Cyberbullying during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The Internet and advanced technology are increasingly dominating our lives. The number of researches regarding the aggressive behaviour of teenagers on the Internet is rapidly increasing. This study aims at revealing the features of cyberbullying in popular social networks and its negative psychological consequences. This article summarises the results of using Google Trends in the context of ‘bullying’ and ‘cyberbullying’ during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan during the transition to distance learning. A total number of 32 adolescents participated in an online survey about cyberbullying. According to our results, all participants said that this is a terrifying fact to believe that they cannot rely on adults when it comes to cyberbullying unlike traditional bullying, where the aggressor is known to the face and can be avoided, but the pursuer is anonymous in cyberspace. Cyberbullying can be particularly dangerous for children and adolescents who have had traumatic experiences or who have experienced rejection within the family.

Keywords: Internet space, cyberbullying, victimisation, COVID-19, technology.