My brother Michael was just 11 years old when he started his own YouTube channel. Like many children growing up with social media at their fingertips, Michael was fascinated by the idea of his content being displayed on a public platform that could potentially reach millions of viewers. Videomaking was his all-consuming passion, and there was nothing else that sparked his interest more than the love to entertain others. Michael worked hard at perfecting this craft. He spent numerous hours a day filming and uploading content, building his channel, and gaining more subscribers. He thrived in this virtual world. A place where he could truly express himself and his creativity. He never foresaw the dangers that lurked behind the screen.
In July of 2019, Michael’s YouTube channel was hacked. His beloved videos were deleted, and his platform was plagued with a seemingly invisible virus. This was no virus; this was a person. But how can you confront a bully whose identity is masked by a mere online username? A faceless virtual attacker—a cyberbully.
“I felt completely powerless,” said Michael. “I didn’t know what to do or how to get help. It was a nightmare.”
Cyberbullying is defined as the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. This can involve spreading rumors, sending hurtful messages, sharing embarrassing photos, or creating fake profiles to impersonate someone. Its pervasiveness makes it incredibly difficult for victims to escape.
According to a study from the Cyberbullying Research Center, more than 1 in 4 middle and high school students have been cyberbullied in the past 30 days, and with the rise of social media platforms taking over youth, the issue seems to be increasing at a rapid rate. The study shows that the percentage of students who reported being victims of cyberbullying in their lifetime more than doubled between 2010 and 2021.
“It’s really because you’re behind a screen,” says Keshawa Fernando, Cybersecurity Project Manager at Sacred Heart University. “Being behind a computer, you feel like you can do whatever you want. You can say whatever you want. You have no repercussions. No one’s going to fight back.”
In Michael’s case, he was being bullied by a hacker—someone trying to steal his personal information in order to take over his account. The hacker posed as one of his loyal subscribers.
But Michael is not the only victim. A Deloitte survey revealed that Gen Z individuals are three times more likely to fall victim to online scams compared to Boomers and twice as likely to have their social media accounts compromised. These scams include phishing, identity theft, romance scams, and cyberbullying.
“A hack, or, what we call compromises, is an unauthorized access to a set of data or set of controls by a threat actor. A threat actor is what we commonly call a hacker,” said Fernando. “These folks can be motivated by plenty of things. They could be somebody looking to get your money, get financial data, somebody looking to get your identification so they can pretend to be you, so they can get other identification data.”
The most prevalent form of hacking is phishing, a type of online fraud in which individuals are tricked into handing over credentials. Phishing attacks can take various forms, such as emails, text messages, phone calls, or websites.
“The hack took a toll on my mental health, and I debated quitting YouTube altogether,” said Michael.
According to a BMC Psychiatry study, adolescents who experience cyberbullying victimization are 2.07 times more likely to have depressive symptoms compared to those who do not. Similarly, adolescents who experienced cyberbullying victimization were 2.5 times more likely to have suicidal ideation than their peers.
According to Fernando, cybersecurity awareness education is a crucial starting point in teaching young adults how to protect themselves. He advocates for more government legislation regarding the Internet and social media.
“One of the things I would just love to see, especially for K through 12, is really just having that legal framework that supports these things. It should be a requirement from grade school to high school that you are required to take a cybersecurity course at some point, just so you can learn these things,” said Fernando.
U.S. lawmakers are working to regulate teen social media use, aiming to balance the protection of child mental health with the preservation of digital privacy.
Florida recently enacted social media legislation, signing House Bill 3. The law mandates that social media platforms terminate accounts for users under 14 while allowing 14 and 15-year-olds to create accounts only with parental consent. Additionally, it requires social media companies to implement a third-party verification system to identify underage users and take necessary actions accordingly.
Similar laws have been passed in Arkansas, Georgia, and Utah, including one that enables parents to sue social media companies if they show that their child under 18 has been diagnosed with a mental health issue caused by too much use of a social media platform that uses algorithms to curate content.
Fernando also suggests two-factor authentication, a security method that requires two different forms of identification to access resources.
“Now, the reason that’s super important is because a hacker can do certain attacks to try and guess your password, especially on Facebook and other social media platforms. But even if they get the password, that two-factor authentication is going to stop them because the two-factor sends a six-digit random code every time you try to log into your phone,” said Fernando.
The hacker then does not have access to that six-digit code and, therefore, cannot sign into your account.
Another example of cyber hygiene is changing your passwords and keeping them in a secure spot. Fernando suggests not writing down your password on sticky notes or your phone’s notes. Online password managers, including LastPass and Bitwarden, are available.
“Do not let cyberbullying go unnoticed,” said Michael. “We need to advocate for teens going through this and help them learn how to protect themselves.”
