Bullying and cyberbullying are an increasing phenomena, with serious consequences for children's emotional health and educational development.
To present this issue with real data, the pontifical foundation, “Scholas Occurrentes”, released the first Global Report on Cyberbullying.
For example, the study cites a Microsoft report that interviewed adults and adolescents in 14 countries. Sixty-five percent of them were victims of at least one act of cyberbullying.
Other pieces of data have raised eyebrows for researchers. According to the Scholas report, 83 percent of young people have witnessed an act of cyberbullying.
Pope Francis sponsored the study with a message declaring war on cyberbullying.
POPE FRANCIS
“The emptiness of the aggressor's own identity is apparent. There is a need for them to attack in order to feel like a person.”
According to Scholas, boys are more likely than girls to be bullied on the Internet. For girls, the effects of bullying are stronger, such as a loss of confidence, stress, and difficulty sleeping.
Arturo was the victim of serious assault by a gang of teenagers he did not know at all.
Now that he has recovered, he told his story, and said that insults on the internet may be even worse.
ARTURO
“It can be said that cyberbullying is more despicable and may be even worse than bullying itself. With bullying, you have your persecutors right in front of you. With cyberbullying, not only are they unseen, you also have to confront an invisible audience.”
Arturo's mother has created a foundation against bullying. She states that families play a fundamental part in fighting it.
MARIA LUISA IAVARONE
Arturo's mother
“Many times I hear some mothers say: 'I can't see my son's phone because I don't have the password. The problem is not in having the phone's password, the problem is in not having his trust.”
For months now, the Scholas Papal Foundation has been proposing new steps to combat the issue of bullying.
JOSÉ MARÍA DEL CORRAL
President of Scholas Occurentes
“Our idea is gathering young people from all over the world and say to them: You are sometimes the victims - we always talk about the victims – you are also the bully, but you are also the public. Well, we are not going to study to see what we do with you, but you are the ones who are going to implement a different policy, and we the adults are going to discover our responsibility.”
For 24 hours, Scholas brought together young people and experts from around the world in a large virtual gathering to showcase useful initiatives against bullying and how to detect it.
