47 percent of UK teens have been cyber bullied

According to a new study of 1,000 UK teenagers, 47 percent have been cyber bullied with 70 percent experiencing it on social media and Facebook being the most common platform.

The survey by McAfee reveals part of the problem appears to be that teens are not getting proper guidance at home or at school about staying safe online.

Teenagers are spending a lot of time online. Twenty-seven percent of British girls and 20 percent of boys say they spend over five hours a day online. Yet, just 31 percent of parents speak to their offspring about what they do on the internet. Internet use becomes less of a parental concern as children age too, half of parents of 14 to 15-year-olds regularly talk about staying safe online, but this drops to 30 percent for 16 to 18-year-olds.

Schools are part of the problem too with 68 percent of children feeling that their school doesn't discipline cyber bullies. In addition, 21 percent of students admit to being able to get around the cyber limits set by their teachers to access forbidden websites during school time.

"The results clearly show there is an increase in the amount of unsupervised time that British children are spending online, both at home and at school," says Nick Viney, VP of consumer at McAfee. "Yet at the same time, the results also show a woeful lack of education and support from teachers and parents for teenagers vulnerable to the risks associated with cyber bulling or reckless cyber stalking."

More about the results and how to keep your teenagers safe is available on the McAfee blog.

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