Study Finds 40% Of Adults Have Experienced Online Harassment

Whenever photos or videos are posted online, without a doubt it will only be a matter of time being internet users start leaving comments. Sometimes when posted in a private forum with moderators, these comments are pretty tame and normal, sometimes even constructive, but post it on Facebook or YouTube, well safe to say that’s where the trolls start to come out.

According to a recent study by Pew Research, it seems that a whopping 73% of adult internet users claim to have witnessed someone being harassed online, while 40% claim to have experienced that harassment personally. The study which involved 2,849 adults aged 18 top 50, defines harassment as being called offensive names, to threats, and stalking.

The study also found that younger adults like those aged 18 to 24 were more likely to experience some form of online harassment, and it’s sad to say that the study also found that women in this age group tend to be harassed at disproportionately high levels, with one in four women stating to have been stalked or sexually harassed online.

It seems that online harassment is a big issue, and if you might recall, there was a project by a 13-year old that aimed to curb cyberbullying, trolling, and harassment where our messages are filtered for content that might seem offensive, with the system asking us to rethink it in hopes that we won’t make hasty and offensive comments, but what do you guys make of the study? Pretty telling, isn’t it?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Web
Tags: study