Swipe, post, destroy: Inside South Africa's cyberbullying crisis

SOUTH Africans connect online more than ever, to laugh, debate, share achievements, build businesses, or simply feel seen.

- XOLILE MTEMBU

CYBERBULLYING is a pervasive issue affecting South African youth, with alarming statistics revealing that 40% of schoolchildren experience bullying. I IOL

A swipe can offer validation, friendship, and a place to belong. But in the same spaces where comfort is sought, cruelty has found a home. One angry post, one mocking meme, one hateful thread can unravel a person's confidence in seconds.Cyberbullying doesn't discriminate. It targets schoolchildren and university students, parents juggling life's pressures, celebrities in the spotlight, and workers trying to protect their livelihoods.

These attacks leave no visible scars, only sleepless nights, panic before opening an app, and the suffocating fear of being humiliated before the world. Online harassment follows its victims everywhere: into classrooms, boardrooms, taxis, and dinner tables.

It can destroy reputations faster than they can be rebuilt and can push even the strongest among us to the edge of despair.

What makes this crisis so devastating is that it thrives in silence. Behind the screens are real people, trying to cope with abuse that never switches off. And as technology advances, so too does the brutality.

An estimated 40% of school-going children in South Africa experience some form of bullying, and one in three teenagers fall victim to cyberbullying, a relentless form of harassment that extends far beyond school grounds and hours.

That is according to the South African Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop), which has raised alarm over the growing mental health crisis linked to bullying in both physical and digital spaces.

“We're not just dealing with bruises anymore,” said Dr Alicia Porter, board member of the Sasop. “Children are anxious, depressed and in some cases, suicidal. When bullying is compounded by digital shame, the psychological damage can be lifelong.”