Chennai: Away from the gaze of parents and teachers, an increasing number of youngsters is logging on to "dislike, belittle or bully" their peers, suggests a recent survey.
In Chennai, 43 per cent of the children polled indicate they have bullied people over social media, 31 per cent made fun of other people to someone else, 19 per cent tagged mean pictures and 22 per cent called someone fat or ugly.
Around 80 per cent of children in the age group of 8-16 years in the city are active on social networks. And 48 per cent of those polled blocked someone on social media sites. 70 per cent of the most mentioned reasons are because they were posting inappropriate content and 65 percent were incessantly messaging them.
A study conducted by Intel Security also reveals that most teens and tweens also alter their online behaviour in the presence of an adult and harbour the desire to meet a stranger online. In Chennai, the study revealed that 38 per cent of the children would meet or have already met someone in person who they first met online.
Intel Security commissioned MSI International to conduct an online survey among 8,026 children and teens and 9,017 parents worldwide. In India, the survey covered 2,370 participants (1,185 parents 1,185 teens and tweens) in the same age band. The survey was also conducted in US, Canada, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Australia and Singapore.
