A new study conducted in South Africa has revealed how online harassment negatively affects the academic performance and mental state of high school students.
According to the research, nearly two-thirds of adolescents in elite South African schools are subjected to cyberbullying—a destructive culture of online harassment that directly undermines their concentration in class, mental health, and academic achievements.
The groundbreaking study, published in the South African Journal of Information Management, 63,9 percent of students surveyed across five private schools in the fifth quintile reported involvement in digital violence. Professor Daniel le Roux from Stellenbosch University and Camryn Twaddle from Artefact South Africa presented these findings.
The situation is not passive; 37.3% of students acted as both victims and aggressors, while 19.9% were exclusively victims, and 6.7% bullied others only. The level of involvement was almost identical for girls (65.1%) and boys (62.6%), indicating a widespread problem within the affluent middle-class education environment.
The nature of the violence is predominantly emotional, impulsive, and low-tech, based on immediate social cruelty rather than complex digital schemes. Adolescents most frequently reported unauthorized sharing of personal information, insults, or receiving humiliating and painful messages. Less common were carefully planned actions such as account hijacking or creating embarrassing fake websites.
Gender differences were found in bullying methods: girls were more often targeted by rumors and insults, whereas boys significantly more frequently threatened directly or distributed inappropriate photos and videos without consent.
Social media serves as the primary backdrop for this harassment, with usage patterns varying sharply by gender. TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat were identified as the main centers of abuse, with TikTok containing the widest range of malicious activity, including threats, rumors, and posting humiliating videos. WhatsApp was mainly used for insults and gossip. Girls preferred TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp, while young men leaned towards YouTube, Discord, Reddit, and X.
It is important to note that the study shows a peak in cyberbullying at the beginning of middle school: three-quarters of 8th-grade students are involved compared to about half of 13th-grade students. Researchers attribute this increased vulnerability in younger students to the combined pressure of adapting to high school, initial access to social media platforms, and using online aggression to gain peer recognition and climb the social hierarchy.
This pursuit of status creates an alarming paradox: direct participation in cyberbullying correlates with a stronger sense of peer connection, even while systematically damaging students' emotional well-being.
The consequences of this online hostility for academics are serious, direct, and often go unnoticed. Victims report decreased happiness and less persistence, which directly leads to poorer classroom performance. Similarly, aggressors demonstrate a noticeable inability to overcome academic difficulties, often resorting to avoidance tactics such as procrastination or complete absence from classes.
Ultimately, the findings demonstrate a deep interconnection between emotional health, online interactions, and academic success, requiring educators to consider potential digital violence whenever a student experiences academic difficulties.