My parents did the no phone until 16 rule, and it was awful. Completely cut me off socially.

Someone1234 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The "socially" part is the problem though. A lot of bullying occurs via those social media platforms that teenagers are using.

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nicoburns 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's true, and it can definitely be a problem. But I wasn't getting invited to in-person events because I wasn't contactable. Kids don't ring doorbells in 2025, they text people if they want to meet up.

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SkyPuncher 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Social media is not the same thing as social communication.

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squigz 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A lot of bullying occurs in any environment teenagers exist en masse.

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Someone1234 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Right; which is why allowing teenagers to be safe at home instead of exposed to it 24/7 is a smart choice.

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squigz 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Allowing these teenagers who are being bullied to explore spaces where they feel safe and comfortable seems like a good idea too though. As someone who was bullied in school, being online did not make that issue any worse, and allowed me to find friends I couldn't otherwise have.

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Someone1234 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Yet in the broader sense online bullying targeting other teenagers is a commonly cited problem, including in incidents of teen suicide. "It didn't make it worse for me" doesn't counteract what we provably know is occurring[0][1][2].

Young Teen suicide (10 to 14) has increased from roughly 1 per 100K in the early 2000s to now nearly 3 per 100K in the last five years. Older teen suicide (15-19) has increased from 6 per 100K to 11 per 100K over the same time period[3].

[0] https://www.jmir.org/2018/4/e129/

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12230417/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32017089/

[3] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db471.htm

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squigz 6 hours ago | parent [-]

1 and 2 do not seem to suggest that cyberbullying is more harmful in this regard than other forms of bullying - and in fact only 3 seems to contrast these concepts at all.

> Sensitivity analyses suggested that cybervictimization only and both cyber- and face-to-face victimization were associated with a higher risk of suicidal ideation/attempt compared to face-to-face victimization only and no victimization; however, analyses were based on small n. In prospective analyses, cybervictimization was not associated with suicidal ideation/attempt 2 years later after accounting for baseline suicidal ideation/attempt and other confounders. In contrast, face-to-face victimization was associated with suicidal ideation/attempt 2 years later in the fully adjusted model, including cybervictimization.

In fact, reading 3, it looks like the highest prevalence of cyberbullying capped out at a whopping.... 16% of 15 year olds, with a sharp drop down to 7% just 2 years later.

I have to say, there's lots of things to worry about with kids going online. I just don't think bullying in particular is one of them.

	▲	stackskipton 29 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		As someone who was not popular and got bullied some in school, I think cyberbullying would have been worse since it comes home with you. I was in school when SMS was finally becoming widespread and something of the bullying happened through it, it sucked since I'm at home and getting reminded of shit at school. I can't imagine today with 24/7 social media apps on the phone.

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mothballed 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This is going to show how naive I am. Because I am middle aged, do not have a cell phone, and still to this day just show up at people's houses unannounced if I want a social experience.

This still is possible for me, surely it is possible for kids.