How about checking out this controversial news story claiming that video games are the biggest source of cyberbullying in Japan? You need to see this research by Yahoo! News Japan. They identified a 4% increase in cyberbullying among young Japanese people over the last 5 years! Now, enough talk, let's understand what video games have to do with all this:

Games are the biggest source of cyberbullying in Japan

First, the research indicates that the percentage of public and private high school students in Kyoto and Shiga prefectures who experienced cyberbullying in 2020 was 8.7%. This represents an increase of 3.5 percentage points compared to the previous survey from 2015.

Furthermore, according to a large-scale survey conducted with the collaboration of 64,000 students, online gaming was the most common source of harm, and the group of university researchers who conducted the study believe this may be due to students spending more time at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cyberbullying – Incidents and Social Networks

Of those surveyed, 8.7% experienced cyberbullying. Of this, 6.2% experienced it in a single incident and 2.5% in multiple incidents. Regarding the tools used, online games accounted for the largest share at 40.7%. Thus, defamation through chat in a game played by multiple people simultaneously on the Internet is the most common.

On the other hand, we have Twitter next with 22.8%, which represents a significant drop compared to the previous survey (51.8%). Meanwhile, LINE also fell from 39.7% to 20.8%. 45.8% of respondents said they were able to "almost identify" the aggressor, but this is below the 67.5% of the previous survey.

Finally, Professor Seiji Hara of Bukkyo University, who led the research, said: “I was surprised to find that online games were implicated in 40% of cyberbullying. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we can say that online communications have become abnormal. But in the world of games, neither parents nor teachers know what is happening inside. Real conversations at home are important.” The research was conducted between November 2020 and March 2021 and involved 132 schools (82 in Kyoto and 50 in Shiga).

So, guys, what do you think about all this? Honestly, cyberbullying always happens in games, anyone who plays can confirm that. Anyway, leave your opinions below and see you next time!

Source: Yahoo! News Japan