Child and adolescent family therapist Darby Fox explains how teens view social media. New research indicates that while some find platforms like Snapchat beneficial for friendships, most encounter online harassment or bullying on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms. Fox advises parents to implement strict monitoring and maintain open dialogue to protect their children's mental well-being.
"It was only a joke." Those five words can stop an important conversation before it begins. Maybe your child or grandchild posted a rude comment in a group chat. Another kid added an embarrassing picture. Soon, classmates were sharing it and piling on with laughing reactions.
To the children taking part, it may feel like ordinary online drama. To the child being targeted, every notification can feel like another person joining the attack. The warning signs of cyberbullying are not always obvious. Some children hide what they are experiencing. Others take part without realizing their behavior has crossed a line.
That is why cybersecurity education needs to go beyond strong passwords, antivirus software and password managers. Those protections remain essential. However, children also need guidance about empathy, privacy and the consequences of what they post. Parents play a central role. Grandparents can also become trusted listeners, especially when a child feels nervous about telling Mom or Dad. Share this article with the adults in your family. Then use it to start a conversation before a child needs help.
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Cyberbullying can spread through group chats, social media and gaming platforms, leaving children vulnerable to rumors, humiliating images and online harassment. (iStock)
Cyberbullying rarely arrives with a warning label. It may appear as a cruel joke, an altered photo or a rumor inside a private chat. Someone might create a fake account to embarrass a classmate. A group may deliberately exclude one child and then share screenshots of the conversation.
The CDC defines bullying as unwanted aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior repeats or has a strong chance of being repeated. Cyberbullying occurs when children use texting, social media or other technology to carry out that behavior. That definition can become confusing online.
One person may post something only once. However, dozens of other people can save and share it. The child who created the post may call it a single joke, while the person being targeted watches it circulate for days. Children may also believe they are only watching. Yet forwarding a humiliating image or adding a laughing reaction can make the attack feel much larger. Adults need to help children connect an online action with the real person receiving it.
The latest available research shows that online harassment remains part of daily life for many young people. The CDC reports that more than one in six U.S. high school students experienced electronic bullying during the previous year. That includes bullying through texting and social media. Female students reported it more often than male students.
A World Health Organization study involving 44 countries and regions found that 15% of adolescents had experienced cyberbullying. Meanwhile, 12% admitted cyberbullying someone else. Both figures had increased compared with the organization's earlier research. A 2026 Pew Research Center study offers a closer look at the social platforms teenagers use. Roughly three-quarters of teen TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat users said harassment and bullying were problems on those platforms for people their age.
Nearly three in 10 teen Snapchat users said they had personally experienced at least one form of harassment covered by the survey. Those behaviors included offensive name-calling, rumor spreading or physical threats. The figure was about one in five among teen Instagram and TikTok users. These numbers do not mean every disagreement counts as bullying. Still, families should not wait for an online situation to become severe before discussing it.
