Digital Disconnection: A Qualitative Study of Youth and Young Adult Perspectives on Cyberbullying and the Adoption of Auto-Detection or Software Tools

The purpose of this study was to understand the needs of youth and young adults, current gaps around safeguarding social media, and factors affecting adoption of data-driven auto-detection or software tools. This qualitative study is the first step of a larger initiative that aims to use participatory action research and co-design principles to develop a digital tool that targets cyberbullying. Youth and young adults aged 16–21 years were recruited to participate in semistructured focus groups between March 2020 and November 2021. Thematic analysis was used to develop themes, with a member-checking process to validate the findings. Six focus groups were completed with 39 participants and five themes were generated from the analysis. Participants described the mental health impacts of cyberbullying on young people, the stigma associated with it, and the need for more mental health resources. They felt that additional efforts are needed to improve the school environment, school-based interventions, and training protocols to ensure that youth feel safe reporting cyberbullying. Most participants were open to using a digital solution but raised concerns around the trustworthiness of artificial intelligence and wanted it to be co-designed with young people, integrated across platforms, informed by data-driven decisions, and transparent with users. Youth and young adults are accepting of a low-risk digital cyberbullying solution as current interventions are not meeting their needs.