“Millennials” most vulnerable to cyberbullying

According to data gathered by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography ( INEGI ) in 2015, the most vulnerable sector to cyberbullying in Mexico is the population between the ages of 20 and 29 , with 32.3% of cases, followed by those between 12 and 19, with 26.7%.

The states with the most cases of cyberbullying are Aguascalientes, State of Mexico, Quintana Roo, Puebla , and Hidalgo , while the states with least cases are Chihuahua, Jalisco, Sonora, Chiapas, and Mexico City.

Cyberbullying, according to the INEGI, consists of using digital media to offend, humiliate, threaten, harass, or abuse someone else.

Among the activities most commonly used by cyberbullies to harass their victims are registering the victims on websites without their consent, send them spam or malware, send messages or phone calls containing insults or threats, or contacting the victims using false identities.

Cyberbullies also seek to harm their victims by publishing shameful, false, or personal information about them; steal their identity; send them videos or images with sexual or aggressive content; obtain the passwords of their victim's accounts to stalk them and track their activity.

“Technology provides many benefits for freedom of expression and education; however, it can also become a window for social problems, such as cyberbullying,” said The Social Intelligence Unit (SIU).

“While there are laws to prevent and protect against this type of bullying, it's possible to implement campaigns in the short-term to educate people, especially young people, on how to take action against cyberbullying,” recommended the SIU during an analysis.

Among the actions SIU recommends to victims are “never to reply, take screenshots to keep a record of attacks, block and report, talk to someone about cyberbullying, evaluate the severity of the situation, report it to the authorities, keep privacy settings as high as possible and seek the assistance of authorities.”

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