Kaspersky reveals 48% of Nigerian parents name cyberbullying as main concern

Cyberbullying is on the rise in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of over 200 million people and more than 140 million connected devices, according to findings by Kaspersky.

According to the “Responsible Digital Parenting” survey¹, 48% of Nigerian parents claim that cyberbullying is a top concern when it comes to worries about their children. It is no surprise as this Internet phenomenon has already caused such problems as a decrease in social activity or social isolation (49%), decreased self-esteem (47%), a negative impact on a child’s performance at school (36%), depression (34%), ongoing stress (19%) or insomnia (16%).

Additionally, 24% of children in Nigeria have actually come across cyberbullying, be that being bullies themselves, seeing cases among their friends or being bullied. This impressive number should make parents think about the ways to prevent the proliferation of this phenomenon, however, not all parents are aware of this. 31% of them have not discussed the ethics of the Internet with their child, while the same 31% of them have not discussed safety rules on the Net.

“There has always existed a certain threat landscape for parents, however, now it includes digital ones which can often be invisible as not every child tells their family about ongoing cyberbullying, for instance. According to our survey, 11% think something threatens their child on the Internet, 11% find it hard to answer thus not communicating enough on the topic. These are quite disturbing statistics,” commented Andrey Sidenko, Head of Child Safety at Kaspersky Network.

In this context, it is crucial to take special measures in order to safeguard your child’s Internet presence. Kaspersky strongly recommends to:

1. Be more involved in your child’s online life. Befriend them on social media platforms, communicate to learn more about modern trends and tendencies in social media. Chat with your child regularly to discuss their online experiences. Create a communication strategy in which they understand they can reach out whenever they have any worries;
2. Notice the changes in your child’s behaviour, observe if they become more isolated or do not perform at school. In order to monitor this keep connecting with the school where they study;
3. Install a reliable security solution such as Kaspersky Safe Kids to look after your child’s digital life successfully and in a more productive way.

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¹The “Responsible Digital Parenting” survey was implemented in conjunction with Toluna research agency in the end of 2019 – beginning of 2020.