Nearly half of children being cyberbullied online: Report

Some 44 percent of Turkish children aged 9 to 14 face cyberbullying on the internet, a new survey conducted by the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) showed.

"An important finding of the report is that while 59.6 percent of students connect to the internet on their own, the rate of facing cyberbullying online is as high as 44.2 percent," said Ebubekir Şahin, head of the watchdog.

One in every four students do not inform anyone of the cyberbullying incidences, he added.

Cyberbullying is generally defined as the process of using the internet, mobile phones or other devices to send or post text or images with violent or sexual content intended to hurt or embarrass another person.

At least half of the interviewed 3,029 secondary school students use the internet every day, according to the RTÜK report on New Media Usage Habits of Children and Cyberbullying.

The rate of children using internet regularly increased to 97 percent in 2018, from 90.4 percent in 2015.

Answering a question on the place of internet in daily life, some 84 percent of the children said that it is "very important."

For the devices they use, 66 percent of them said that their mobile phone is vital, whereas 44 percent pointed to computers, 30 percent to tablets and 3 percent to television.

Students spend 86 minutes using mobile phone, 89 minutes watching TV, 133 minutes surfing on the internet and 76 minutes playing digital games in a day, whereas the average time of studying is about 90 minutes, said the report.

Turkey, Cyber bullying,