Fears for South Yorkshire kids as online bullying rises during pandemic
The NSPCC have seen 70% more calls about it
South Yorkshire campaigners are demanding action to tackle bullying as more and more children are targeted online during the pandemic.
The NSPCC say the number of counselling sessions Childline's done for it rose by 70% between April and October this year.
It's feared less face-to-face socialising is pushing bullying online where there's no escape for kids who are targeted.
Rebecca Parkin was bullied for years at school in Sheffield :
"I was getting beaten up in school, I was getting chased home, I was having people put chewing gum in my hair, I had acids thrown on me in science, people would call me horrible names. It went online as well so I was getting trolled online.
"It was quite scary going through the amount of bullying that I did. You feel very alone and like nobody really understands.
"When I was bullied online, I was going to school I was getting bullied but then I was coming home and the bullying was continuing because I couldn't ever escape. I felt very trapped."
This week organisations have been marking Anti-Bullying Week.
New stats show more than a third of children in Yorkshire don't think the government's doing enough to keep them safe online.
And more than half of kids in our region who've been bullied on the web say it happened in the last six months.
Rebecca says it happens a lot:
"There's a lot of people that are going to school absolutely terrified and it should never ever be that way. In the work I do, I have people speak to me and message me and tell me their stories and it's not very nice to hear how many people are going through this.
"I guess a lot of people have been frustrated in the lockdown and, with kids not being at school, they've turned probably more online and are more likely to bully online because they're bored.
"But this boredom and frustration that they're taking out on other people, it affects them for the rest of their lives."
The NSPCC say they've seen a rise in calls to Childline about online bullying during the pandmic.
Adeniyi Alade works for the helpline here in Yorkshire:
"Young people spend a lot of their time online. The rest-bite they would have had from face-to-face interaction is not there.
"They're being excluded by their friends. There are others that talk to us about being blocked out of games that they get together to play.
"We hear from some young people who talk about the impact of the bullying on them and they say that they begin to feel depressed and anxious, they have problems trusting other people."
"The quicker the government gets in to do something to help and support those vulnerable people who don't have a voice or who feel this kind of situation will never end, the better."