often goes unreported. Students may choose not to tell an adult for many reasons—one common concern is that telling an adult could result in losing access to their devices or favorite apps. They may also fear retaliation from the bully or others for reporting the incident or worry that involving adults could escalate the situation. Additionally, the brief lifespan of posts on certain platforms can make it difficult to capture and document content as evidence. These factors make it harder to prevent and respond to cyberbullying effectively and highlight the need for educators, families, and other professionals to work together to support young people in promoting healthy digital media use and preventing cyberbullying.
What can schools do?
Though most cyberbullying happens outside of school, many teachers say that its effects often show up in their classrooms (and 46% of high school teachers have said that cyberbullying has occurred in their classrooms; Vega & Robb, 2019). Luckily, there are several effective, school-based strategies that can be utilized to support students and reduce risk for cyberbullying involvement. Research shows that school programs focused on reducing bullying—both online and in person—can significantly lower bullying behaviors (Polanin et al., 2021). However, the most effective programs go beyond just sharing information. They include interactive elements such as:
- Group activities and class discussions
- Role-playing led by teachers
- Training sessions for school staff
- Resources for families
- Customization based on class or school needs
Programs that only include lectures or handouts are less effective than those that get students actively involved (Lan et al., 2022). Teachers are more likely to support and effectively deliver these programs when they understand the content, receive training, and feel the lessons are relevant to their students. In fact, schools where staff were trained and encouraged to tailor programs to their students saw better outcomes (Lan et al., 2022). In our research, teachers indicated that they wanted more clarity on their school's cyberbullying policies and more training in how to respond (Fredrick et al., 2023). School psychologists and counselors can lead or support these efforts by helping with training, guiding implementation, and ensuring programs fit the school's needs.
Building a positive school climate and teaching social-emotional learning (SEL) skills can also reduce cyberbullying. SEL helps students build empathy, make responsible decisions, and manage their emotions—all of which contribute to better peer relationships and fewer bullying incidents both in person and online. Digital citizenship—teaching students how to use technology responsibly and respectfully—goes hand-in-hand with SEL. When taught together, these skills can help students navigate online spaces more thoughtfully. Students with stronger digital citizenship skills are less likely to take part in online harassment and are more likely to behave kindly online (Jones & Mitchell, 2016). Teachers overwhelmingly support teaching these skills: 91% say it helps promote safe online behavior (Vega & Robb, 2019). The Cybersmile Foundation's free lesson plans and interactive modules can be utilized in schools to teach topics such as kindness and empathy, digital self-care, online safety, and becoming an upstander. Common Sense Education also provides free K–12 digital citizenship lessons and tools that align with SEL goals and help students build healthy digital habits.
Families play a big role in supporting safe digital behavior. Regular communication between families and schools, such as offering updates on social media trends, digital safety tips, and guidance on youth online behavior, is most effective. Maintaining regular communication may include:
- Sharing resources with families via email, handouts, or school social media
- Offering workshops or information sessions for families at convenient times, such as during lunch hours, evenings, virtually or through recorded options, or aligning them with existing school events like open houses or meet-the-teacher nights
- Partnering with organizations like The Cybersmile Foundation and the University at Buffalo's Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention for parent-friendly guides and presentations. Children and Screens also provides parenting tip sheets on a variety of issues related to digital media.
Schools may wish to invite parents and local community members to join school committees focused on bullying prevention. Keeping families informed and involved helps strengthen the school's efforts and creates a team approach to addressing cyberbullying. Our recently published book, Cyberbullying: Helping Children Navigate Digital Technology and Social Media, provides more information about school-family collaboration for students involved in cyberbullying (Fredrick et al., 2025).
Perhaps most importantly, it is essential to center student voices in discussions about cyberbullying. We should actively seek to understand students' lived experiences on social media—both the challenges they face and the aspects they find enjoyable. Incorporating students' perspectives into school-based cyberbullying prevention efforts is critical to ensuring these initiatives are relevant and effective. This can be achieved through methods such as student surveys, focus groups, or engagement with student-led organizations like student council. Additionally, involving student representatives on school committees focused on bullying, cyberbullying, or school climate is a valuable way to ensure their voices are meaningfully included in decision-making.
Cyberbullying and bullying are complex challenges that require the shared efforts of families, educators, professionals, and students to effectively prevent them. While supporting young people in navigating their digital lives can feel overwhelming, numerous programs and organizations—such as The Cybersmile Foundation—are available to help schools promote safe, responsible digital media use and prevent cyberbullying.
References
Fredrick, S. S., Coyle, S., & King, J. A. (2023). Middle and high school teachers' perceptions of cyberbullying prevention and digital citizenship. Psychology in the Schools, 60(6), 1958-1978. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22844
Fredrick, S., Nickerson, A., Demaray, M., & Yang, C. (2025). Cyberbullying: Helping Children Navigate Digital Technology and Social Media. John Wiley & Sons.
Jones, L. M., & Mitchell, K. J. (2016). Defining and measuring youth digital citizenship. New Media & Society, 18(9), 2063-2079. http://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815577797
Lan, M., Law, N., & Pan, Q. (2022). Effectiveness of anti-cyberbullying educational programs: A socio-ecologically grounded systematic review and meta-analysis. Computers in Human Behavior, 130, 107200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107200
Motta, M., Liu, Y., & Yarnell, A. (2024). "Influencing the influencers:" A field experimental approach to promoting effective mental health communication on TikTok. Scientific Reports, 14, 5864. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-56578-1
Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2024). 2023 Cyberbullying Data. Cyberbullying Research Center. https://cyberbullying.org/2023-cyberbullying-data
Polanin, J. R., Espelage, D. L., Grotpeter, J. K., Ingram, K., Michaelson, L., Spinney, E., & Robinson, L. (2021). A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions to decrease cyberbullying perpetration and victimization. Prevention Science, 23, 439-454. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01259-y
Rideout, V., Peebles, A., Mann, S., & Robb, M. B. (2022). Common Sense census: Media use by tweens and teens, 2021. Common Sense Media
Vega, V., & Robb, M. B. (2019). The Common Sense census: Inside the 21st-century classroom. Common Sense Media.
