Internet Matters (ABA Core Members) have recently released two pieces of work of value to the Anti-Bullying sector. This includes the A Whole New World? Toward a Child-Friendly Metaverse report and insights from their November 2022 tracker survey.
The findings relevant to the Anti-Bullying sector are the following:
A Whole New World? Toward a Child-Friendly Metaverse
- Harassment/cyberbullying* was the third most common concern that parents (all) [1] had about children being engaged in the metaverse [2], virtual reality or augmented reality – with 40% selecting this option.
- Harassment/cyberbullying was the most common concern that parents of vulnerable children had about children being engaged in the metaverse, virtual reality or augmented reality – with 41% selecting this option. This is a slight increase from the statistics for parents (all) – suggesting cyberbullying to be a greater concern specifically for parents of vulnerable children.
- Cyberbullying or abuse is also ranked as the third most common concern for children (all) [3] when they think about being in the metaverse, virtual reality or augmented reality – with 23% selecting this option.
- Cyberbullying or abuse was ranked as the joint-second most common concern for vulnerable children [4] when they think about being in the metaverse, virtual reality or augmented reality – with 29% selecting this option. This is a 6% increase from the 23% for children (all), suggesting cyberbullying to be a much bigger concern for vulnerable children.
- Overall, the data suggests that children are less likely to be concerned about cyberbullying than their parents, with 40% of parent (all) & 23% of children (all) selecting the cyberbullying as a concern. However, they both ranked cyberbullying third on their list of concerns, suggesting that they share their most common concerns. The trend is similar for parents of vulnerable children (41%) and vulnerable children (29%).
As such, Internet Matters makes the important point that parents, who are more aware of the risks, have a crucial role to play in helping children to understand and manage the risks. They also raise that it cannot be left up to families alone. Technology companies, Government and regulators need to work now to ensure that the metaverse is designed from the outset with children’s needs in mind.
Internet Matters’ November 2022 tracker survey
Internet Matters conducts its tracker survey twice a year with a representative sample of 1,000 UK children aged 9-16 and 2,000 parents. Below are the most recent findings related to bullying:
- 15% of children said that they’ve experienced online bullying or abuse from people they know, whilst 13% reported experiencing online bullying or abuse from people they don’t know. This shows that bullying is more likely to happen online from people they already know.
- Out of all the issues experienced online, bullying, both from people they know or do not know, is recorded as having the highest effect on the children studied. 64% of those who experienced bullying from people they know reported it to have had a high effect on them – whilst the number was 55% for those who reported being bullied by people who they don’t know.
[1] – “Parents (all)” refers to all the data collected from the nationally representative survey of 2,000 parents of children aged 4-16 in the UK.
[2] – The report states: “There is no single, unanimously accepted definition of what is meant by the metaverse. However, descriptions of it tend to focus on one (or more) of three things: 1) What the metaverse will feel like 2) What people will do in the metaverse 3) The technology used to access the metaverse." These points are discussed in further detail in the report pg.7-8
[3] - “Children (all)” refers to all the data collected from the nationally representative survey of 1,007 children aged 9-16 in the UK.
[4] – “Vulnerable children” in the report “includes children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), children with mental health problems and children in care.”
*Please note, neither document includes a definition of online bullying/cyberbullying.