Cyberbullying in the World of Teenagers and Social Media: A Literature Review

Cyberbullying amongst teenagers is a major issue, due to their increased use of social media. Previous literature surveys have not covered in detail cyberbullying studies in 2014 and cyberbullying risk factors. This literature review explores cyberbullying research areas, such as the use of social media by teenagers, themes from cyberbullying studies carried out since 2012, cyberbullying risk factors and how teenagers deal with cyberbullying incidents. Current cyberbullying studies highlighted issues such as the high volume of cyberbullying incidents in school, increased personal information disclosure on social media, peer influences and the safety of the school environment for both bully and victim. Studies focusing on cyberbullying risk factors raised debates on factors such as whether males or females are most likely to be victims/cyberbullies. Tackling cyberbullying requires awareness, education for actors involved in cyberbullying, development of software to detect cyberbullying and including actors in the monitoring of cyberbullying.